Vintners Harvest Strawberry Fruit Wine Base - vague directions

[RussR]

Hi all,
I bought a 96 oz can of "Vintners Harvest Strawberry Fruit Wine Base" from my LHBS. Using the directions on the side of the can, I now have it in the secondary happily fermenting away. 3 gallons batch, as advised by the LHBS for a stronger taste.

The directions, while otherwise decently thorough, are pretty vague after the stabilize/sweeten step. This is the quote:

"Enhance flavor and aroma with natural fruit flavor at this time if desired. Strawberry is a mild flavor and Strawberry wines will almost always benefit from the addition of Natural Fruit Flavors."

Gee, thanks. What fruit? The obvious - strawberry - or something else? What does it mean by add "flavors"?

Any advice? This is my 5th of 6th batch of wine, but all the others have been either kits, Welch's-type recipes, or SP. This is my first using actual fruit.

Thanks,
Russ

 

[Deezil]

They're basically recommending an F-Pack of some sort..

Whether you go for fresh fruit, crush it, and simmer it down to syrup-consistency on the stove... Or go for a pre-bottled, probably-artificial strawberry flavoring, or a frozen juice concenrate (ive only seen strawberry kiwi personally)...

Were it me, for a 3 gallon batch.. I'd probably try to find about 10lbs of strawberries, cut the green tops off and mash them up with something like a potato masher, or slice them up decently thin.. Then i'd hit them with pectic enzyme and keep them cool - possibly in the fridge - for a day or two before putting them on the stove to simmer down.