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dealing with high tannin level in merlot

Hi ....have 5 gal of merlot....central valley grapes from last fall....I may have left too many stems in the primary...up to 20% or so...sampling it lately it seems very high in tannin....I won't be bottling til at least this october....should i expect the tannin to soften in this time?.....even the second or false wine i made seems high in tannin....I'll admit I even made a 3rd wine from the skins and it made a lovely blush wine which we are now enjoying.....beyond the high tannins the wine shows great promise,now I wish I would have bought more grapes....anyone else have any houghts on last harvest's wine(central valley) so far?....andy j.

Reply to
Andy j.
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I did some Merlot and Grenache, but I make that as a rose; those skins then go into my wine from juice. Mine is not tannic, but I pull it off when the skins drop.

The tannins will redice, you can soften that with egg white or gelatin. I would wait. Reds (asctually all wines) change a lot in the first year.

Joe

Reply to
Joe Sallustio

I think Merlot is good with a lot of tannin. It takes longer to age but you get a fuller wine capable of lasting for awhile. When bottling I'd put a good cork in because you may find that five years from now your wine is exceptional. The effect of those tannins change from grit to silk over the years.

Chris

Reply to
Chris

Grit? I suspect that the wine term "grip" is a bit more like it.

Merlot tends to be soft and user friendly even when relatively young. It may be quite tannic, but the tannins tend to be softer than the angular tannins of Cabernet e.g. A bit of bottle aging and/or fining (gelatin) usually does the trick.

Tom S

Reply to
Tom S

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