Topic: Dating wine.

[legendaryone]

Hi, when bottling my wine i am always unsure whether to put on the label the year i started the wine or the year i bottled ( if they are different ). What do others do ?

[legendaryone]

Can i assume no one dates thier wine  ???

[Barnowl]

Even if it's home made I would use the standard approach of dating it by when the fruit used to make the wine was harvested.

[legendaryone]

Even if it's home made I would use the standard approach of dating it by when the fruit used to make the wine was harvested.

Even if the fruit is frozen and used the following year ?

[Barnowl]

Even if the fruit is frozen and used the following year ?

Aaarrggghhhh  :'(

Actually I suspect you are winding me and other wine lovers up but here goes.

My personal opinion is that if one is making a drink from frozen fruit, I'm afraid 'wine' is a misnomer and the date is hardly relevant because it will have to be drunk almost straight away before it goes off (unless you add a fair bit of sugar (to make it a cordial) or the fruit has concentration similar to an Eiswein that has already been affected by Botrytis)

I stand ready to be abused as either a wine snob  or gullible or both :)

[grawrc]

I label mine from when the fruit was picked whether subsequently frozen or not.  Actually I have a story sheet on the demijohns telling me everything I've done to that particular batch but by the time it comes to bottling I just put the original year.

[legendaryone]

Even if the fruit is frozen and used the following year ?

Aaarrggghhhh  :'(

Actually I suspect you are winding me and other wine lovers up but here goes.

Of course i'm not winding you up !

I have read several times that you get more juice if the fruit has been frozen.

[Ishard]

If it helps I date mine from when its bottled. :)

It aint wine when its still fruit  ;)

[Barnowl]

Of course i'm not winding you up !

I have read several times that you get more juice if the fruit has been frozen.

My apologies - you learn something new every day  :)

[Old bird]

Sticking my nose into something I know little about!

Surely the extra "juice" you get from frozen fruit is melted ice - i.e. water?!

Or is it me?!

I have ever only made wine with fresh fruit/flowers and never bothered to date it - it generally doesn't last that long!

Old Bird

 ;D

[legendaryone]

I've only frozen fruit when i have not had enough to start a new batch eg rhubarb and blackberries. I also freeze medlars whose taste improves after a frost.

Thanks for everyones replies  :)

[Barnowl]

Strange though it sounds, perhaps some of the water content evaporates during the freezing and defrosting processes leaving a slightly more concentrated juice?

[Ishard]

As I understand it freezing the fruit breaks down the cellulose thereby mushing the fruit to allow more juice to be extracted without having to use a fruit press.

It does work BTW  :)

[Baccy Man]

Freezing fruit does several things it concentrates the sugar, breaks down the cell-walls in the pulp (for easier juice extraction), if frozen for 2 weeks or longer it kills all (undesirable) bacteria and yeast (washing the fruit is not usually sufficient to do the job).
Quite a few people who enter into competitive winemaking freeze their grapes for their award winning wines as they claim it gives better results, the awards they receive suggest they may be right.

Flower petals can also be frozen in ziploc bags or tupperware containers not open frozen due to risk of freezer burn. This gives you a bit of extra time to get sufficient quantities together but petals should not be frozen more than 6-8 weeks as they tend to develop freezer burn afer that, once they develop freezer burn they seem to deteriorate rapidly as winemaking ingredients.

On the original subject I don't always date my wine but if I do then I use the date I started the fermentation.

[legendaryone]

Thanbks everyone, turned out to be an interesting topic  :)