Has anyone found the following details on "balance in wine" to hold true for Mead??
(Obviously this only applies to where the mead is unbalanced, or you add tannin to mead or the mead has some tannin)
This implies:
(Obviously this only applies to where the mead is unbalanced, or you add tannin to mead or the mead has some tannin)
Summary from French enologist Emile Peynaud, in his book "The Taste of Wine"
* a wine tolerates acidity better when its alcohol content is higher
* a considerable amount of tannin is more acceptable if acidity is low and alcohol is high
and
* the less tannic a wine is, the more acidity it can support
* the higher a red wine is in tannins, the lower should be its acidity
* the combination of high acid and high tannins make for the hardest and most astringent wines
(from http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/faculty/acree/fs430/lectures/pb04balance.html)
This implies:
- avoiding adding tannin to acidic mead.
- Overly tannic mead could be "improved" by increasing alcohol content or adding glycerin for mouthfeel, or blending to reduce acidity, or ...
- Acidic mead could be "improved" by some combination of sweetening, carbonating, or increasing the alcohol content (and blending to reduce acidity) - but DON'T add tannin