Does the wine have to be clear before I port

[WildSeedGrrrl]

So I'm thinking of porting one of my wines. It's in the secondary and has fermented to dry but not cleared. I was wondering if I have to wait until it clears to add the brandy or if I can just add it now. The second part to that question is whether or not it will clear on its own?

I have only read about the porting of wine and I can't figure out if the writers assume that someone would wait until it cleared so they didn't add that as a step or not. I have that book by alison crowes, the columnist from Winemaker. That baby is chock full of interesting facts and advice. The best little reference book I've run across.

WSG

 

[St Allie]

WSG,

Most recipes state to add the brandy before fermentation is fully finished..

I am close to adding the brandy to my berry port this week. It's almost finished the fermentation process.

Last week I added whiskey to my ginger wine, I racked the ginger wine and then added the whiskey, it's clearing already. No fining required. The ginger wine had finished fermenting and had been racked once before, then bulk aged for a month before I added the whiskey..it makes a huge difference to the finished product.. definately worth doing. Am now bulk aging for a few more months while it clears and I'll bottle about sept.

Allie