Sauternes

[Downwards]

Can't afford it. But I've wanted to try it for years. The description of dried apricots with honey has my mouth watering! Please know that I'm aware that a homemade melomel with dried apricots is likely to be a weak substitute, but might be wonderful in its own right. Anybody made a dried apricot melomel before?

 

[Bob1016]

Honestly, with most melomels I do, I just take some traditional and add fruit to it while aging. I would say add about 1lb/gal in a mesh bag to an aging batch of traditional and wait and taste. It is a real easy way to diversify your meads, and you get to make lots at one time, them split them up. 5 gallons of dry traditional can become 1gal sweet apricomel (huh, sounds good right?), 1gal dry apricomel, 1gal methaglyn, 1gal dry traditional, and 1gal sweet traditional.
Meadmaking can be very diverse.

 

[saramc]

I would be inclined to buying a Sauterne concentrate from www.homewinery.com, but I made Jack Keller's dried apricot wine using raw wildflower honey instead of sugar. It was awesome at the one year mark, last bottle consumed over the winter.

 

[Bob1016]

Well, it depends if you want a Sauternes wine, or a Sauternes inspired wine. I made a bordeaux inspired melomel (black currants, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, dates, tart cherries, and black currant raisins; basically every descriptor ever used for a red bordeaux wine), and followed the winemaking techniques used in the region (high heat, many punches/day, long maceration, etc.).
I think a Sauternes inspired melomel would use blackberry honey for its profound "honey" flavor (or maybe brazillian pepper/christmasberry), dried apricots in secondary, peaches with pits in primary, and some white raisins in primary as well.
Man, now I need to make one!
P.S. maybe some dried pineapple too.

 

[Deezil]

peaches with pits in primary

What do the peach pits bring to the party?

 

[Downwards]

Maybe that almond flavor? I've had a traditional Korean beverage that was made with some kind of apricot like fruit- don't know if it was fermented or just steeped in liquor, but anyway the pits gave that a very distinct almond like character.

 

[Downwards]

Lots of good ideas here guys. Yeah I'm looking more for an "inspired" sort of deal. Actually didn't know there was a Sauternes kit, ill have to look into that. Is it real botrytis infected grape juice?

 

[Julie]

Lots of good ideas here guys. Yeah I'm looking more for an "inspired" sort of deal. Actually didn't know there was a Sauternes kit, ill have to look into that. Is it real botrytis infected grape juice?

It is not a real sauternes. Sauternes is a french wine that is made from Semillon Sauv Blanc and Muscadelle grapes that has been affected with noble rot. California has created a generic form of the Sauternes, it is called Sauterne, it does not have the s at the end. That is what homewinery has.

 

[Bob1016]

The stones will add that nutty flavor found in some Sauternes, I think.
Some almerettos use peach and apricot stones instead of almonds for flavor.

This has officially made it to my list:
6 gallons
18lbs brazillian pepper honey
6lbs white peaches (stones included but not weighed)
1lbs white raisins
3lbs dried apricots (secondary)
SG ~ 1.120
FG ~ 1.020
D47 fermented cool 64F
SNA for 100ppm YAN

Maybe I'll get to it after my daughters mead, and a long awaited bochet, so maybe October(?).

 

[Downwards]

After seeing that link from Saramc (and the price? OMG, so good), and reading Bob's recipe, I now see that I'll have to do both.

I'll be playing with this stuff after our vacation (need cooler weather) but I'll talk about them here. I also have LOTS of peaches put up for a peach wine so I'm likely going to steal some from that batch.