Sangiovese Recipe Help

Well, first of all, Sangiovese is a red grape and is usually fermented on the skins. I know there are dealers out there that sell the "Juice" but it was probably not pressed juice from the crushed, fermented and pressed grape. Therefore, all bets are off as this is not the normal way to make a "Chianti" style wine.

I do not know the results you will obtain with or without Cabernet grapes (or juice) but it would be good to realize this is not the standard practice in making a "Super Tuscan" type of "Chianti".

Nick - Pressed Sangiovese juice is likely to make a pretty light wine, if you don't have any skin exposure during fermentation. Unless you want to make 30 gallons of blush wine, I think your best bet would be to get 15 gallons or more of crushed Cabernet Sauv. grapes (NOT pressed - you need the skins!) and ferment them together. Oak wouldn't hurt either, I expect, but the skins are more important, IMHO. You can call it a "super Tuscan" - very trendy. :-)

Doug

You need to define crushed and pressed a little better. If this is hot pressed juice it can make a very nice, deeply colored red wine, if it looks like a blush, no to little oak may make more sense. I always add oak to reds and I usually blend. If this is mostly fermented wine coming off the skins and it has some tannins and color that is another matter too; I would definitely add oak.

Joe

I'm not certain of the proper terms, but it were 9 crates (lugs?) of the grapes put into a crusher and 10 minutes later there was a bit less than 30 gallons of juice. I was told that I would end up with about 5 gallons of sediment. The sediment might be crushed skins that passed through. The color is a deep enough red, but kind of hard to tell because it's a bit 'pastey' looking.

Thanks for the replies. If the above details enhance another reply...please do. :-)

Nick

Can the same technique used to make red zinfandel be utilized to make your wine a deeper red? Thant would be to leave the crushed skins in the primary fermentation until the right gravity is obtained. On the other hand if it is your first time with this type of grape what would be wrong to begin the fermentation as is. Then later on you can blend the Sangiovese with another robust wine or drink it as it.

Does the juice include skins?

Yes, there is a lot of skins.

Great. What you want to do is leave the wine (juice) on the skins, as it ferments you will see the skins come up to the top, push (punch) them down with a potato masher or big spoon in the morning and each night. The skins have to stay wet. Eventually the skins will sink, taste it each time you punch it down. Eventually it will start to taste more astringent. When it seem to taste close to right as to astringency you need to put this into a wine press. If you don't have one use the biggest colander you have and squeeze them by hand, like making snowballs. There are lots of resources free on the internet that explain how to make wine. If you can get the wine warmer, to

Joe

Sorry, I take back (mostly) my earlier comments. I made the mistake of assuming that Nick understood the terms he was using. Fortunately, wiser (and more skeptical) heads prevailed, with better advice.

Nick - just for future reference, there are two terms that have very specific meanings in winemaking, that can often be confusing to newcomers.

"Crush" refers to the process of breaking the skins of the grapes, so that the juices inside are exposed and fermentation can begin. In many cases, the stems are removed at the same time (and by the same machine).

"Press" refers to the process of separating the liquids (juice or wine) from the skins, seeds and other misc. solids. In the case of white wines, this is often done right after "crush", so that the fermentation process is started on the juice only. In the case of red wines, "press" usually happens AFTER fermentation, as you want to ferment on the skins to get the colors and tannins from the skins into the wine.

So what you had was 30 gallons of crushed grapes, or must. Strictly speaking, it was not "pressed juice". Fortunately for you, crushed grapes is what you want in this instance, as you want that skin contact during fermentation. Joe's advice above was right on. If you follow those recommendations, you should end up with 18 to 20 gallons of very nice Sangiovese.

Happy fermenting --

Doug

It was a group effort; it is a news 'group'... :)

My Central Valley reds from grapes have pH issues, most are starting at 4 as a heads up. TA looks decent, must be a possium problem.

Joe