Fortified Wine/Port Question

2 weeks ago, I began racking 5 gallons of various wines made with baker's yeast (elderberry, damson & apple). I fortified them with a bit of rum and a bit of brandy to taste (about 1 Cup of alcohol each to a 4.5 liter demijohn). I also added a sugar syrup to sweeten it to my taste. I like it quite sweet.

I fortified it because it was my first time making wine and I didn't know that baker's yeast would not survive higher alcohol levels. I wanted it to be a bit stronger than it was. When I first added the brandy and spiced rum, it tasted lovely. Now after it has been clearing for a couple of weeks, it has started to taste really strong in alcohol.

Will this flavor balance out over time or have I ruined it? It is drinkable but it does taste like it has too much alcohol in it. It is still early days... will this flavor get better with age?

After doing the math you probably did not increase the abv that much. I don't know what proof rum you used but if it was 80 Proof and the wine was at about 12 %, then adding 1 cup to 4.5 liters would only raise the abv to about 13.4%. Maybe that is enough to notice but it could be something else your tasting.

Thig said:

After doing the math you probably did not increase the abv that much. I don't know what proof rum you used but if it was 80 Proof and the wine was at about 12 %, then adding 1 cup to 4.5 liters would only raise the abv to about 13.4%. Maybe that is enough to notice but it could be something else your tasting.

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It was Captain Morgan Spiced Rum. It is around 70 proof. The brandy was around 40%. What else could it be that I am tasting? Do I need to make adjustments? Thank you for your help!

I didn't read it close enough but you still didn't raise it that much. I have never used rum to fortify with so I am not sure what that would taste like. But back to your original question, time will allow the flavors to balance themselves out some and does smooth out the alcohol bite.

Thank you.

I agree, you didn't raise the ABV that much.

I think it's the raw alcohol coming through.

I've noticed that Fortified Wine/Port style wine are improved and mellow with a little decanting.

For higher alcohol wines, you might wish to try a Champagne type of yeast, like EC1118.

They can tolerate the increased alcohol levels.

the wine should be stable before adding anything. It sounds like the wine was not clear when you added alcohol. it was possible it was not done fermenting. regardless use a wine yeast in the future. wait until wine is clear which can take up to three months. purchase a hydrometer to let you monitor fermentation and aid in calculating the end result alcohol. using Pearson square you can calculate the required addition to the level of alcohol that meets your taste buds.

What I did, which seemed to work fine, is to let the wine ferment until the brix drop to 7 and then added enough brandy to get the abv to 20%. Knowing the brix drop and alcohol present, plus the addition got me where I wanted to be. This was with a super high (30) brix Zin last year and after a couple racking and a year in the carboy, it all integrated quite nicely.

NorCal et al: (Please note, I am not directing this at the OP, but rather others considering fortifying during fermentation.)
I previously worked out the math concerning how to fortify to stop an active fermentation. You can specify what your initial SG (or brix) was, and what your final desired alcohol and residual sugar are (along with the ABV of the fortifying liquor). The Excel sheet I wrote will then solve for at what SG (or Brix) you should add your liquor, and how much of it.

sour_grapes said:

Well, I put this into an Excel sheet, which you are welcome to (if I can figure out how to attach it). There are two sheets: one you input the sugar in g/l, the other you input the SG of the must instead. In both sheets, you input parameters in the yellow boxes, and the answers come out in the blue boxes.

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Let me know if you have any questions on the sheet.

View attachment fortification.zip