Diluting high-Brix must?

Hey Ernie,

If your wines turn out truly hot in character than they are by defininition a bit unbalanced and you would be well served to add water to bring the brix down a point prior to fermentation. If the grapes are really ripe with lots of potential extract, I would dilute to somwhere between 25 and 26 brix and adjust your acid using tartaric to whatever level you prefer in your big reds. By the way, I'm not sure what you mean by "blasting with DAP" but if you do decide to dillute, you may want to keep the reigns on it a bit and maybe use a more complete food like Fermaid or SuperFood and break out the DAP only when necessary (H2S).

CHEERS!!

I read an article recently in one of the trade mags and picked up a comment by one of the winemakers who was discussing Syrah. FWIW he said, "26 is the new 24."

I'd say that if you're at 27° Brix right now, you could either leave it alone or bring it down just a little and still be OK. Set the pH for no higher than 3.5 at the beginning of fermentation - whether or not you add water.

As Aaron said, using a more complete nutrient, like Superfood or Fermaid (and don't forget your vitamins!), would be preferable to just DAP - but the latest I've heard is to use _both_ in potentially difficult fermentations, and space out the additions over the course of the fermentation. IOW, don't just dump it all in right at the beginning. Also, I'd suggest starting right off with a high-alcohol tolerant yeast rather than re-inoculating midway through the fermentation.

Tom S

Isn't that the truth! The high potential alcohol is a casualty of the push for phenolic ripeness (not that there's anything wrong with that IMO). Especially in California, where you don't get phenolic ripeness in many areas until high Brix values (thus, the use of RO and spinning cones as well).

It think it depends on (1) the quality of the fruit and, (2) the style of wine you'd like to be drinking. Do you really want a wine at >14% abv? Maybe, if the fruit has immense "fruit character" and plenty of nice soft tannins. If not, you'd probably be better diluting to around Brix 25.

Ben

Thanks, all. I tasted the previous years' again, and decided to let it ride. For some reason, they're not nearly as hot as I remembered.

I like to start out with Pasteur Red because of the fruitiness and aromas it produces, and add Premier Cuvee halfway through in the case of high Brix.

As for the DAP, H2S has been a consistent problem in grapes from this area (Oakley, CA). I suspect it's got something to do with the soil; the vineyards out there look like they're growing in sand dunes. Last year I gave a good dose of DAP when I first noticed the smell, but even then ended up with a strong onion smell in the secondary. Racking through copper took care of it, thankfully.

So, from now > "Tom S" wrote: