Syrah and Viognier are often cited as a grape combination where
co-pigmentation is observed. Does anyone know of other combinations
the demonstrate co-pigmentation?

RD

I'm really not sure what you are getting at, are you talking about
Rhone blends and controlling color?

I thought co pigmentation had more to do with color intensity and shade
in wines. Here is something Roger Boulton did a while back comparing
some Cab's and Pinot's:

http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/IUVV/boulton/Boulton.pdf

Joe

Hello everyone

I want to pick your collective brains for some suggestions to a problem.

I recently made a Vineco wine Kit called Hock. The wine is aging in the
carboy. After filtering it tasted like strong grapefruit juice - with a
kick. My LWS said it should taste like a Riesling! Any suggestions as to
what I can do to salvage this wine?

I had thought of adding sweetener or a bottle of sweet wine. Good idea?

Frances
PS: I love grapefruit juice but somehow wine should not taste like it!

Joe Sallustio wrote:
> I'm really not sure what you are getting at, are you talking about
> Rhone blends and controlling color?
>
> I thought co pigmentation had more to do with color intensity and shade
> in wines. Here is something Roger Boulton did a while back comparing
> some Cab's and Pinot's:
>
> http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/IUVV/boulton/Boulton.pdf
>
> Joe

Sorry, I wasn't very clear. Yes, I was wondering if there are other
known grape combinations which when co-fermented (like Syrah and
Viognier in classic Rhone blends) also produce wines with much deeper
pigmentation than the single red grape variety alone. That is, one
variety provides a cofactor that the other may have in only limited
quantity. I would imagine this happens with 2 red varieties as well.

Thanks for the reference. BTW, I just found a review Boulton published
some years back. Maybe this will answer my question.
http://www.thewinefly.com/theses/cop...ewajev2001.pdf

Frances - Is there a chance that your wine is still fermenting? I ask
because all my white wines taste like grapefruit while they are in active
fermentation. I was offered a glass of new wine with lunch in Alsace years
ago. Thinking it would be a typical Riesling made in the area I said sure.
When I got the wine it was a glass of cloudy, effervescent wine with a
pronounced grapefruit flavor. In the fall I get all visitors down to the
cellar to have "new" wine while it's available.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"Dave and Fran" > wrote in message
news:kIR5g.107393$WI1.93575@pd7tw2no...
> Hello everyone
>
> I want to pick your collective brains for some suggestions to a problem.
>
> I recently made a Vineco wine Kit called Hock. The wine is aging in the
> carboy. After filtering it tasted like strong grapefruit juice - with a
> kick. My LWS said it should taste like a Riesling! Any suggestions as
> to what I can do to salvage this wine?
>
> I had thought of adding sweetener or a bottle of sweet wine. Good idea?
>
> Frances
> PS: I love grapefruit juice but somehow wine should not taste like it!
>

That was a great reference but it's way above my head this morning...
Here is another one, it's more my speed.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:...s&ct=clnk&cd=7

(It seems like the real link is dead, I grabbed the cached version from
Google.Google cached follows)

http://www.google.com/search?q=cache...s&ct=clnk&cd=7

He talks about Boulton and then goes into the classic Chianti blends
here. I learned something, thanks. I always thought that was done for
aroma, I never considered adding a white to a red could impact color
intensity positively. It's a very cool idea.

In Pittsburgh, our 'classic Dago Red' has usually been mostly Zin (the
grapes ship really well and always have), a little Alicante Bouscet
(sp?) for more color and a little Muscat for aroma. It is a deeply
colored blend, but I always thought it was due to the Alicante. All of
this is from the Central Valley, we get a lot of grapes in here, always
have. If made well it is very good. It's not a classic Chianti but
it's been made that way here since as far back as Prohibition.
Everybody has a slight twist on the blend, some do use Trebbiano
instead of Muscat but it's pretty common to have at least 10% white
'something' in there and everything goes together for fermentation.
Most ferment until the cap sinks at minimum, they want everything that
grape had. Even then it's pretty common to add sugar and make a second
wine from the press cake, that is usually awful as far as i am
concerned.

Joe

> In Pittsburgh, our 'classic Dago Red' has usually been mostly Zin (the
> grapes ship really well and always have), a little Alicante Bouscet
> (sp?) for more color and a little Muscat for aroma. It is a deeply
> colored blend, but I always thought it was due to the Alicante. All of
> this is from the Central Valley, we get a lot of grapes in here, always
> have. If made well it is very good. It's not a classic Chianti but
> it's been made that way here since as far back as Prohibition.
> Everybody has a slight twist on the blend, some do use Trebbiano
> instead of Muscat but it's pretty common to have at least 10% white
> 'something' in there and everything goes together for fermentation.
> Most ferment until the cap sinks at minimum, they want everything that
> grape had.

My grandfather also used Alicante and Muscat here in the Philadephia
area. I'd imagine there wasn't much else available on the east coast
in the early half the 20th century. It sounded bizarre to me when I
first heard this but, as you mention, I've heard that it can be quite
good if well made. Alicante is a teinturier - red juice as well as
skins - so a little may go a very long way for color.

Thanks for another interesting article.

RD