First Time on a Port Style wine

[sheffield251]

Hey all!
Making a blueberry port for the first time (first for any port). I started with about 3 gallons of blueberry juice from fresh blueberries. Starting Pot Alc. around 12.5%. Using a calculation, I stopped fermentation with about 3% sugar remain by adding enough brandy to bring up the alcohol to about 20%. That was about 6 months ago. I did a bench trial today by back sweetening with sugar, from 4% to 7%. I liked all, questions (1) Is it too early to do this trial? how long should I let the fruit and the brandy play around together? 2) I heard that I should sweeten it up to about 9%, to take away the "bite" of the brandy and to bring out the blueberry flavor more, is this necessary? 3) Blueberry season is coming up, can I add some fresh blueberries instead of sugar to pull more blueberry flavor. 4) How long can (should) I wait until I bottle? 5) Do I need to sulfite with so much brandy?

Thanks all!

 

[Deezil]

Blueberry is a nice flavor for a first-time port, good choice

6 months is a bit young to judge a white wine, let alone a red wine, or a port... I'd make sure its parameters are correct for aging, keep it sulfited and leave it alone until its 18 months old or more.

1 - Yes, its too early in my opinion

2 - You wont know until #1 is a 'No'

You could snag some more fresh blueberries and put them in the freezer, for when 'the time is right', in case you find yourself wishing you had them.

Dont bottle it until you're happy with it. But you wont know if you're happy with it for a while yet..

And it'll still need sulfited, indeedy

 

[Boatboy24]

1) I don't think it is too early
2) sweeten to your taste
3) I think adding blueberries wouldn't be good at this point. You could make a blueberry f-PAC though. I'm at about the same stage as you and will be adding blueberry and Merlot concentrates that I got from homewinery.com
4) don't bottle until it is clear. Adding an f-pac or concentrate may necessitate a little more clearing time.
5) a little sulfite won't hurt. I'd recommend it, to be safe.

 

[Boatboy24]

LOL! Deezil and I were writing at the same time. A few minor differences to consider, but I think we are generally in agreement.

 

[Runningwolf]

Ok here's a third opinion, take your pick!

1. The wine is still young but if you did trials for sugar and liked it go ahead and sweeten your batch.
2. I like to make my ports between 8-9%rs but if your happy with 7% then leave it. The sugar is to balance the acid which blueberry has plenty of.
3. Sugar will pull more blueberry flavor. If you add more blueberry juice you are going to throw everything else off that you did. The last port I made I wanted to add a hint of cherry to it. I simmered the cherry until it was reduced then added the sugar I needed to get the batch to 9%rs to the cherry juice while it was sill hot. Once cooled I added this to the port blend. I then fortified the entire batch to 19%abv. Keep in mind whatever you add now will dilute your alcohol content.
4. I prefer to wait at least one month preferably three before bottling after adding the alcohol to allow a better marriage.
5. Once the alcohol is added, I no longer sulfite.

 

[dangerdave]

I was going to question the addition of sulphite to a 20% ABV port, but if one is concerned, one might add it anyway. I don't.

 

[Deezil]

I add sulfites for the simple fact that, in this house, it *could* end up sitting for 7-10 years...

But in this case, he's a newer winemaker and it wont hurt anything

 

[sheffield251]

Deezil, Boatboy, dangerdave and runningwolf,

Thanks for the time you took to reply. I have heard to sulfite just to prevent oxidation, I do not think it will hurt, especially if I plan to keep it for many years. I think now it has a good blueberry flavor, but I think the brandy overshadows it, but will that mellow over time? I did my bench trials and adding sugar did seem to help bring the flavor out, but it started to taste a little syrupy, that is why I thought to 1) age it more and 2) add some natural blueberry instead of straight sugar. I really do want to be patient with this one so I am not worried about time. Thanks again for your input.