Christmas sweet wine?

[RonObvious]

So I'm trying to craft a very small batch of sweet wine and have it ready by this Christmas. I've never done a dessert wine before so I'm wondering if those of you with more experience in the matter can help me guide it down the right path.

A little more info: This past weekend we picked up 8 carboys of juice, all of which were very generously filled right up into the necks of the carboys. I knew that if I didn't remove a little juice from each, they would overflow into the airlocks and make a mess when fermentation began. I took a few ounces of juice out of each one and unscientifically dumped all this excess into a 1-gallon glass carboy I had lying around. I ended up with about 3/4 gallon of mixed juice, which is about 50% Seyval Blanc, 40% Aromella, and 10% Marquette. A true hodge podge! I threw some yeast in with it and figured that the wife and I might have a few bottles of mongrel rose to drink one day.

A few days later and it's bubbling away happily now. But then I gets to thinkin' - I've always wanted to make a sweet, high alcohol dessert wine for the holidays and put it in 375 ml bottles. So I'm wondering if I can intervene with my little experiment and make a good sweet wine out of it in the next few months?

I'm thinking of adding more sugar now to get it up to about 35 brix or so (realizing that some of the sugar has already been consumed by the yeast, so I'll have to go by calculations based on the initial brix, which was about 19). Also maybe oak it generously or use oak tannin such as Tannin Riche to create a bold vanilla character. I'm unclear about whether I should fortify it or not, and if so, with how much. Advice and comments are appreciated!

 

[salcoco]

rather than add the sugar all at once I would suggest step feeding it. make a sugar syrup so it would already be dissolved when you add it. syrup is two cup sugar to one cup hot water mix in a blender. monitor the fermentation once sg =1010 add one cup of syrup raise the sg to about 1020. monitor again until 1010 again add 1 cup sugar continue util yeast dies out.check the tolerance on your yeast if you used EC1118 can achieve 20% abv then sweeten to taste, oaking may take away flavor desired for a dessert wine.

 

[RonObvious]

Thanks salcoco, that makes sense about the step feeding. I used RC212 yeast, which I see has an alcohol tolerance of 16%. I actually have a packet of EC1118 on hand. Maybe I can throw that in too? The more the merrier, right? I'm curious what you mean about oak taking away the flavor desired for desert wine. Can you elaborate?

 

[salcoco]

dessert wine usually is looking for fruit flavor. oak can add sufficient tannin that it can overcome this flavor. if you desire to use oak please closely monitor by taste test so that you do not over oak. adding additional yest will not improve your chances. step feeding will allows the tolerance of the yeast to be exceeded. in your case I would not be surprised if it reached 18%. make sure you have added yeast nutrient.

 

[RonObvious]

Yup, yeast nutrient is in there already. So step feeding increases alcohol tolerance? Kinda like the frog in boiling water?

I think I see where you're coming from with the oak, that the excess tannin may get in the way of the fruit. Makes sense now that I think about it. I'd hate to over oak it and have it taste like sucking on a tea bag. Any other ideas for how to make it "interesting?" Keep in mind it's only a 1 gallon experiment, so I'm not too concerned if it comes out weird. How about fortification?

 

[NorCal]

If you want a port style wine, you can wait until the wine hits 7-5 brix and arrest fermentation by adding enough brandy to bring the ABV to 20%.

 

[salcoco]

staying with a dessert wine or even a port wine, step feeding will get you in the vicinity of both at 16% yeast tolerance. I see no need for fortification. I believe that the wine will have rose` color to if I read your blend correctly. you might want to consider adding fruit flavors such as strawberry post fermentation. you will need to due taste test of the finished product first once wine has cleared so not to have competing. flavors. Seyval Blanc may give you lemon grass flavors.

 

[RonObvious]

Thanks for the suggestions all. So I guess I'm going to step feed and skip fortification. Yes, the wine does indeed have a rosé color to it. Or to be more precise, it currently has a beautiful candy-cane red color, which is what got me thinking about Christmas wine. I know this color will probably change but I really hope it doesn't!