Anyone attempted a port?

[Snafflebit]

I have seen a number of port kits, but I would like to hear about the experience of making port from scratch. Anyone tried it yet? Buying the brandy is the expensive part, is my guess.

I hope to be able to talk to a small distiller of brandy who specializes in this.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I make a real port from scratch all the time.....just racked a 6 gallon batch of blackberry today..
what you wan to know.....

 

[jamesngalveston]

If you have not done any research, this is perhaps the best article to read, and it will tell you how to test for residual sugar and how to use the pearsons square.

http://winemakermag.com/427-luscious-port-wine

 

[vacuumpumpman]

here are some nice past posts to check out

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f84/fortifying-port-kit-41614/

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f6/everclear-fortify-port-35107/

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f6/thinking-about-making-some-port-34777/

 

[Polarhug]

I did a wonderful port from canned Cab Sauv concentrate, frozen berries, and also from kits. Read those threads up and you'll be making some in no time!

 

[JohnT]

I make a port whenever the mood strikes. The problem is that the fortifier is expensive.

Not much into sweet wines, but I seem to enjoy homemade.

Advise you to get familiar with the Pearson's Square.

 

[jamesngalveston]

they started using brandy for ports because they had lots of wine, and it was on hand to distill to make the brandy.
You can use any liqour, vodka,whiskey,everclear, ....any thing neutral in spirit .

 

[Snafflebit]

I had two points of curiosity about the ports people are making.

Are you making ports with the intention to age them like a tawny port where it gets oxidized, or is the port intended to be a sweet, fortified wine to be enjoyed young?

Thanks for the links to Pearson Square. It led me to look at calculating concentrations of solutions, molarity and all the other stuff I have forgotten from chemistry. The brandy needed to raise 15% wine to 20% port is quite a bit. I was talking to a winemaker about ports. The ones he has made were simply a way to recycle a batch of failed wine by having it distilled to brandy (or something closer to Everclear) and using it to fortify some other wine, probably with a high Brix. Whatever it takes to save money.

 

[jamesngalveston]

A true tawny port has to be in a cask for at least 10 years...I am not making that...i may not even be here in 10 years.

A fortified wine is wine that has went dry with no fermentation and then has additional alcohol added.Most are backsweetened.

A port style wine is wine that has the addition of spirits 1/2 of the way to fermenting dry.It never ferments dry....but leaves sugar for the sweetness and does not need back sweetened.

Vintage ports can be aged from12 to 40 years are longer.

 

[jvbutter]

I had two points of curiosity about the ports people are making.

Are you making ports with the intention to age them like a tawny port where it gets oxidized, or is the port intended to be a sweet, fortified wine to be enjoyed young?.

for me I make a Port Cab. I usually get cab grapes / juice from my local guy I get all my grapes from, I add good high alcohol yeast and keep adding in the sugar until it stops. then rack off. I don't normally fortify as most ports do. This year Cab was not good season, I will be using a kit, and thinking of using some of my buddys shine to fortify 1/2 of it.

 

[KenS]

I just started a Chocolate Orange Port (WE), so have been reading all of these port threads with interest, especially the topic of how to fortify.

Found this article on the web that was quite informative; thought some of you might find it interesting.

 

[seth8530]

I have a pretty lengthy thread on a black currant "port" that I have attempted. It is still aging right now but it must be nearing 20 months old by now.


http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f6/black-currant-port-30246/

 

[jamesngalveston]

seth, was that from a kit, are fresh currants.

 

[seth8530]

Somewhere in between. I used currant concentrate made by the people who make canned fruit good for winemakers.

 

[Boatboy24]

I started a blueberry port from fresh fruit this summer. Obviously, it's still WAY early, but I've been happy with the progress so far. Recipe, and updates can be found in the country wine forum. It's based on Keller's recipe.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I just started a Chocolate Orange Port (WE), so have been reading all of these port threads with interest, especially the topic of how to fortify.

Found this article on the web that was quite informative; thought some of you might find it interesting.

I started a WE chocolate orange port about 10 days ago. With some guidance from JamesnGalveston I decided to abandon the 'port style' and go for true port by fortifying it with 2 gallons of brandy. The brandy was added at day 6 and I will do the 1st racking tomorrow. So far, so good.

 

[KenS]

I started a WE chocolate orange port about 10 days ago. With some guidance from JamesnGalveston I decided to abandon the 'port style' and go for true port by fortifying it with 2 gallons of brandy. The brandy was added at day 6 and I will do the 1st racking tomorrow. So far, so good.

I read through your discussion on that, and was considering doing the same thing. But since this is my first attempt at port, I decided to follow the kit instructions to the end, then fortify using brandy as explained here. Maybe I'll do a second batch, and try it the other way to compare. I think fortifying it afterward will allow me to use less brandy to keep more of the wine flavors, as I don't have to worry about stopping fermentation, and I don't need to bring the abv up too high.

Looking forward to hearing about your results though!

 

[shoebiedoo]

I had two points of curiosity about the ports people are making.

Are you making ports with the intention to age them like a tawny port where it gets oxidized, or is the port intended to be a sweet, fortified wine to be enjoyed young?

Thanks for the links to Pearson Square. It led me to look at calculating concentrations of solutions, molarity and all the other stuff I have forgotten from chemistry. The brandy needed to raise 15% wine to 20% port is quite a bit. I was talking to a winemaker about ports. The ones he has made were simply a way to recycle a batch of failed wine by having it distilled to brandy (or something closer to Everclear) and using it to fortify some other wine, probably with a high Brix. Whatever it takes to save money.

I made a pretty good port out of a stalled batch of Brunello. I fortified it with 190 proof everclear so it wouldnt dilute the natural flavor. I just used Grape Concentrate to back sweeten. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I read through your discussion on that, and was considering doing the same thing. But since this is my first attempt at port, I decided to follow the kit instructions to the end, then fortify using brandy as explained here. Maybe I'll do a second batch, and try it the other way to compare. I think fortifying it afterward will allow me to use less brandy to keep more of the wine flavors, as I don't have to worry about stopping fermentation, and I don't need to bring the abv up too high.

Looking forward to hearing about your results though!

I racked it to the secondary yesterday after a week with the brandy addition. I was surprised at how little I could taste the brandy. If at all. There is plenty of good grape flavor in there and a beautiful deep purple color. I'll rack it again in another week or so then add the fpak. Since the fermentation is at a halt, I don't believe I'll need to worry about adding sorbate. If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please chime in.

 

[wood1954]

I made a port style this year with wild plums and wild grapes. I used the EC-1118 yeast and kept feeding it until it died. It seemed like the wild grape fermented to 20% and the plum to 18% according to my SG calculator. I fixed at at an SG of 1020. This way i didn't have to spend money on brandy. I think they'll both be worth drinking, the plum is about ready now and the grape next year.