Very broad questions. My suggestion is to pick up some books on country
wines and read them critically. Jack's site is great for his comments about
making country wines of many types. Read his recipes, not just his methods.
More flavorful wines. I assume you want wines that taste like the original
fruit. In that case use the maximum amount of fruit called for in the
recipe. Then make it dry. At this point it will probably not taste like
the original fruit. Stabilize and sweeten in a little and the fruit
character will probably come back. Adjust it to your taste.
You can try using more fruit than called for in a recipe but be ready to
adjust the acidity or it will get way out of balance real quick.
I agree with Greg. Slow feeding is a great way to make high alcohol wines
of 16-18%. That will not make them flavorful. It just makes them get you
drunk quick. Actually you can get drunk just as quick off 6-8% wine because
it is so smooth you will drink too much of it before you know it.
Racking every 3-4 weeks will do nothing but expose the wine to air and
lessen the quality. That is way too much handling. Rack to secondary, Rack
after fermentation and it starts to clear to get it off the gross leas (I
always wait at least 2 weeks after fermentation), rack 2-3 months later when
it mostly clears, and rack one more time only if necessary but not before
3-4 months.
Aim for 11-13% wine and adjust the sweetness. It will have plenty of flavor
and plenty of kick.
Ray
"Greg Cook" > wrote in message
...
> On 12/10/03 1:55 PM, in article bTKBb.301422$Dw6.1004351@attbi_s02,
> "Stephen" > wrote:
>
> > I have 3 fruit wines making and I want to know the best way to make it
> > flavorfull and sweet with a good kick. Is the best method to feed the
yeast
> > with a 1/2 cup sugar and rack every 3 to 4 weeks (or is it when the
meter
> > gets to .990), or run it to dry use potasium sorbate and sweeten wait
ten
> > day and bottle?
>
> I suppose that depends on how balanced you want your wine. The feeding
> method will produce a wine with significantly high alcohol (15% or
higher).
> That may be ok if it tastes balanced with the residual sugar and acid -
but
> I would expect it to be a bit more port-like than wine-like in that
respect.
> Personally, I would opt for fermenting to 11-12% alcohol (dry),
stabilizing
> with sorbate and bisulfite and then sweetening to taste. I suspect you
will
> find a more balanced product in the end.
>
> >
> > My next question is what is the best method for finning, chemical or
> > filtering?
>
> Do you mean getting it clear? Or adjusting some other property of the wine
> (taste, color, etc)?
>
> I would not use any fining materials unless the wine has bulk aged and
been
> racked when necessary for at least 6 months. Then, it depends on what
> specific problem is causing your haziness. Pectin, protein, etc. will each
> need something different to fine with.
>
> You cannot filter a cloudy wine. It will not go through a filter. You
should
> only filter a wine that already looks completely clear. Thus, it is not an
> option for the clearing process.
>
> --
> Greg Cook
> http://homepage.mac.com/gregcook/Wine
>
> (remove spamblocker from my email)
>
>