I've been having this terrible recurring urge.

It's been there before, but it kind of rekindled when there was a question about wines with eucalyptus notes.

I thought, "You know, you could just buy some eucalyptus oil, or grab some leaves, and see what sort of impact they could impart on a wine."

You know, a little home chemistry.

Well, then I started thinking that in these days of Two Buck Chuck, it might be "interesting" to do some aftermarket tweaks and see what sort of "improvements" one may be able to bring about.

Maybe adding a little tannic acid? Scraping the crispy part off some "pain grille" into a wine and letting it sit for a while and then filtering it? Some after market oak chips? Toasted oak chips? A little activated charcoal and see what happens? Maybe some essence of currant, or "clean dirt?"

Kind of like in that episode of Northern Exposure where Eve recreates a fine wine with ingredients on hand.

Have any of y'all ever tried that? Have you ever 'adulterated' your vino?

I've done some home wine/wine "blending," but I've never given full thought to the "wine act that dare not speak its name."

No websites seem to be dedicated to this, so I was just wondering if this kind of thing has ever crossed your mind.

How blasphemous! How dare you talk about sullying a pristine bottle of the nectar of the gods. This fool isn't wood chipping, but he isn't worried about being stuck down by lighting at the mere thought of insulting the wine dieties: clicky.

Spice infused wines were apparently common at some point. Bonny Doon has played with it more recently. Bargetto sell their mead with a spice bag - we drank some cold once with a bag in each glass. Interesting experiencing a full range of infusion strength, then diluting by "freshening up" the glass when it got too strong.

For any of the avid ski people out there, aren't we talking of "mulled wine" here.

This has been going on for decades at most ski resorts, and I had my first mulled wine as a student in 1979. The only difference is that these wines are consumed warm.

You know, I kind of meant it as looking for ways to take inferior wine and create a facsimile of a better wine.

Trying be Dr. Frankenwine and turning Charles Shaw into La Tour!

(Seriously, not that I think that is possible! Just thinking about whether we could enhance things like 'structure' or 'balance' or 'prolong the finish,' so to speak.)

Hey, how about adding glycerin?

OK, I gotta go learn some stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by The Cabernet of Doctor Caligari:
You know, I kind of meant it as looking for ways to take inferior wine and create a facsimile of a better wine.

All together now! "Email Petrus Labels!"

why experiment when you just need to buy one of those pocket widgets with the magic dot, or special magnet, or magic beans, or whatever, and use those. They're guarenteed to work and make all wines better.

not

quote:

Originally posted by finz:
why experiment when you just need to buy one of those pocket widgets with the magic dot, or special magnet, or magic beans, or whatever, and use those. They're guarenteed to work and make all wines better.

not

I also like Hi Fi, and those people are well entrenched in that hobby.

Luckily, wine lovers are OK with blind tasting/testing.

In audio, they'll argue along the lines of, "That 600 dollar magic dot (one use only) on your bottle will make that cab taste as good as the current release Silver Oak Napa!" And people will buy it!

quote:

Originally posted by DoktaP:
For any of the avid ski people out there, aren't we talking of "mulled wine" here.

This has been going on for decades at most ski resorts, and I had my first mulled wine as a student in 1979. The only difference is that these wines are consumed warm.

No, those are cooked and fortified. He's talking more subtle.

Adding eucalyptus would be the same as if nature delivered the oil to the grape skins in the vineyard.

With my mead example, tannins were readily infused from the spice bags. That should be true with any tea or dried herb.

I think he's a little closer than he thinks to what some wineries actually do. Tannin powder, grape concentrate, acidification, etc.

How about a little vanilla?

I'd suggest looking for a decent unoaked red to play with.

I have daydreamed about making a completely synthetic wine with readily available ingredients, either trial-and-error, or, if I want to get really ambitious, using analytical chemistry techniques.

Example: Recipe for simulated sauternes:

Ingredients:

Distilled water
High-quality vodka (with wood chips soaking in it in advance) to make final alcohol 12-14%
Honey (experiment with different types)
Food-grade glycerine
Acid (malic, tartaric, citric, or a combination -- all readily available)
Trace amounts of the following:
Vanilla extract
Citrus extract
Almond and/or hazelnut extract
To simulate an older wine -- add some caramel color and/or molasses
If it needs something more -- infuse with spices in a teabag.

So, who wants to try it and report some results?

\

Pretty good! Don't forget the peach and citrus essences. I used to date a woman who worked as a sales rep for a company that made "flavors" for the food industry and medical industry. She also had an Oenology degree. Dangerous combo, .

something about 'making a silk purse out of a sows ear' ?????