Sugar EXTRACTED from sultanas..?

[Canonmillbilly]

My first post for a long time... twin girls in July 2012 put the kybosh on wine making for a while!

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I've searched for and read posts about sugar IN sultanas... however, I have noticed (by tasting the leftover fruit) that following a primary ferment some sugar remains in the sultana.

I'm sure that in the past I've read a post where someone mentions the typical proportion of sugar extracted from sultans (or raisins) during a primary ferment.

Can anyone help?

[ToulouseLePlot]

Well I think that's one of the brightest questions I've seen.

It's similar with many recipes, many fruits - in my humble opinion.

I confess that I'm a sceptic and like to make my own mistakes (which I do more than find new paths).

Using dried grapes I pulverise (dangerous in terms of cracking the seeds, but most seem to be either seedless or low in seed volume). Then I warm them to hot in water to give the sugars a chance to dissolve. I don't boil, because I hate the jam taste in wine kits. I also wonder if this is worth the effort - after all I can throw in any kind of sugar, but the reason for using dried grapes is probably in the 'other stuff' in the grape. And though I've only a couple of DJs 2 and 3 years old to judge by, I think I've made a little discovery.

I believe that the gods of home wine making may have made a schoolboy howler. Sultana = white grape; raisin = black/red grape. I have a hunch that if you want a real red wine grape in the UK you have to use what we call 'currants' not raisins.

The results I've had (small, 2 & 3 yr experiments) are good+ to great.

Go to Costco and get a big bag, use one for one DJ and write back.

And this year's iconoclasm: I've a bumper harvest of brilliant blueberries and blackcurrants - I'm going to mix with montepulciano grape, just 1% or 2%... I only drink it myself and with our friends... so why not? I find a little blackcurrant goes a very long way.

Wine buffs take notice, disruptive R us!! I don't know that the big marketing machines have tried this yet - blending a little perfect fruit at fermentation - I think the time has come.

[Canonmillbilly]

Well I think that's one of the brightest questions I've seen.

Ha! The quality of the question is evidenced by the lack of answers :O)

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Some interesting things in your post:

(i) sultanas/white and raisins/red - this is an English-language thing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raisin and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_%28grape%29); and

(ii) "what we call 'currants'" - are the dried (seedless and red) Mavrodaphne grapes from which, in the Northern Peloponnese region of Greece, they make the Mavrodaphne wine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavrodafni

[Cellar_Rat]

I think twin girls is likely to lead to more winemaking in the long term

Back to the plot. All that glitters is not gold. All that tastes sweet is not necessarily fermentable.

This is a phenomena well-known to all 'all grain' brewers.
You can extract fermentable sugars & non-fermentable sugars into the wort (must).
The temperature you mash at activates certain enzymes. As little as 3 or 4° C either side of 66° C will have a remarkable difference to the sweetness of the finished product.

I am in no doubt the same will apply tothe contents of raisins (not necessarily the mashing bit :-) )

[Cellar_Rat]

And this year's iconoclasm: I've a bumper harvest of brilliant blueberries and blackcurrants - I'm going to mix with montepulciano grape, just 1% or 2%... I only drink it myself and with our friends... so why not? I find a little blackcurrant goes a very long way.
.

I have to ask - what do you think will be the effect of one percent blackcurrant?

[ToulouseLePlot]

Blackcurrants have been in short supply in past seasons, as Mrs Toulouse gets first dibs with her jam. So on occasion when i have used them the quantity has been small but the effect has been very noticeable in the finished wine. 2% is a bit mean, maybe 5%.

[Cellar_Rat]

What is the effect? Colour - nose - structure maybe?

[ToulouseLePlot]

On mixing blackcurrant with grape - we shall have to wait 2 years to find out. On blackcurrant with hedgerow ... it really seems to come up well, I've got similar DJs of elderberry/bullace/blackberry but they are pretty undrinkable (after 2 years) too acid, tart, thin - though the ABV is always 12+ through sugar addition. The ones with both blackcurrant and/or dried currants seem to be better - the blackcurrant ones are smooth, balanced & fruity. Maybe its just random, my sample isn't huge (about 8 different brews now over 2 yrs old).