In the past I have always sweetened using a sugar solution when I wanted a
wine sweeter. This was always done after my last racking and the wine was
crystal clear. (SO2 and Sorbate of course)

Now this year I set aside some juice from the pressing and froze it. Given
that it will need to have fining etc when is the best time to add the
reserve in the process?

I suspect after primary and secondary are complete and maybe even after the
first fining. But I'm not sure. All opinions welcome.

Thanks

Tom

On 10/22/03 3:03 PM, in article , "Tom"
> wrote:

> In the past I have always sweetened using a sugar solution when I wanted a
> wine sweeter. This was always done after my last racking and the wine was
> crystal clear. (SO2 and Sorbate of course)
>
> Now this year I set aside some juice from the pressing and froze it. Given
> that it will need to have fining etc when is the best time to add the
> reserve in the process?
>
> I suspect after primary and secondary are complete and maybe even after the
> first fining. But I'm not sure. All opinions welcome.
>
> Thanks
>
> Tom


I suppose I would not be too close to bottling to sweeten with reserved
juice, unless I was going to filter. If you are using fining agents, I would
probably stabilize and sweeten before fining. But, I have no experience
doing this. I would lean toward adding a month before bottling and filtering
with a polishing filter before it goes in the bottle.

> On 10/22/03 3:03 PM, in article , "Tom"
> > wrote:
>
> > In the past I have always sweetened using a sugar solution when I wanted a
> > wine sweeter. This was always done after my last racking and the wine was
> > crystal clear. (SO2 and Sorbate of course)
> >
> > Now this year I set aside some juice from the pressing and froze it. Given
> > that it will need to have fining etc when is the best time to add the
> > reserve in the process?
> >
> > I suspect after primary and secondary are complete and maybe even after the
> > first fining. But I'm not sure. All opinions welcome.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Tom
>

I would thaw the reserve juice, keep it in the fridge and treat is
like the wine. If your going to fine the wine, fine the juice also. If
you add SO2 and sorbate to the wine, add it to the juice too.

The only thing I would change is the amount of SO2 (increase it for
added protection) and to add everything earlier than you would to the
wine (as soon as the juice thaws).

That's what I did the last time I used a sweet reserve and it worked
out well.

Andy