What is a good way (or what are good ingredients) to add a nice tannic element to a wine?
Thanks!
Liquid tannin extract is available and is easiest. Also there are wine kits available “with skins”. The grape skins have a lot of tannin so you could purposely seek out kits that include the skins. Also there are many other fruits besides grapes that have a lot of tannin in the skins, including crabapples, black currants, etc. You could try adding ~2 pounds whole fruit or fruit skins per gallon of juice to try to get more tannin into the wine.
Personally I don’t make much wine, however I am a cider enthusiast. If I wanted a lot of tannin, I’d add a couple pounds of tiny crabapples, which are available in autumn all over the place, such as in my in-laws’ yard, or the yards of banks, stores, hotels, you name it… very easy to find.
Or, I just use the liquid extract which is very easy – if memory serves, the extract is actually made from wood or walnut shells. I guess you could try actual walnut shells or acorns or something like that if you wanted to do something a bit wacky. However then some experimentation would be required to get the right amount.
Good luck.
Thanks so much, Dave! I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open for crabapples come fall!
