This was my first time starting with grapes, california cabernet shipped to Ohio, everything is going fine and I just racked off the secondary (lots of lees). The wine has a decent smell, but seems to have an off taste of coffe or something simular to coffee. Is this just from the young cabernet wine or is there a problem?
Thanks, Andy
I made my first 5 gallon batch of california cabernet in Sept 2002 (shipped to Massachusetts) and had an off taste in the first couple of months, but that's natural. I tasted just this month (after 12 months of aging)and it's approaching the taste I would expect. Since I expected all along it would take at least 18 months for this type of wine to reach the drinkable point, I am going to wait another 6 months before I bottle it.
I have noticed that sometimes kits (what I use) with oak chips added sometimes taste very bitter at bottling. I had one that was so bitter from the oak that I thought it was ruined. It took about a year for the bitterness to go away, and it turned into a very smooth red. Not sure why some oak chips do this.
If you added oak, that might have caused the taste you describe.
On 28 Oct 2003 13:04:50 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@qsilver.queensu.ca (Luap) wrote: Thanks for the replies, I will just have to wait and see how it ages. Yes I did add oak from the start of the primary ferment. And the grapes were purchased from a local wine supplier here in Ohio.
Thanks Again.
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