Q. After eight months in a small barrel (2.5 gallon/10 L), my hybrid field blend that was smooth and full-bodied suddenly tastes like strawberries instead of the luscious, full-bodied cherry it tasted like two weeks ago. My first thought was that it could be due to topping up with last year’s wine, which has more Mars grape in the mix. But why so suddenly? Could it be due to accumulating tannin polymerization? And would bâtonnage to increase mannoproteins, or the addition of inactivated yeast gum arabic, glycerin, or something else be worth a try?
Steven Waring
Via email

A. Without tasting the wine with you myself, it’s difficult to say exactly why it seems to have made such a sudden shift from rich cherry fruit to something more strawberry-like.

Your topping wine certainly could be part of the equation, especially in a barrel as small as 2.5 gallons (10 L). In a vessel that size, what seems like a modest topping addition can represent a meaningful percentage of the total volume. If last year’s wine has a noticeably different varietal composition and fruit profile, repeated topping additions could gradually steer the blend in that direction. 

That said, I wouldn’t assume the topping wine is solely responsible. Wine can change surprisingly quickly during élevage. We tend to imagine maturation as a smooth, gradual progression, but sensory development rarely behaves so neatly. Aroma compounds are interacting, tannins are evolving, oxygen is entering the wine in very small amounts, and the balance among fruit, acidity, oak, alcohol, and texture continues to shift.

Your thought about tannin polymerization is certainly reasonable. As tannins and other phenolic compounds evolve, our perception of both texture and fruit can change. A wine that once seemed broad, dark-fruited, and weighty may temporarily seem lighter or more red-fruited as its structure rearranges itself. I’m not sure I would attribute a specific cherry-to-strawberry transition directly to tannin polymerization, however. Sensory changes in wine are usually the result of several things happening at once rather than one tidy chemical mechanism.

Before reaching for any intervention, I’d give the wine some time. Eight months is not particularly old for a red wine, and two weeks is an extremely short window in its development. I’ve tasted plenty of young wines that seemed completely different from one tasting to the next, only to come back around a few weeks later. Sometimes the smartest winemaking intervention is simply observation.

For now, make sure the barrel is properly topped, check your sulfur dioxide and general wine health, and take good tasting notes. Pay attention not just to whether the fruit reads as “cherry” or “strawberry,” but also to aroma intensity, acidity, tannin, mouthfeel, finish, and signs of oxidation or microbial activity.

I’d also hold off on the mannoproteins, inactivated yeast products, gum arabic, glycerin, and other finishing tools you mention. Those are generally more appropriate later in a wine’s life, often as you’re preparing it for bottling and making final adjustments to mouthfeel and integration. They’re not what I’d reach for in the middle of normal barrel aging, especially when the wine is only eight months old.

Right now, I think this wine needs a little more time to grow up and figure out who it’s going to become. It sounds like it may simply be going through a bit of a “finding itself” phase. As a mom of teenagers, I completely understand.