# AN EXPERIMENTAL PORT



## Waldo (Sep 2, 2007)

Completed my orders this morning for all the ingrediants to try another Port.


From Elite Vinters there will be 12 litre of a 90% Shiraz and 10% Muscat Blend


From George there will be one can of Vinters Harvest Black Currant and one can of Oregon Rasberry Fruit Puree.


From e-Bay there will be 2lbs. Organic Dried, All Natural Red Bananas and 1lbs. Dried Elderberries.
By volume I will add Spring Water ( Approx 2 gallon) to bring to 6.5 gal level.


I plan on mixing all of the ingrediants, including the dried fruit, let it set for 48 hrs with a Campden and Pectic Enzyme treatment thrown in during this period and then adjust SG to 1.120 . Will then adjust acid level if necessary and pitch a Red Star Pasteur Red yeast to it. 


After fermentation and clearing I plan to bulk age for at least 6 months before bottling. Will also be oaking this one with a French Toast Heavy Toast after clearing has finished and bulk aging begins.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas would be appreciated. Only time will tell if it will turn out a




or be a


----------



## grapeman (Sep 2, 2007)

http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZNHow high will you fortify this one Waldo and with what? If you got real high, will it lose the Muscat flavor? Keep us informed and use that newhttp://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZN

often.





http://smiley.smileycentral.com/download/index.jhtml?partner=ZSzeb096_ZN&amp;utm_id=7924





http://smiley.smileycentral.com/download/index.jhtml?partner=ZSzeb114_ZN&amp;utm_id=7922 *Edited by: appleman *


----------



## Waldo (Sep 2, 2007)

I am hoping that I will not need to fortify this one appleman. I should end fermentation with an abv of 16.0% which I think will be ok. Again, will have to wait and adjust as needed.


----------



## Wade E (Sep 2, 2007)

Sounds good Wally. I might have to try a Port later this year to as Bill B. informed me that Walkers Fruit Farm will be carrying 5 gallon pails of Black Currant juice this year!


----------



## dfwwino (Sep 2, 2007)

You could always sugar feed to a higher level with Lavlin EC-1118 or Premier Cuvee. As I recall, the upper threshold on those yeasts is 18%. I think Pasteur Red is around 16%. In any event, at whatever alcohol level, this experimental port should be pretty tasty looking at the ingrediants. Did you come up with the recipe after a few glasses? It's funny how we all evolve into mad winemakers. As opposed to our commercial brethen, there is great freedom in being a home winemaker.*Edited by: dfwwino *


----------



## Wade E (Sep 2, 2007)

Premier Cuvee will do the same but I think Waldo is going for that fruit forward port which the Pasteur Red will do.


----------



## Waldo (Sep 2, 2007)

You are absolutely correct wade..I want this one to be mysterious, complex but fruit forward on the finish.


----------



## dfwwino (Sep 2, 2007)

If your port is not fruit forward,I don't know what mixture could do it. Let the fermentation begin soon.


----------



## summersolstice (Sep 3, 2007)

Waldo, it must be the time of year to begin thinking about port. I have an RJS Orange Chocolate Port bulk aging and I just started my own experimental port on Friday. I designed a 3.5 gallon batch beginning with a can of Alexander's Burgundy I've had laying around for a few months. I added 15 pounds of frozen and canned Oregon blackberries, 3-4 oz of dried elderberries, nutrient, 20 oz of untoasted American oak and K1V-1116 yeast. SG was 1.110 and I'll feed the primary by stirring in 3 lbs of sugar (mixed with some must first) when it reaches 1.075 and again at 1.040. Looks like this one will require some serious aging!


----------



## Waldo (Sep 7, 2007)

Received my order from George yesterday but had I had received an 
e-mail from Elite Vinters on Tuesday that their blendingequipemt was down for repairs and that they would refund my money or my order would ship out on Monday if I didn't mind waiting. I opted to wait. SO it ill be a a few days yet before I get this one going.


----------



## Wade E (Sep 7, 2007)

In other words, that person called out sick!



Cant wait to follow this thread Waldo as this really sounds like a good one!
*Edited by: wade *


----------



## Waldo (Sep 8, 2007)

Rule G said:


> Waldo, it must be the time of year to begin thinking about port. I have an RJS Orange Chocolate Port bulk aging and I just started my own experimental port on Friday. I designed a 3.5 gallon batch beginning with a can of Alexander's Burgundy I've had laying around for a few months. I added 15 pounds of frozen and canned Oregon blackberries, 3-4 oz of dried elderberries, nutrient, 20 oz of untoasted American oak and K1V-1116 yeast. SG was 1.110 and I'll feed the primary by stirring in 3 lbs of sugar (mixed with some must first) when it reaches 1.075 and again at 1.040. Looks like this one will require some serious aging!




Should be a good one rule. What does the untoasted oak impart to the wine? I have never seen this done before.


----------



## summersolstice (Sep 9, 2007)

> Should be a good one rule. What does the untoasted oak impart to the wine? I have never seen this done before.



Waldo, 

I wanted to attempt to add a little complexity to the final product and I had a small bag of untoasted American oak so I used that. One rarely sees oak added in port recipes but I have occasionally seen it.

Port has traditionally been aged in oak barrels though, I admit, not untoasted American oak and that's why I used such a small amount in the primary.


----------



## Waldo (Sep 9, 2007)

Will be interesting to see how it turns out. Please let us know.


----------



## Waldo (Sep 13, 2007)

I decided to go a different route on this Port. I decided to make the batches seperate..This one ( items from George) and then do the Shiraz/Muscat from Elite Vinters and then do some sample blending after they are both fermented and cleared.


I added one can of Cherry puree to the ingrediants Iordered from George. I also used 6lbs. of clover honey ( from e-bay) to sweeten with so my beginning recipe was the Black Currant, Rasberry, Cherry, mixed well, water to bring to 3.5 gallon level, 3tsp. acid blend, 1tbsp. yeast nutrient, 1 tsp. yeast energizer, 3 campden tabs dissolved with the bananas and elderberries added during fermentation. My beginning SG on this batch was 1.100 with a must temp of 74 degrees. I decided to make the batches seperate..This one and then do the Shiraz/Muscat from Elite Vinters and then do some sample blending agter they are both fermented and cleared. I racked the "Fruit Blend" from primary this morning. 
Hoping to get the order from Elite today. I do have some pictures that I will post later of the "Fruit Blend" fermenting*Edited by: Waldo *


----------



## Waldo (Sep 14, 2007)

A shot of the fermentation in progress. It has since been racked to glass.


----------



## Wade E (Sep 14, 2007)

Racked to glass??????? when did you start this Waldo?????? Why are we just hearing and seeing this now? looks good buddy and I can smell it from here.


----------



## Waldo (Sep 14, 2007)

I pitched the yeast to it last Sunday wade. It has an awesome nose to it right now.


----------



## grapeman (Sep 15, 2007)

Looks good Waldo. Those have got to be the biggest bubbles I have ever seen from yeast. What kind did you use on this one Bazooka?


----------



## Waldo (Sep 16, 2007)

I used the Pasteur Red on this batch appleman. It did do some serious fermenting for a couple of days and then settled down. It may be attributable to the honey I used forraising the SGinstead of sugar*Edited by: Waldo *


----------



## CajunTim (Sep 17, 2007)

Waldo, <?amespace prefix = o ns = "urnchemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /> That sure looks great!




I love the taste of Port. We just came back from California and visited a few winery’s while there. One had what they called a Chocolate Almond. It was one port Chocolate Port and two parts Almond Champagne. What a tasty combo.


----------



## Waldo (Oct 6, 2007)

Racked , degassed and stabilized the Port this morning. I was disappointed in that I could detect only a faint hint of oakiness. It finished at .996 and I am thinking of sweetning later with Splenda. Has anyone used this on their wines? 






*Edited by: Waldo *


----------



## Dean (Oct 6, 2007)

Don't do it Waldo! Splenda, Stevia, etc all seem to break down after 6-8 months and leave the wine tasting quite bad. Jack Keller had a good write up on it. He says that he only uses that stuff if he is going to submit a wine to competition that will be used up with 3 months. I'd think that you would plan to age this port a good long time. I'm not sure if artificial sweetener allows for that type of aging.


----------



## Waldo (Oct 6, 2007)

Thanks Dean......Will forget that idea then.


----------



## Wade E (Oct 6, 2007)

Why dont you throw a few cubes or a spiral in there for a little while Waldo if your looking for a little more oak. Looks dang good there though pardner.


----------



## Waldo (Oct 7, 2007)

Already have wade....went with a Hungarian Dark Toast


----------



## s.arkvinomaker (Oct 13, 2007)

Interesting combination. I especially like the muscat. I've thought about a port also using simular fruit. What Muscat product is that? You may already know about rasberry's but my experience has been alittle goes along ways because it easily dominates but does add a fruityness.


----------



## Waldo (Oct 14, 2007)

Not sure what region the Muscat was from but I purchased it as a blend from Elite Vinters. I know Wiedeker has a good Muscat but not sure if it is from their own grapes or if they them bring them in.


----------



## Waldo (Aug 10, 2008)

Closing the chapter on this one. I ended up notblending the Shiraz/Muscat with this one. I tried a small sample or rather a couple of small samples with different percentages of blend and i just did not care for any of them. I did however save back one gallon of the Port when I bottled it and ordered an Orange and a Chocolate extract, added a bit of each to the gallon until I got the intensity I wanted and bottled it last night. Will definately be making a larger batch of this soon. The extract I used was at the recommendation of a chef who uses their product and highy recommended I try it for my Port, so I did and it was excellent.
















Here is the label I designed for this one












And the final product


----------



## Wade E (Aug 10, 2008)

WOW, the extract really gave it lots of color. Looks good buddy.


----------



## NorthernWinos (Aug 10, 2008)

Waldo....Where did you get those extracts???

Those are yellow bottles aren't they??? A friend brought over some colored wine bottles....red, yellow, blue....They picked them up at a garage sale and I wondered what came in them..there was no labels on them.


----------



## Waldo (Aug 10, 2008)

er uh, the bottles are yellow wade






I got the extracts NW from
https://secure.techxpress.net/cooksvanilla.com/story.html*Edited by: Waldo *


----------



## Wade E (Aug 10, 2008)

OOOPPPSSS, loooked quick and it looked like OJ. Now i see they are the Luna Luna bottles!


----------



## NorthernWinos (Aug 10, 2008)

Waldo said:


> er uh, the bottles are yellow wade
> 
> 
> 
> ...



They have a nice selection of products....The chocolate has vanilla in it...wonder how that would be in some red wine????


----------

