BLACK CHERRY PORT
This is my version of the black cherry port Rich and I brought to Grapefest 2010. There is no point giving an exact recipe because the grape skins and the yeast used to ferment the red grapes will vary year by year. This port was made very much by 'feel'.
It relies on you having a quantity of red grape skins, preferably fresh from pressing.
Ingredients
Youngs Black Cherry Wine kit
Red Grape skins (I used Ciliegiolo)
Sugar
Yeast nutrient
Oak
Glycerine
Method
Wait until your red wine is ready to be pressed. Make up the kit concentrate to 5 litres with water, in a 10l bucket, and make sure the temperature is in the 18 - 25c range.
Add as many pressed grape skins as you can fit into the bucket.
The fermentation should fire up very quickly - you have a large, active yeast colony in the skins.
After a couple of days I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient. In theory everything should be in the kit must, but this was belt-and-braces.
Once the SG drops to 1.010 or below, rack into a demijohn or a 5l fermenter. Be warned - in may only take a couple of days to reach this point!
Once the SG drops to 1.000 or below, start sugar feeding: remove some of the wine into a sanitised jug, dissolve 3 - 6oz sugar and add back to the fermenter. Wait for the SG to drop again, then repeat. Eventually the yeast will reach its alcohol tolerance and the SG will no longer drop. The point at this takes place will depend on the yeast you used inthe red wine fermentation.
Once you are sure the wine is no longer fermenting, rack and degas as normal. Don't add sulphite yet because you are going to be tasting it in a minute.
Now, transfer to a 10 litre bucket. Add the black cherry flavouring sachet from the kit. Add sugar and brandy to taste. As a guide, add sugar first, up to an SG of around 1.020, then add a little brandy. I ended up with an SG of 1.024 and added 170ml brandy.
Transfer back to your DJ and add sulphite. Now add some oak. This port is meant to be quite fruity, so don't add too much. I added a handful of Brupaks french medium toast oak and left it in the DJ for 6 months (although the oak had probably done its job after a month or so).
After 6 months, I racked off the lees and off the oak, and left for a further couple of months. I found I didn't have to rack earlier than this, because the recipe uses a kit, and the grapes have already given up much of their solids, there was only a small layer of lees.
After a total of 9 - 10 months, the port should be clear enough to bottle. If not, you could fine it at this point.
Just before bottling, I filtered the port and added a little glycerine. 15ml was enough to really smooth it out and improve the mouth-feel.
This year (2010) I may have to make an adjustment. The 2009 version used skins from grapes which had been fermented with Lalvin K1V-1116, which has a high alcohol tolerance. This year I am using different yeasts. I may get the concentrate going with a sachet of K1V a day or two before pressing the red, then add the skins to an already-fermenting must. With any luck, the K1V will gradually overpower the yeast in the skins and it will ferment out at around 18% alcohol. If that doesn't work, I'll have a lower-alcohol port!
This is my version of the black cherry port Rich and I brought to Grapefest 2010. There is no point giving an exact recipe because the grape skins and the yeast used to ferment the red grapes will vary year by year. This port was made very much by 'feel'.
It relies on you having a quantity of red grape skins, preferably fresh from pressing.
Ingredients
Youngs Black Cherry Wine kit
Red Grape skins (I used Ciliegiolo)
Sugar
Yeast nutrient
Oak
Glycerine
Method
Wait until your red wine is ready to be pressed. Make up the kit concentrate to 5 litres with water, in a 10l bucket, and make sure the temperature is in the 18 - 25c range.
Add as many pressed grape skins as you can fit into the bucket.
The fermentation should fire up very quickly - you have a large, active yeast colony in the skins.
After a couple of days I added a teaspoon of yeast nutrient. In theory everything should be in the kit must, but this was belt-and-braces.
Once the SG drops to 1.010 or below, rack into a demijohn or a 5l fermenter. Be warned - in may only take a couple of days to reach this point!
Once the SG drops to 1.000 or below, start sugar feeding: remove some of the wine into a sanitised jug, dissolve 3 - 6oz sugar and add back to the fermenter. Wait for the SG to drop again, then repeat. Eventually the yeast will reach its alcohol tolerance and the SG will no longer drop. The point at this takes place will depend on the yeast you used inthe red wine fermentation.
Once you are sure the wine is no longer fermenting, rack and degas as normal. Don't add sulphite yet because you are going to be tasting it in a minute.
Now, transfer to a 10 litre bucket. Add the black cherry flavouring sachet from the kit. Add sugar and brandy to taste. As a guide, add sugar first, up to an SG of around 1.020, then add a little brandy. I ended up with an SG of 1.024 and added 170ml brandy.
Transfer back to your DJ and add sulphite. Now add some oak. This port is meant to be quite fruity, so don't add too much. I added a handful of Brupaks french medium toast oak and left it in the DJ for 6 months (although the oak had probably done its job after a month or so).
After 6 months, I racked off the lees and off the oak, and left for a further couple of months. I found I didn't have to rack earlier than this, because the recipe uses a kit, and the grapes have already given up much of their solids, there was only a small layer of lees.
After a total of 9 - 10 months, the port should be clear enough to bottle. If not, you could fine it at this point.
Just before bottling, I filtered the port and added a little glycerine. 15ml was enough to really smooth it out and improve the mouth-feel.
This year (2010) I may have to make an adjustment. The 2009 version used skins from grapes which had been fermented with Lalvin K1V-1116, which has a high alcohol tolerance. This year I am using different yeasts. I may get the concentrate going with a sachet of K1V a day or two before pressing the red, then add the skins to an already-fermenting must. With any luck, the K1V will gradually overpower the yeast in the skins and it will ferment out at around 18% alcohol. If that doesn't work, I'll have a lower-alcohol port!
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