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  • Award Winning Wines - Bill Smith experiments

    Award Winning Wines – Bill Smith

    I thought it might be interesting to start a thread on this technique. For those not familiar with Bill Smith, he produced a book in 1988 called “Award Winning Wines. Professional methods for the amateur winemaker” (I got mine from that well known internet behemoth at a cheap price!).

    In essence his philosophy is that good, balanced and fruity wines can be made very simply by 1. initiating a very quick red grape concentrate yeast starter (advocating the need for quality yeast), followed by 2. the late introduction of various fruits (dried, fresh, etc.) at various stages in fermentation so as not to “blow off” the aromas that would normally be lost in more traditional methods of primary fermentation on the pulp. This should lead to a wine that retains much of the characteristics of its parts, with good body, acid levels and tannin to match.

    There are a number of excellent recipes in the book, and if there are other winemakers on this site that have used his methods, I would certainly encourage you to post your results.
    I was fortunate enough last year to scavenge a couple of kilos of elderberries in my local area, the rest of the ingredients I had to buy at the supermarket. For this initial batch experiment, I made three gallons in total: Burgundy style, Chianti style and Claret style.

    When thinking about these recipes I was wondering where I would get red grape concentrate from, and had a chat with Karl (Duffbeer). He convinced me to use a Beaverdale red kit (in this case a Shiraz) as the base for the wine. So, even though I followed the original recipes more or less to the letter, some characteristics may be different. It’s also worth noting that there may be subtle changes in sugar content of the fruits from year to year, etc. But this is experimentation after all!

    Bill Smith notes that his Dry Red Wine style is:

    “These dry red wines can be complex and heavy, with noticeable astringency from tannins, although the tannins should be soft and velvety in the more mature wines. Alcohol ranges are usually 12-14% with acidities between 0.45% and 0.65%. In making these styles the amateur winemaker should pulp ferment the red fruit. Grape concentrate is a useful backbone ingredient and can be used to build up the yeast starter allowing the winemaker to carry out the pulp fermentation much later in the vinification procedure. This allows the extraction of the fruit to be conducted at high alcohol levels, facilitating the extraction and lowering contamination problems.”

    Dry Red Table Wine: Burgundy Style (From Award Winning Wines – Bill Smith)
    Red Grape Concentrate 227ml (I used a Beaverdale Shiraz concentrate from a 6 bottle kit)
    Elderberries 454g
    Blackberries 680g
    Raspberries 57g
    Strawberries 28g
    Dates 142g
    Oak shavings 28g (French Heavy Toast Oak Chips)
    Sugar 369g
    Sultanas 369g
    Pectolase
    Nutrients
    Yeast (I used Lalvin RC212)

    This wine is designed to give an alcohol content of 13% and an acidity of 0.5-0.6%.

    Build up the yeast starter with the diluted red grape concentrate and the sugar at a volume of about 4 pints. When most of the sugar has been used, pasteurise the elderberries, blackberries, dates, sultanas and oak, cooling immediately. Mash the pasteurised fruit, treat with pectolase for 4 hours and ferment on the pulp for 2 days before adding the mashed raspberries and strawberries. Ferment on the pulp for only 2 more hours, stirring frequently. Strain into a gallon jar, rinse the pulp with water and re-strain. Top up the gallon jar, and ferment to dryness. When clarified put 2 strips of oak into the gallon jar and mature for 6 months, stirring monthly to aid maturation of the wine. The wine benefits from a further 6 months in bottle.

    My comments thus far (to be edited as I progress):

    I decided to use Lalvin RC212 (Bourgovin) because this yeast is traditionally used in the Burgundy region for full red wines and is a favourite of home winemakers seeking similar big reds.

    It has good alcohol reach (14-16%) and high temperature (68-86° F.) tolerance and excellent colour stability. This yeast requires high nitrogen nutrient additions to avoid the potential development of H2S. It is quite suitable for use with non-grape black and red fruits and berries (blackberries, raspberries, dewberries, mulberries). It is quite tolerant of concurrent malolactic fermentation.

    Fermentation went well, starting on 26 May. I didn’t take any initial hydrometer readings, trusting in the recipe only at this stage (I wanted to keep this simple and wasn’t sure how to work out an sg for the yeast starter, then an overall sg for the fermenting wine with both the yeast starter and the late fruit additions).

    By 29 May the sg was 1000, so following the recipe I added the pasteurised fruits. Fermentation went well – no real liveliness to report. I fermented in the gallon jar, so a large cap of the fruit pulp was visible on top of the wine. I occasionally swished this around but pretty much left it to it.

    By 2 June the sg was 0996. I strained from the primary fermentation, according to the recipe instructions. By 7 June the sg was still 0996, but what can only be described as floating clumps of “yeast” (?) had settled on top of the wine. It looked quite funky. Not sure what it was, but after a second racking on 7 June (sg 0996) and leaving it to do its thing, by 16 June the wine is sg 0994 and most of the “clumps” had disappeared. So it’s still ticking along.
    The aromas are very pleasing so far – a big hit of dates with sultanas and elder. This looks and tastes the “thinnest” of the three so far.

    Dry Red Wine: Chianti Style (From Award Winning Wines – Bill Smith)
    Red Grape Concentrate (Solvino) 568ml (I used a Beaverdale Shiraz concentrate from a 6 bottle kit)
    Bottled Morello cherries 454g
    Elderberries 340g
    Raspberries 57g
    Strawberries 113g
    Sugar 454g
    Oak shavings 28g (American Oak Chips Heavy Toast)
    Nutrients
    Pectolase
    Yeast (I used Gervin no. 2)

    Designed to produce a wine with 13% alcohol and 0.5% acidity. Build up the yeast starter with the red grape concentrate and sugar to a volume of about 5 pints. When most of the sugar has been used, pasteurise the elderberries, raspberries, strawberries and oak. When cool, add the Morello cherries, mash, treat with pectolase and pulp ferment for 2 days. Strain, rinse the pulp with water, retrain, make up to 1 gallon with water and ferment to dryness. Rack and clarify using standard procedures. This wine will benefit from further oaking during maturation.

    My comments thus far (to be edited as I progress)
    :
    I decided to use Gervin Yeast - No. 2 Red Label, for a full bodied red table wine. It’s vigorous yeast giving a rapid start-to-finish to fermentation. Excellent for all red table wines, it is especially recommended for making wines from autumn fruits such as blackberries, elderberries and sloes. It will ferment at temperatures down to 15° c. Beware of foam (comment: I didn’t see this at all).

    Fermentation of the yeast starter was initially the slowest of the three, starting on 26 May. Again, I didn’t take any initial hydrometer readings, trusting in the recipe only at this stage (I wanted to keep this simple and wasn’t sure how to work out an sg for the yeast starter, then an overall sg for the fermenting wine with both the yeast starter and the late fruit additions).

    By 29 May the sg was 1050. Following the recipe I added the pasteurised fruits. Fermentation went very well following this; by 2 June the sg was 0995. I strained the primary fermentation, according to the recipe instructions. By 7 June the sg was 0990, I racked and left it to do its thing. By 16 June the wine was sg 0992. (?!) My thoughts on this are that I either misread the initial 7 June reading, or that more fermentation/fermentables are still happening (i.e. the slower release of some sugars caused by the pulp breakdown during initial fermentation)? So it’s still ticking along.

    The aromas again are interesting – not a big hit of dates like the Burgundy, but more toffee smelling and fruity – with cherry and subtle elder hints (that smell a bit like “feet”!? I’m guessing this may be the aroma profile from the American heavy toast oak). The taste is very pleasing though!

    Dry Red Wine: Claret Style
    (From Award Winning Wines – Bill Smith)
    Red grape concentrate 568g (I used a Beaverdale Shiraz concentrate from a 6 bottle kit)
    Elderberries 454g
    Blackberries 454g
    Blackcurrants 539g
    Raspberries 85g
    Dried Apricots 85g
    Dates 113g
    Lychee flesh 57g
    Sultanas 198g
    Sugar 227g
    Oak shavings 28g (French Heavy Toast Oak Chips)
    Calcium carbonate (chalk) 7g
    Pectolase
    Nutrients
    Yeast (I used Gervin A)

    This wine, with an alcohol content of about 13% and an acidity of between 0.5 and 0.6% benefits from the use of many ingredients which add complexity to the wine. Only small amounts of powerful flavours such as lychee and raspberry are required to lift the aromas in the final wine. The high acidity of the ingredients has been lowered by the addition of calcium carbonate.

    Build up the yeast starter for a week using the red grape concentrate and the sugar at a volume of 4 pints. Following this, pasteurise the elderberries, blackberries, dried apricots, dates, sultanas and oak shavings, then cool, mash and treat with pectolase. Add the yeast starter, and ferment on the pulp for 2 days. Pasteurise the blackcurrants and raspberries, mash along with the lychee flesh and treat with pectolase. Add these fruits and the calcium carbonate, ferment on the pulp for another 24 hours and strain into a gallon jar. Rinse the pulp with water, re-strain, top up the gallon jar, and ferment to dryness. Rack and clarify by standard procedures. When clear, mature further by adding 2 oak strips per gallon of wine, stirring monthly to aid maturation of the wine. The wine will improve when bottled for more than 12 months.

    My comments thus far (to be edited as I progress):
    I decided to use Gervin Yeast - Varietal A for a quality red table Bordeaux SF strain. This French yeast was selected to complement and enhance the characteristics of the “grapes”. Used for the production of red Bordeaux (Claret) wines, it ferments well at 18-35° c.

    Fermentation of the yeast starter went well, starting on 26 May. Again, I didn’t take any initial hydrometer readings, trusting in the recipe only at this stage (I wanted to keep this simple and wasn’t sure how to work out an sg for the yeast starter, then an overall sg for the fermenting wine with both the yeast starter and the late fruit additions).

    By 29 May the sg was 1002, so following the recipe I added the pasteurised fruits. Fermentation went a little too well – with some real liveliness to report! I fermented in the gallon jar, so a large cap of the fruit pulp was visible on top of the wine and began to project itself upwards and outwards. A 4am intervention by me saved a catastrophic redecoration of the kitchen and the wrath of the misses! I transferred half the potion into another demijohn and let it carry on doing its thing.

    By 3 June the sg was 1000. I strained the primary fermentation, according to the recipe instructions. By 7 June the sg was still 1000, I racked and left it to do its thing. By 16 June the wine is sg 0996. So it’s still ticking along.
    The aromas again are very pleasing so far – not a big hit of dates like the Burgundy, but more “oaky” smelling and fruity – like strawberries and toffee with subtle elder hints.

    Next Steps
    I’m not going to get too hung up on the taste/aroma profiles this early on; I think there’s still a lot of mileage in this set of experiments, particularly after I stabilise and rack and think about the way forward with the levelling out of the elderberry profile and the additions of more oak. I’ve got both French and American Heavy Toast Oak left and intend to follow this through with the respective oaks that I used in the initial fermentations for the maturation process. But certainly not leaving it in for 6 months as these are chips. There is some rough information on oak additions on the net (scarcer than I thought it would be actually). Looking at: http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/...ps-wine-17110/ I’m heading for 1-2 tablespoons of chips per gallon and taste testing at months 1 and 2 before deciding on either further oaking or racking. I’d certainly be grateful for input and advice on this from my fellow forum members!

    Cheers for now,

    Owl.
    Last edited by owlwithoutfeathers; 16-06-2012, 06:55 PM.
    A day without wine is a day without sunshine!

  • #2
    Very interesting recipes, look forward to reading about your final results. I think a hydrometer would would have been very useful so you could have worked out your alcohol content.

    Comment


    • #3
      You might want to try steam juiced elderberry in place of the fruit. Much less of an elderberrry hit but keeps the great colour and a softer tannin profile.

      http://markblades.com
      Bebere cerevisiae immodoratio
      These days I'm drinking in Charcot's Joint.

      Comment


      • #4
        I saw a recommendation for this book on this forum and bought a copy last year. Due to drinking more white wine than red, I had a go at the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay styles first. The method of manufacture of the recipes is very interesting and I enjoyed using the different style of constructing a wine. It makes so much sense to add the flavour/bouquet making ingredients at the latter stage of fermentation. One overriding memory I have was that the defrosting gooseberries smelt of vomit which fortunately dissipated and was not carried through into the finished wine.

        Both the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay were aged for six months prior to trying and I have to say that I was immediately impressed with the body, bouquet and the fact that they both tasted like their respective styles. At twelve months both wines are very good but have not improved much over the last six months. I shall be making more!

        With the success of the white wine recipes and a freezer full of Elderberries and Blackberries I decided to have a go at some of the reds. During the holidays last Christmas I dug out the book and put together the ingredients for three recipes, the Burgundy style and Chianti style as per Owls post above and the Barolo style. The Barolo style is basically a variation on Elderberry and Blackberry wine with a couple of bananas added. All three were made as per the book and have made it to the six month mark. I have just finished oaking the Barolo and Burgundy with 15g each of American Oak medium toast. The oak was only in for four weeks as it had reached a level that I felt was noticeable but not overpowering. It was also my first attempt at using oak in wine so was used as an experiment prior to wider use in my winery.

        Initial thoughts at the six month point. The Burgundy style is by far the best tasting with good all round flavours from the fruit. The Chianti has excellent individual fruit flavour but tastes a bit thin and lacking in body compared to the Burgundy. The Barolo is just a bit hit of Elderberries. At first taste it was all Elderberry on the nose and in the mouth but has been tempered a little by the oak. I will leave them for another six months before bottling and report back then.

        I definitely plan to make more wines from the recipes in the book but the one thing I did find a little frustrating was the inability to work out the sugar (starting SG) and acid levels. Surely the sugar content of the fruit must vary enormously depending on ripeness/harvest conditions. This would affect the alcohol and balance of the finished wine. That aside, the recipes do produce some very good wine.

        Rob

        Comment


        • #5
          The book is indeed a very good one, and Bill really knows his stuff.....he often gives demos at the guild of judges weekends. he is a thoroughly nice chap too

          regards
          Bob
          N.G.W.B.J.
          Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
          Wine, mead and beer maker

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi folks.

            Thought i should drop a little update.

            I'm not sure if this is a problem, but Ive attached below two images of the flowery funky stuff floating on top of the burgundy that i described earlier. I've "finished" the wine with campden and postassium sorbate (sg reading has been 0994 since 16 June) and also used finings, but these "clumps" seem to persist. Is it something that i should be worried about? Should i rack and use fining again or just leave it alone?

            Thanks, Owl.

            20120629_134836.jpg20120629_134859.jpg
            A day without wine is a day without sunshine!

            Comment


            • #7
              Did they appear after the fining?

              I have seen similar flocculent matter when I used some Harris vinclear (free gift with a wine filter). I don't think I dissolved it properly before adding to the wine.

              Doesn't look infected, or at least none of my wine has looked like that when it's been infected

              http://markblades.com
              Bebere cerevisiae immodoratio
              These days I'm drinking in Charcot's Joint.

              Comment


              • #8
                I will second that it does not seem like infection - more like croûtons
                Gluten free, caffeine free, dairy free, fat free – you gotta love this red wine diet!

                Comment


                • #9
                  Thanks for the replies guys, and apologies for the late post!

                  The funky stuff was there prior to finishing the wine and prior to using finings. When i racked the first time off the lees it appeared - in this demijohn only. None of the other two wines i racked had it and they all were started at the same time and used the same fruits (as per the recipes above). Could it be a yeast thing? i used Lalvin RC212.

                  After racking, it appeared again, and the "stuff" just hands there at the top of the wine. So ive racked twice now, and its reappered. Then i finsihed the wine, gave it a good shake and left it 24 hours and it reappeared again. Then i used finings and gave it a good swirl and it reappeard again.

                  Hmmmmm. Stubborn bugger!

                  Owl.
                  A day without wine is a day without sunshine!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    it does just look like suspended particulate matter and not infection,......


                    couple of questions...

                    each time you rack is there less of it?

                    what sort of finings did you use?

                    regards
                    bob
                    N.G.W.B.J.
                    Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
                    Wine, mead and beer maker

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I'll also add that these containers need to be properly topped up. With that much headspace, it's only a matter of time before you end up with a bacterial infection or oxidation. There should only be a couple of centimeters of headspace, at most.
                      Steve

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Hi Bob,

                        Thanks for your input. To be honest, i think there remains the same amount after each racking. I used (for the first time ever) Kik Clear finings (the two part bottle lot) and added about 2ml of each solution as per the instructions. Now that the finings have had a good week to do their thing im going to rack off the lees and see if it reapereas. Should i campden at all?

                        Cheers. Owl.
                        A day without wine is a day without sunshine!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by owlwithoutfeathers View Post
                          Hi Bob,

                          Thanks for your input. To be honest, i think there remains the same amount after each racking. I used (for the first time ever) Kik Clear finings (the two part bottle lot) and added about 2ml of each solution as per the instructions. Now that the finings have had a good week to do their thing im going to rack off the lees and see if it reapereas. Should i campden at all?

                          Cheers. Owl.
                          Check the ingredients for those finnings as I don't know if there may be some campden already in there...

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            No campden in kwik clear

                            have you added any campden thus far?

                            regards
                            bob
                            N.G.W.B.J.
                            Member of 5 Towns Wine and Beer Makers Society (Yorkshire's newest)
                            Wine, mead and beer maker

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              getting mixed up with mine which is called 'clear it'...

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