Can good brandy be made from bad wine?
I am a nu-bee small producer that started out as a winery. Over the years I accumulated over two hundred barrels of flawed wines that were not fit to be bottled. I ignored these barrels of bad wine for several years. When it came time to move my facility, I opened some of the barrels. I was amazed that the wine (although badly oxidized) was not vinegar.Now licensed as a DSP , I have been using this badly oxidized wine to make neutral grape spirit (190 proof) and some amazing Vodka. Needless to say, the head and tail cuts are quite large but I can produce extremely clean hearts. The Vodka requires an additional pass through the plated column but emerges super smooth with just enough wine character to be very pleasing.
I start by using a 26 gal. compound still (4" SS column with copper packing and a reflux condenser) as a stripper. The low wines produced are not appetizing . Then I re distill using a 26 gal. 4" ten plate copper reflux column. The heart cut from this spirit run is flavorful in its own way, but it doesn't speak "BRANDY" to me.
My question is, can oxidized wines make a decent barrel aged brandy? When I am sampling the collection jars, the rejects smell and taste of paint thinner, nail polish, etc.. The heart tastes and smells wonderful but seems "too clean" to make an interesting brandy. I don't want to waste a lot of time putting neutral spirit into barrels if all I am going to get is barrel extract.
Your experiences would be greatly appreciated.