Wild plum port

[wood1954]

Back in 2013 I made some port from 100% juice from wild plums. It was horrible, the acid and alcohol burned really bad. I found a couple bottles in the winery today and opened one up. It smells good and tastes good, the acid mellowed out as well as the alcohol, it doesn’t have the body of a grape port but it’s a good sipping wine. I’ll leave the last bottle for a few more years.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Do you remember how high the alcohol level was? How did you fortify? I’ve made a blackberry-chocolate port that was a little hot (I think it was north of 20%). Now I shoot for 19.5%

 

[ChuckD]

My brother has a thicket of good tasting wild plums behind his house and I plan on transplanting some to a fallow field on my property.

I look forward to the day I have so much wine in the cellar that I can forget or misplace bottles for a decade

 

[wood1954]

Do you remember how high the alcohol level was? How did you fortify? I’ve made a blackberry-chocolate port that was a little hot (I think it was north of 20%). Now I shoot for 19.5%

I didn’t fortify, I kept adding sugar till the yeast died. It was about 18% when I stopped adding.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Perhaps you got lucky. I’ve heard of people adding nutrients to get the alcohol up but not sugar alone. I would be afraid of over-sweetening the port. It’s common practice to fortify with a strong spirit like vodka or Everclear. That way you preserve the flavor but just dial in the % alcohol you want. Keep us posted on how yours comes out.

 

[wood1954]

This was made 9 years ago, I won’t be making anymore. I like a good Portuguese port. I think I’m done making anything from wild fruit.