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Background: We like the sort of robust chewy red that clings to the glass and has real depth of flavour - being happy to pay the price of long maturation times that go with this. To achieve this I put rather too much elderberry/blackberry etc in the recipe and rely heavily on a fruit press for flavour extraction. i.e. I typically press the fruit adding both pulp and juice to the primary fermentation, and then again press the pulp when transferring to secondary. Bananas and red grape juice instead of water help as well and the result we like (a lot 
).
I have read a few passing references here which sugest delaying adding fruit addition to secondary or even post fermentation so as to improve flavour retention. But how (in the context of my desired wine style) would you go about this?
a) Perhaps make the #1 style wine and add the fruit later? I don't really fancy this one as it would seem likely to produce a lighter and less concentrated wine than I am looking to produce but perhaps I am wrong. At the end of the day I would rather add elderberry & blackberry juice/pul/whatever to an elderberry/blackberry wine than to some other base wine.
b) Do some sort of fake sugar & nutrient wine fermentation in primary and then add the pulp & juice afterwards? Doesn't seem like 'good winemaking' practice to me and even less acceptable to me than using a base wine.
c) Press fruit and reserve juice. Add pulp and sugar to primary then add back in the juice on transfer to secondary or even at first racking. This appeals as a potential method as it should preserve the fruitiness from the juice while still providing a good must for the initial fermentation. On problem I see is that reserving the juice while still adding the sugar to primary will increase the diissolved sugar% and possibly cause problems with sticking fermentations. Of course I could reserve some of the sugar as well and add this in with the juice later, but then we are fermenting the juice again which is what we are trying to avoid in the first place.
d) Add the juice & sugar to primary reserving the pulp. When fermentation has almost finished add the pulp for alcoholic extraction. This seems an ideal method - until considering that the delicate flavours and fruitiness you are trying to preserve are probably located more in the juice than the pulp.
So, different ways but all seeming to have drawback. Maybe the answer is a mix of methods or reserving part only of juice or pulp or both but if so how much? Any views on what actually is the best method?
).I have read a few passing references here which sugest delaying adding fruit addition to secondary or even post fermentation so as to improve flavour retention. But how (in the context of my desired wine style) would you go about this?
a) Perhaps make the #1 style wine and add the fruit later? I don't really fancy this one as it would seem likely to produce a lighter and less concentrated wine than I am looking to produce but perhaps I am wrong. At the end of the day I would rather add elderberry & blackberry juice/pul/whatever to an elderberry/blackberry wine than to some other base wine.
b) Do some sort of fake sugar & nutrient wine fermentation in primary and then add the pulp & juice afterwards? Doesn't seem like 'good winemaking' practice to me and even less acceptable to me than using a base wine.
c) Press fruit and reserve juice. Add pulp and sugar to primary then add back in the juice on transfer to secondary or even at first racking. This appeals as a potential method as it should preserve the fruitiness from the juice while still providing a good must for the initial fermentation. On problem I see is that reserving the juice while still adding the sugar to primary will increase the diissolved sugar% and possibly cause problems with sticking fermentations. Of course I could reserve some of the sugar as well and add this in with the juice later, but then we are fermenting the juice again which is what we are trying to avoid in the first place.
d) Add the juice & sugar to primary reserving the pulp. When fermentation has almost finished add the pulp for alcoholic extraction. This seems an ideal method - until considering that the delicate flavours and fruitiness you are trying to preserve are probably located more in the juice than the pulp.
So, different ways but all seeming to have drawback. Maybe the answer is a mix of methods or reserving part only of juice or pulp or both but if so how much? Any views on what actually is the best method?
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