Other On ports, to kill off by adding ethanol, or have big % brix in must...

[SDO]

I have a rather good tasting syrah based port batch @ 35% brix going, now down to 18% brix after
about 6 days. Pitch was dual, 212 10 g and 1118 10 g, all at 85 F and kept there for 3 days. Then let
to cool for more smoothness, less complexity and now at 70 (room temp) F. Degassing and punch down
was daily, as was SNA even though with 6 lbs of skins, and 40 g of seeds, don't think was necessary. I
was being sure to give the beasties enough nutrients IMHO.

So, the question. Why is the industry stuck on cutting product with ethanol when cold crashing
can and does do mostly the same things as poisoning the yeast to death before % ABV is reached?
Just flavors, timing, storage/costs to produce and get to market? In the hobby why not just do a huge
must like 35-36% brix and let the yeast do the talking? Side by side comparison, studies? I have found nearly zero googling.

Any input on port production is most welcomed. What I have now is pretty sweet, ~10 % sugar. I like heavy dessert wines.

 

[Jeriatric]

Just guessing here, but I think maybe largely it was developed as a style. Historically without refrigeration, fortifying was a good way to do it.Then this is aged again in oak, which carry all sorts of microbes in the wood, coupled with the hotter climates from the Mediterranean. Would be a good conditions to referment or for something else to grow. The ageing process adds it's own flavour profile. So fortifying was a great way to achieve microbial stability.
In the modern context of why it is still done is probably they are making the wines to a style. There has been a continuing shrinking market for sweet fortified wine though. Examples of non-fortified sweet wines are common now but I think without the ageing process and blending of older wines it is hard to achieve similar results. In this instance it is still easier to fortify and essentially having a fairly stable product ageing instead of lower alcohol wine with a ton of sugar left sitting in barrels.

 

[winemaker81]

Why is the industry stuck on cutting product with ethanol when cold crashing
can and does do mostly the same things as poisoning the yeast to death before % ABV is reached?

Emphasis mine. The "mostly" part is the problem -- cold stabilization does not kill yeast, nor does it filter yeast out. When the wine warms up, most likely it will restart fermentation.

In the hobby why not just do a huge
must like 35-36% brix and let the yeast do the talking?

Because the results are inconsistent. Yeast is a living entity and it varies -- when a strain is rated at 15% ABV tolerance, that's a laboratory average. In reality, it can easily vary from 14% to 16% (or more), so the point where a yeast dies off is a guess.

Starting with a high brix can produce problems, both in getting the yeast to start and in avoiding a stuck fermentation part way through. Most folks on this forum will step feed to get a high natural ABV, e.g., folks have reported step feeding EC-1118 to 20% ABV, although it's rated for 18%.

The recommendation on this forum is to ferment a wine dry, stabilize (sorbate + K-meta, age 9+ month, or add spirits), then backsweeten to taste. Keep in mind that large wineries have hundreds or thousands of barrels, and the wine you drink is a result of selected blending. You have typically 1 container, and you get what you get.

I created a Port-style wine in December from barrel aged 2021 wines. My goal was more like a vintage Port, but it came out more like a Ruby Port. From my POV it worked, so I'll do it again.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/2021-port/