"Brian Lundeen" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Lum" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> >>
> > Hi Ben,
> > I have used tannins from both Vinquiry and Scott Laboratory. They seem
to
> > help some poor wines but not others. I think good fruit and oak makes
the
> > best wine.
>
> Agreed, but sometimes you gotta live with poor fruit, at least I do. Have
> you used Scott Labs late addition product, Tanin Plus? I got a very small
> sample from a friend to try in a test batch, but I don't want to base my
> opinion of it just on that one data point. I haven't tried mine yet, BTW,
I
> was told to let it sit for several weeks before evaluating the difference
> between it and some untreated wine.
>
> Brian

Brian, I ferment my share of poor fruit, so I undersand your position. I
didn't mean to imply enological tannins were worthless. Quite the contrary.
Sometimes, they can work wonders. I view the use of tannin much the same as
I view the use of a band aid. I would rather not need to use it but
................

Coincidentally, I did an enological tannin demonstration last Saturday
sponsored by the San Diego Amateur Winemaking Society ( SDAWS.org ). The
demo included Tannin Plus and several other tannins. 100 PPM of Tannin Plus
changed a very herbaceous wine, with little phenolic structure, into a good,
solid, mediocre wine.

I think many of the tannin chemical reactions are very slow, and several
weeks may be required to reach equilibrium. The herbaceous wine was tasted
about four hours after the Tannin Plus addition, and I suspect that a much
smaller dose would have had the same effect if added earlier. Some of
tannins are made specifically for addition before fermentation, so bench
testing is difficult.

Regards,
lum