Island Mist Pomegranate Zinfandel

[wurzel]

My Island Mist Pomegranate Zinfandel from Karl has now been bottled and sampled.

He asked me to let him know how it turned out but I thought some of you other folk may be interested so here goes.....

The first thing to strike you is the intensely fruity nose, in fact it is so powerful it fills the room with the perfume of freshly crushed fruits like some sort of air freshener.

The colour is a deep red and pleasing to the eye.

On the palate it is smooth and rounded with great body and mouth feel....you could almost chew it.

The flavour is big, fruity and luscious, I get a hint of vanilla coming though....the only way I can describe it is like eating ripe summer fruits with vanilla ice-cream.

The finishing gravity was high at 1.018 so it is sweet (very sweet), the ABV is quite low at 6.5% which makes me wonder just how long this will keep?

There is no doubting that it is a very nice drink (I use the word “drink” advisedly), but due to the level of sweetness coupled with the low alcohol, in a blind tasting I would probably have said it was a fruit juice drink and not a wine at all.

[Duffbeer]

Cheers for that Wurz, I made the green apple riesling, but I fermented 1/2 of the F pack which increased the aclohol to about 8% and the finish was more of a medium when adding the rest at the end. I found it also bouncing with fresh apple bouquet, the flavour was very crisp and apple like, many who tried it gave a pleasant response. They are designed as a summer cooler, hence the low alcohol and are meant to be drunk sooner rather than maturing, but I reckon they should be good for 6 to 12 months for sure.

Maybe the addition of some extra grape concentrate would help with the alcohol % ? what say you ?

[Richard S]

Very interesting, I have the same kit and am probably going to put half the 'f' pack in once a strong fermentation is underway. I have heard of some people adding sugar to bump the abv up to near normal levels but I will leave that for another time.

Did you add all of the 'f' pack Wurzel?

[wurzel]

Did you add all of the 'f' pack Wurzel?

Yes mate, added it all after fermentation was complete.

I think your idea of adding half the F pack during fermentation is probably a good way to go Karl

[Richard S]

Go steady with the 'f'' pack wurz, it contains sorbate so you will need a strong fermentation and a steady hand!

[wurzel]

Go steady with the 'f'' pack wurz, it contains sorbate so you will need a strong fermentation and a steady hand!

Point noted Richard, thanks.

[Duffbeer]

Go steady with the 'f'' pack wurz, it contains sorbate so you will need a strong fermentation and a steady hand!

So whats the steady hand for ? stop the ash from your ciggie falling in ?

[Richard S]

So whats the steady hand for ? stop the ash from your ciggie falling in ?

In your case yes.

[Richard S]

I changed my mind about adding sugar, I jacked the gravity up to 1.080 to give me something in the region of 12% abv.

[wurzel]

I changed my mind about adding sugar, I jacked the gravity up to 1.080 to give me something in the region of 12% abv.

Keep us informed Richard.....I for one would be interested in how it turns out.

[Darren]

I changed my mind about adding sugar, I jacked the gravity up to 1.080 to give me something in the region of 12% abv.

I haven't started mine yet Richard what did you use to jack the sg to 1080 and would you still only put half of the f pack in

[Richard S]

Just used a sugar/water solution to raise the gravity and I didn't add any of the F pack. Looks like fermentation is just about complete so I will complete the process as directed by the instructions. I'm hoping for a very fruity sweet red with a normal alcahol content.

[Richard S]

SG reading 0.990 - perfect, I tasted the wine at this point and it is rather good if not better than I expected. Colour wise it isn't as dark in colour as the Barolo that is sat next to it. Following the next step in the instructions, in went the sorbate and sulphite followed by a heavy degassing session. The F pack went in (all of it) and after stiring and more degassing I took another SG reading, 1.012, so far so good. It would have been wrong not to have another taste at this point and as I like to do things right............... Far better than I expected, very fruity and quite sweet but not to the point where it is "in your face".

After it has cleared I will filter and bottle as normal and will probably get another taste then. This range of kits is supposed to be ready to drink straight away so you could get a couple on the go while you leave the more complex stuff to mature.

[Darren]

Sounds Cracking Richard ive got a Pomegranate Zinfandel im starting it at the weekend looking forward

[Darren]

Well last night i bottled my Island Mist Pomegranate Zinfandel and had a sample glass.I took the initail gravity up to 1080 and the finished product is about 1014 there was quite a lot of sediment left at the end but it cleared almost straight away.Its a very nice wine the smell and flavour of the pomegranate really does comes through quite intense. The colour was a lot deeper than i imagined i know what Wurzel meant when he said you could almost chew it,It is very gloopy in a strange sort of a way i don't think you could drink a lot of it in one sitting but nevertheless an excellent fruity wine that is drinkable straight away.