Backing into a Port?

[JamesdNorcal]

Hi - I’m still thinking about a small batch of port with my barbera I just started primary ferm on.

I talked to a wine maker who makes a barbera desert/port wine. He says he ferments the barbera dry then adds concentrate and grape spirits in the back-end and ages 18 mos in oak.

Here’s my rough #’s..

4 gal dry barbera at 15% abv
.4 gal of barbera or zin concentrate at 68 brix
.4 gal of grape spirits at 85% abv

this comes out to a 4.8 gals of port around 6% residual sugar and 20% abv.

This seems a lot more flexible/easier than trying to stop the fermentation at a certain brix point by adding brandy or grape spirits.

just curious if anyone has done the backing into the port method and the pro’s/con’s vs. stopping the fermentation method?

 

[CoteRotie]

I got some Zin grapes years ago that were really high sugar, I think 28+ degrees brix. I decided that instead of diluting with tartaric+water, I'd see if I could ferment to dryness. I picked a very high alcohol tolerant yeast, I don't remember which one, and it fermented dry with no problems.

It was about 18% abv when done. It wasn't balanced as a dry red, but I sterile filtered and added back some sugar and it made an awesome Zin port.

The pros of this method are that you don't need to source high proof grape spirits, and you can adjust the amount of sugar you add back with tasting trials. (Which is harder when trying to stop an active fermentation with spirits.)

The cons are that it's not really a traditional method, and fermentation could restart unless you sterile filter or use sorbate.

 

[user 36973]

I like to ferment my blackberry wine completely before adding spirits and more sugar. It dilutes the flavors less than having to dump in a lot of spirits during the active fermentation. I feel that it makes a more intense dessert wine

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Hers is a presentation I did about making Port style wines = How to make Port Style Wines - All in One Wine Pump