Black currant port.

[seth8530]

Congrats on the new toys! Just got a Port. corker myself a few months ago - so much better than the two lever handheld.

Oh yes I agree a floor corKer hands down beats a hand held model.
. Pics are on the way!

 

[seth8530]

First off I would like to thank you all for your help in this project. Everything y'all have said has been very encouraging and I do my best to consider every suggestion. Second, comes a small story.

A few days ago we decided to go ahead and bottle the port inspired fortified wine. We had a crew of three people working on it so we managed to make a great time of it. The corker worked like a dream and all was well.

Yesterday, we decided we were going to be classy people and do a little bit of a throw back. We made ourselves some wax, melted it and then waxed our caps.... That was when all the fun started... It seems that when you have enough hotwax on the neck of the bottles for long enough it can heat up the airspace inside thus increasing the pressure due to volume being held constants... The results can be observed below.....



Thankfully, this only happened with four of my bottles and they are all holding steady right now so I do not believe it was due to CO2 or renewed fermentation. So, a few pictures of the finished products are down below.

 

[roadwarriorsvt]

Very nice. Did you ever work for Makers Mark? Haha

 

[Boatboy24]

I like the wax touch. Very nice. I'm happy to hear you didn't have a full batch of bottle bombs.

 

[seth8530]

Thanks guys, and no I never worked at makers mark however the resemblance is astonishing. I used a 20 glue stick to 12 crayon ratio.. However, I feel like some extra crayons might help out a bit.

 

[seth8530]

So, last night during a rather heavy night of drinking someone convinced me to open up one of my bottles of port. We tasted it and at the time thought it was amazing. Fortunately, we did not finish the bottle.

I am tasting it right now. The things I notice are:

1) A slightly sweet smokey oak dark berry taste.
2) Some light vanilla notes
3) A nice lingering flavour, with a nice mouthfill with the oak contributing an almost dry mouth feel.

The ammount this port has changed in a couple of months is astonishing. I can not wait to see how this thing changes with time. Do any of you know of a competition I could enter this into so I could get some nice feedback?

 

[ckassotis]

WineMaker magazine, wines due in by March 15th for competition:
http://www.winemakermag.com/competition

Probably one or two others as well but haven't had the chance to look. Been stupidly busy lately. Good luck!

 

[seth8530]

If they will let me submit in 375ml bottles instead of 750 ml I might be tempted to compete in that one.

 

[ckassotis]

Yep! Pretty much any competition will allow for dessert style wines to be submitted in 375s rather than 750. The only question normally is whether they ask for 1 or 2 bottles. It looks like 1 for this one.

 

[seth8530]

Yeah, I tried calling them to get in contact with them about it but never really found anyone to get ahold of.. Have you ever competed in this competition?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Yes, its a point system so there can be multiple winners in each category. You may want to enter your into the fruit wine catagory instead of the port since its not a real port and anything that is not a classical port confuses them, but as a fruit wine you shouldnt have any problem. WVMJ

 

[seth8530]

Ahh, not that would be an idea.. I wounder if the fortification process would disqualify me though... Do you know of any other competitions that are coming up?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Go out to their site and check out the catagories, you might find a better one. I dont do a lot of comps, my wine is to valuable to me to be shipping it all over the country for a medal so we only do a couple of the big comps each year. Better get on it though, the time is running out fast on winemakersmag comp. WVMJ

Ahh, not that would be an idea.. I wounder if the fortification process would disqualify me though... Do you know of any other competitions that are coming up?

 

[seth8530]

Ok, I think I will find somewhere to stick it in on their comp.. How is their feedback?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

They have like 4000 entries so dont expect much more than some sparse comments, they give you a checksheet that they use for figuring out the points. WVMJ

 

[seth8530]

Well, a check list isnt bad i guess. Do you think i should enter it under other fortified or under berry fruit?

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Seth, I have never entered a real fortified wine so cant help. WVMJ

 

[ckassotis]

Most competitions would require you to enter under the port/fortified category. Not sure if these rules would require that or not, but I would definitely enter it under port. As for whether this competition is good, it might be one of the best ones to enter. Perhaps less feedback, but 4000-5000 entries means you will get truly unbiased feedback on your wines relative to a lot of other people in the country.

 

[jimmyjames23]

Imagine how I feel. Everytime I go to my cellar I pass a barrel of port that has been aging for 5 years.
I haven't touched it, looked at it, smelled it or opened it since early 2008.
2015 will be a good year.

 

[seth8530]

Most competitions would require you to enter under the port/fortified category. Not sure if these rules would require that or not, but I would definitely enter it under port. As for whether this competition is good, it might be one of the best ones to enter. Perhaps less feedback, but 4000-5000 entries means you will get truly unbiased feedback on your wines relative to a lot of other people in the country.

Hmm, I think I will try to get my submission in the mail soon then. Why do you recommend the port category vs other fortified?

Imagine how I feel. Everytime I go to my cellar I pass a barrel of port that has been aging for 5 years.
I haven't touched it, looked at it, smelled it or opened it since early 2008.
2015 will be a good year.

Hehe, are you talking about that port kit you started a long while back? I intend on keeping some of my "port" around for the next few years. However, I am not sure if it would do as well as yours during the 5 year time period because mine is technically fruit based while I believe yours is grape and raisin? Either way, major respects to you.