Folk solera

[Old_timer]

I am going to replicate my grandfather's wine making. It is a bit unusual. Solera cask would have some very old wine with new wine because it never gets emptied but I need some ideas. I imagine he never added yeast unless it was bread yeast and relied on wild fermentation.

With modern wine making what yeast leaves provides the least off flavor? I prefer lavlin but I am not set on the brand.

Has anyone restarted fermentation after fin a wine?

Are there any concerns of starting a wine in a large 6 gallon bucket with only 1 gallon?

How much oak is recommended for 6 gallons? It will stay in the container indefinitely.

I have oaked whiskey but never wine. Should I quick sanitize or soak the oak?

 

[Obbnw]

I am going to replicate my grandfather's wine making. It is a bit unusual. Solera cask would have some very old wine with new wine because it never gets emptied but I need some ideas. I imagine he never added yeast unless it was bread yeast and relied on wild fermentation.

With modern wine making what yeast leaves provides the least off flavor? I prefer lavlin but I am not set on the brand.

Has anyone restarted fermentation after fin a wine?

Are there any concerns of starting a wine in a large 6 gallon bucket with only 1 gallon?

How much oak is recommended for 6 gallons? It will stay in the container indefinitely.

I have oaked whiskey but never wine. Should I quick sanitize or soak the oak?

I don't have an opinion on most of your questions but I did take a batch of last years wine that I didn't like and added the leftovers from this years press along with some water, acid, and sugar then fermented it dry. Which isn't much different than what you describe. The pressings would have had live yeast though. (pressed at about SG 1.01).

I had sulphited last years wine last winter but it didn't seem to hinder the ferment.

Preliminary results are that it did get a little better but still isn't good right now - maybe a little more age....

I had the carboy space this year, so spending the $8 or so dollars in sugar seemed like a low risk venture. At worst I lose a few dollars and some time...

 

[Hazelemere]

If you go this route do it with a sherry recipe e.g. pitted Italian prune plums, figs and raisins to 18% alcohol and then topped up to get to 20% alcohol e.g. with Drambuie, Metaxa, Demerara Rum or Grand Marnier. If you can get frozen Palomino grapes then use those with or without figs and/or raisins and or dried elderberries. Doing it with anything other than a sherry recipe will give you a train wreck IMHO. If you can find anyone who sells pitted frozen Italian prune plums I would go that route. If you find them, I'll help you with the recipe if you want me to. (or frozen Palomino grape juice). EC-1118 is the yeast to use for this. You can even do it with just figs, raisins and elderberries.

 

[winemanden]

I tried it on a small scale (1gall), just wine, no fortification. I did it just to save the odd 1/2 litre left after bottling. I just used to syphon off the equivalent amount and top off the demijohn. The taste varied each time due to different wine added. I did it for a couple of years. It was OK but nothing special, interesting though.
Windmill winery, not far from where I live, used to do it with their odd bits, just for their own consumption.

As an afterthought, if you're going to do it on a larger scale, you will be better off blending!