Hang Time and Aging

[Innkeeper]

Extended excepts from article, "Creating Free Wine", p.4, Dan Berger's Vintage Experiences, Volume X, Issue 5, March 16, 2006:

“Assume grapes are harvested at 28° Brix (roughly 28% sugar). When fermented out dry you’d get wine with an alcohol of about 16%.

That is too high for most 'table wines,' so 20% water is added to the tank to bring the alcohol down to just above 14%. That is already being done routinely in California. A recent change in state rules allows a greater degree of 'amelioration' 'to assist fermentations to go dry.' (If you believe that, I have some New Orleans land to offer you.)

Adding water doesn’t affect the flavor of a lower-priced red wine too much, especially if the fruit is picked at 28° Brix, because at that level, the only 'fruit' flavors most grapes deliver are over-ripeness.

Here’s the tricky part: since varietal/regional characteristics are nearly wiped out by late harvesting, some wineries now add 'color' additives as well. Such color agents, like Mega-Purple, also add flavors and change the taste.

This gloop is 68% residual sugar, so adding just one unit of it (before fermentation) adds the equivalent of about 2.7 units of standard-sugar grape juice. This allows the wine maker to ameliorate even more with water.

Rather than bore you with data, I estimate that about a quarter of the wine made this way comes out of a hose, and it could be higher.”