Damson Wine, a query

[TRXnMe]

Hi

I have bottled off 3 gallons of damson wine, it tastes a little bit 'harsh', is this likely to 'soften' over time?

I'm not in a hurry to drink this, but do intend to pass a couple of bottles along to relatives over christmas, so if it needs to sit for a month or six I can warn them when I hand it over :)

 

[RobWalker]

yes, fruit wine takes a while to mature. try a bottle in 6 months :)

 

[TRXnMe]

yes, fruit wine takes a while to mature. try a bottle in 6 months :)

Thanks, I'd hoped someone would say that.

I had a small glass when I racked it off 2 weeks ago, and that was almost like liquid damson jam, but with booze in it, I was disapointed it had become drier and 'harsh' once ready for bottling but thought it might 'come back' if allowed to condition like 'real wine' does :)

If I remember I'll post back what it was like this time next year, I'm unlikely to open one of the bottles I'm keeeping until then as I don't drink much wine through the warmer months.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

It will inevitably become drier, because that's what the fermentation process is. Dryness is the opposite of sweet, and fermentation turns sugar into alcohol.

People, however, often confuse the harsh immature flavours with dryness because a freshly fermented out wine will usually have both features to it at the same time.

Similarly I've read people who have tasted a wine with a reading of 1000 and said it was really dry, when actually I suspect it was just immature. Sweetening can often mask the harsh flavours, but it is no substitute for good old patience.

Because, as others have said, the harsh flavours will mellow over time, I'd recommend not back sweetening until your wine has matured. Only once the immature flavours have dissipated will you have a true guide of how dry your wine actually is. You might find it has got a really crisp, clean dry flavour that you want to keep.

I have found myself though, a little sweetening with fruit wines will help restore that fruit flavour as psychologically you're 'used to' tasting that fruit with plenty of sugar in it.

 

[TRXnMe]

I may add some sweetner in 6 to 12 months when I taste it, but for now I suspect that there are other elements at work in the wine over and above the amount of sugar remaining.

Next year I may try two batches, one of them will get a bit more sugar after the first two weeks of fermentation, yes it will end up stronger, but the yeast might well give up and leave the wine a little sweeter. Thinking about it, I might even give this a go with two batches off WOW I've got in the brew plan.

 

[TRXnMe]

Well, I ran out of patience.

As I want to give some of this to my rellies for christmas stocking fillers I tried a bottle, by 'eck it's ruddy lovely

Thanks for the advice on this thread and my original damson wine query thread, I've got 11 bottles left in the shed, and 6 bottles to split between 2 sets of rellies as stocking fillers :)