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I've been making wine (mostly red) at home for about a year now and find that even though I ferment them dry I still find them to taste too much like fresh fruit. Any thoughts on getting to that aged almost leathery profile that I prefer?

Eric Goodwin
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I've only made a handful of wines, so am no expert, but you might want to look into regulating the acidity, which has a pronounced affect on flavour, and also adding tannins, since these also contribute to the structure of the wine. (For the "leathery" taste you most likely need more tannins - no coincidence - tannin used to be used to produce leather.)

This article, Difference between tannins and acidity describes the roles these compounds play and why they are important in wine.

To get a feel for the flavours and other contributions, pour 4-6 glasses and add different amounts of acid and tannins to each to see the effect.

mdma
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    you may also want to experiment with adding oak to your red wines, most red wines are aged in oak barrels. – Mattress Jan 26 '12 at 22:14
  • Also try fermenting at a warmer temperature, if you ferment your wine at cooler temps it will end up more fruity, I'm assuming this has something to do with ester formation and vigorous ferments. – Mattress Apr 17 '12 at 19:36
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You can age them. I'm guessing that you are drinking them way too young. Well I don't really have to guess since you said 'them' and that you have only been making wine for about a year. A wine without age could be considered too fruity.

suprchunk
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Possibly using too much fruit, try reducing the fruit to around 6lb a UK Gallon.

HLA91
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