On Sunday, I was finally able to bottle the Riesling and the Merlot that had been fining in the cellar. Both wines could use some aging (couple of days)… or a couple months.
The Riesling offers a nice floral bouquet when you first approach it, then gives you a quick burst of acid on the tongue when sipped. It is defintely a dry, medium body wine with a lingering acidic taste (at least for now). The Merlot, has not yet got much complexity. It has a fruity aroma, with a semi-sweet and somewhat smooth mouthfeel. The finish is rather short, but very drinkable.
I was able to get 29 bottles of each wine this time around. I’ve found that I’m not in favor of topping off the carboy before bottling. I think that adding even a slight amount of water thins the body of the wine out too much. I’d rather sacrifice one bottle per batch to get a more robust wine.
