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spud
 
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Hi Frederick:

Thanks for the response. This is very helpful, as my better half
would like the blackberry with some added sugar, but not a /sweet/
wine. I'm really new to this, but off-dry sounds like the right term
for her taste.

Experimenting and keeping notes is part of the fun, so we'll try some
trials using both as you suggest.

Thanks

Steve - Noobie
Oregon



>"frederick ploegman kindly wrote:


>Hi Steve
>
>I ran my own tests on this some years back by splitting small batches of
>dry clear wines and treating each half with these chemicals. I feel the
>results were notable. While I cannot really detect sorbate in a wine, I
>_can_tell the difference when these wines are compared side by side.
>The Benzoate gives a somewhat "brighter", cleaner tasting wine. While
>I still sometimes use Sorbate on "sweet" wines (eg end SG >1.007),
>I now have a large preference for Benzoate in "off dry" and "medium"
>wines. No real science here, simply an empirical determination.
>
>The "commercial" world has rules, and one of those rules is that Benzoate
>cannot be used. As always, rules don't have to make sense but they_do_
>have to be followed. Home winemakers are not bound by these rules
>and can therefore do as they think best.
>
>If nothing else, Benzoate does have one advantage: No geraniums.
>
>Both chemicals are effective, so I suggest that you split a batch of wine
>just as I did, and make your own determination which one you prefer.
>Sugar tends to "cover" this difference, so I suggest that you try it
>on an "off dry" wine. HTH
>
> Frederick