I would like to age a Sauv Blanc I am planning on making in steel like
the New Zealand Nobilo Icon. I just have a few quetions about it:

1. What does aging in steel actually do for the wine? I understand
that aging in oak adds the flavor of the charred oak, but steel cannot
add flavor, can it?

2. What kind of container should I use? is a stainless steel beer keg
good enough?

3. Aging this way, is a year too much before bottling?

"mdginzo" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I would like to age a Sauv Blanc I am planning on making in steel like
> the New Zealand Nobilo Icon. I just have a few quetions about it:
>
> 1. What does aging in steel actually do for the wine? I understand
> that aging in oak adds the flavor of the charred oak, but steel cannot
> add flavor, can it?

No. That's the reason it is used in winemaking. It adds no flavor
whatsoever to the wine. It's also really easy to clean and extremely
durable.

> 2. What kind of container should I use? is a stainless steel beer keg
> good enough?

Those are very popular with both home and commercial winemakers. They're
cheap too. :^)

> 3. Aging this way, is a year too much before bottling?

Not at all - especially if you plan to age "sur lie".

I don't know where you are getting your fruit, but the classic NZ style
Sauvignon Blanc tends to be a blend of fruit picked early, which retains
that "grassy" character, and later harvested fruit that has higher sugar,
less acid and greater maturity. They are cold fermented, lightly oaked (if
at all) and usually not put through ML so as to retain their crispness and
sharply defined fruitiness. I like them in the Summer especially as a nice
change of pace from my usual Chardonnay.

Tom S
www.chateauburbank.com

So, if steel adds no flavor to the wine, what does aging do if done in
steel? I am planning on using a Sauvingon Blanc wine kit. I might try
to get one from New Zealand, but I thought of using a "reserve" kit.

mdginzo > wrote:

> So, if steel adds no flavor to the wine, what does aging do
> if done in steel?

It ages the wine without adding flavors from the container.

Dick

I understand that it ages the wine - but what does "aging" by itself
mean? What does "aging" do to the wine itself? I had understood that
aging added additional flavors through the wood it was stored in - but
if steel imparts no such flavor, what is the point of aging in steel?

mdginzo > wrote:
> I understand that it ages the wine - but what does "aging" by itself
> mean? What does "aging" do to the wine itself? I had understood that
> aging added additional flavors through the wood it was stored in - but
> if steel imparts no such flavor, what is the point of aging in steel?

So your question is "What does aging do for wine?"

Aging matures the wine. The initial expressive flavors tone down and
integrate to create complex, subtle flavors. Flavoring from the aging
container is but one facet of aging.

Consider that the majority home winemakers age in glass and there isn't
suppose to be any flover in glass either. One advantage of aging in
stainless steel comes when you use a corney keg because you can force
carbonate the wine.

Dick

"mdginzo" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> I understand that it ages the wine - but what does "aging" by itself
> mean? What does "aging" do to the wine itself? I had understood that
> aging added additional flavors through the wood it was stored in - but
> if steel imparts no such flavor, what is the point of aging in steel?
>
>

Wine aromas come from the grapes. Cabernet Sauvignon wine smells like
Cabernet Sauvignon because of specific aromatic materials in that particular
variety of grape. The grassy aroma so characteristic of Sauvignon Blanc
wine, is a consequence of the grape variety, not the winemaking process.

Wine bouquet, on the other hand, results from the winemaking process. The
yeast, bacteria, barrels, winemaking procedures, etc. all contribute to
produce wine bouquet. Wine bouquet components may decrease, remain constant
or increase in intensity as the wine ages.

Some bouquet components are prevalent soon after the completion of
fermentation. For example. by products produced by the yeast contribute to
the fresh, fruity nose so typical of white table wines such as
Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Chenin Blanc. However, these odor components
are short-lived, and they often disappear in less than a year or so.
Consequently, these types of wines are best consumed when they are young and
the nose is still fresh and fruity.

Other bouquet components develop more slowly. Wines stored in oak barrels
slowly accumulate vanillin and other substances from the wood. Byproducts
produced by lactic bacteria can give wines a lasting buttery attribute. Wine
acids react with alcohols and slowly produce volatile esters. During bulk
storage, oxidation slowly changes the odor characteristics of many different
wine ingredients. All these materials contribute to the bouquet of the
wine, and some bouquet components require several years to develop fully.

Lum
Del Mar, California, USA

mdginzo wrote:
> I understand that it ages the wine - but what does "aging" by itself
> mean? What does "aging" do to the wine itself? I had understood that
> aging added additional flavors through the wood it was stored in - but
> if steel imparts no such flavor, what is the point of aging in steel?
>
I'll try to do this by analogy, because many will do not have the
chemistry background to understand the detail.

Aging wine has three major components:

Component 1
Aging wine in steel/glass containers is akin to weaving a cloth out of
cotton fibers. Young wine is like a bunch of short strands of fiber,
unwoven. During aging, the fibers begin to join, and over time enough
join to become a fabric.
In wine, some of the short molecules (tannins, phenols, etc.) have
strong flavors which give the young wine 'raw' flavor. As these
molecules join together (we chemists call it polymerize), these flavors
soften.

Component 2
Wine, like gasoline is a blend of chemicals. In both, some of these
chemicals evaporate within a year or two. In wine, these are the
'fruity' aromas we enjoy in white wines like Gewurtztraminer and
Riesling. In gasoline, the equivalent chemicals are the ones that help
the engine start in cold weather.

Component 3
Aging wine in oak adds flavors from the oak and absorbs some flavors
from the wine. Wine aged in steel/glass does not get either of these
two 'benefits'. I can't think of any purposeful analogy.

"mdginzo" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I would like to age a Sauv Blanc I am planning on making in steel like
> the New Zealand Nobilo Icon. I just have a few quetions about it:
>
> 1. What does aging in steel actually do for the wine? I understand
> that aging in oak adds the flavor of the charred oak, but steel cannot
> add flavor, can it?
>
> 2. What kind of container should I use? is a stainless steel beer keg
> good enough?
>
> 3. Aging this way, is a year too much before bottling?

I do not know what it may add to the wine, but I can tell from the after
taste if a wine was aged in metal. It is kind of like drinking a Tab, it
tastes ok until you stop drinking then yak.

"Just call me Ray" > wrote in message
. ..
> I do not know what it may add to the wine, but I can tell from the after
> taste if a wine was aged in metal. It is kind of like drinking a Tab, it
> tastes ok until you stop drinking then yak.

I'll bet you couldn't tell double blind whether wine was aged in stainless
steel or glass. If you're tasting something "off" in wines from metal
containers they aren't stainless steel - or at least it isn't the container
you're tasting.

Tom S
www.chateauburbank.com

Don't mean to burst your bubble, Tom, We re-passivate our
tanks/plumbing lines whenever we have to do any welding on 'em. Ditto
if somebody's done a super high pressure gun wash or scrubbed with
scotchbrite (or equiv) pads. Those remove a significant amount of the
initial passivation, which results in minor 'rust' layer until the
repassivation re-establishes itself or until we repassivate it.

Gene (Materials Science Engineering geek)

Tom S wrote:

> "Just call me Ray" > wrote in message
> . ..
>
>>I do not know what it may add to the wine, but I can tell from the after
>>taste if a wine was aged in metal. It is kind of like drinking a Tab, it
>>tastes ok until you stop drinking then yak.
>
>
> I'll bet you couldn't tell double blind whether wine was aged in stainless
> steel or glass. If you're tasting something "off" in wines from metal
> containers they aren't stainless steel - or at least it isn't the container
> you're tasting.
>
> Tom S
> www.chateauburbank.com
>
>