caramel apple wine, recipe recommendations?

[intoxicating]

I am planning to make a 3-gallon batch of Carmel apple wine. I want it to be “chewy, buttery, ” and all around decadent.
Proposed ingredients as follows:
3 gallons of apple juice, about half granny smith and half Winesap, Macintosh, or other tart flavorful baking apples as required, to get the acid level right
a yet-undetermined amount of grape juice, simmered to reduce it by half, to increase the “caramel” taste and add vinous character
white sugar as necessary to bring up the SG, cooked over a low fire till golden brown then dissolved into the liquid
whole nutmeg, cracked, maybe toasted
maybe a pinch of cinnamon bark and a couple of whole cloves, for complexity
yeast that will tolerate higher alcohol level
medium toast French oak, to increase the “cinnamon and buttery” taste and mouth feel.
Battonage to increase buttery mouth feel
I am in the process of gleaning the best of other recipes and have some questions.
Roughly how many pounds of apples yield a gallon of juice?
How much grape juice? white or red? And Welches or the good stuff from the winemakers supply store?
Recommendations on how many nutmegs for the 3 gallon batch?
Recommendations on how much oak, and which chips would most likely provide the desired effect?
Finishing alcohol level to balance the tart apples and sweet caramel flavors?
Any advantages/disadvantages to leaving apple peels and pulp in primary fermenter?
Might the oak add enough tannin to allow it to age more than a couple of years?
Do I need to add a little lemon juice as an anti-oxidant? In the beginning, acid balancing of the must, or at bottling? How much if any?
Which yeast to use?
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I thank anyone with an opinion on this.

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Does anyone have a source for choke cherries in the Dallas, Texas area? I’m not even sure they grow around here. I remember my mom making jelly and fruit punch syrup from choke cherries and sand plums up in Kansas, and would be happy to share jelly with anyone who can find me a source for fruit.




Edited to provide easier reading. Something was messed up with the layout of the post.Edited by: appleman

 

[grapeman]

I can tell you about the juice- it takes about 15-20 pounds or so for a gallon of juice if the varieties are juicy and have softened. We pressed out quite a few gallons of cider today and yield was between 2.5 and 3 gallons per bushel(40 pounds for apples).


It sounds like an ambitious and interesting recipe. I just can't seem to make a great apple wine- although I bottled a three year old one yesterday that I sweetened up again two years ago with fresh cider and let bulk age another two years. I actually has much more flavor and less harsness than any I have made before or since.

 

[intoxicating]

do you have any recommendations for variety of apples?

 

[grapeman]

Use what you have, but some of the tarter ones like you listed are good. I have plenty of varieties so I mix up about a half dozen to make the cider out of and then wine. I do like Gala and Golden Delicious since they boost the sugars quite a bit.

 

[ptiffany137]

Wow that recipe sounds really delicious! Unfortunately i am not really a professional regarding wine making. The only thing i could suggest is to try it maybe with soft sugar instead of white sugar.
But what i did not really find out in your recipe is are you going to serve it cold or hot? I think especially in winter a warm apple caramel wine could be amazing!

 

[joeswine]

god morning all,sounds interesting only i have a few points of interest to thought out there,usually apple wine is thin of body and sweet with that said,caramelizing sugar is a cool idea however you might have a hard time dissolving it backinto the winebecause ofits viscosity (maybe)the cloves Cinnamon will add to thevalue of the wine its starting to sound like a apple spice wine,using oak powder would be better because for such a small batch you can add it to the back end and control the taste it will add the mouth feel your looking for ,as far as the rest of the ingredients i would make my apple wine base first then like any good recipe add the rest of the mix a little at a time to control the flavor,i would also investigate the possibilities of using extracts,i would also use a little vanilla in the mix,so you would have Cinnamon,Carmel,cloves (1)only if any and nut meg very little,your creating a mix always taste your base ,as far as leaving it set on the lees and stirring them back into the mix forget it this is done by very experienced wine makers and not many for what i,ve read and can also have a negative effect on the wine /,always remember apples are a lite fruit you want the apple to come to the front of the wine spices in the middle and wine to the back end,,aging a good fruit wine will be done with in six to 8 mos. well thats my 2 cents///////////////

 

[intoxicating]

Thanks for the ideas. I hadn't thought about serving it warm, but that might be good. I was thinking "room temp". The spices and oak might be best added during bulk aging after clearing. The mead I made, I put them in the primary bucket, and they were left behind when I siphoned off the lees into the carboy. VERY SUBTLE I am not concerned about stirring up the leas, I did it with a batch of chardonnay, and it worked well. I am still wondering about which apples. The high sugar table-fruit bred to eat raw usually doesn't have enough acid or pronounced enough flavor. It would get lost behind the browned sugar, and oak. Different apples work for different purposes. I made pies with apples from my (now ex-)mother-in-law. They tasted FABULOUS, but they turned out to be sauce apples, and there wasn't a slice to be seen, just the most amazing applesauce in the pie shell. She never even knew what variety they were. Wish I did.