I am fond of amaretto, but I fear it'll kill me before I get over it. I
like it specifically in an amaretto sour, since it's a nice blend of
almond with citrus. I wanted to try to capture this flavor in a wine,
but I know I can't get it perfect. I mean, I don't plan to distill or
do any of that crazy stuff. Nonetheless, I have some ideas and wondered
how crazy they are.

I have seen various amaretto recipes on the Internet. Some have been
really crappy like vodka with sugar and almond extract. More believable
ones involve brandy of some kind. The most convincing thing I could
find is that amaretto is a licquer made from brandy, apricots, and
almonds. I don't know about the apricots though.

So lets say I don't involve the still in this, but I want to get some of
the flavor of amaretto into a wine. My assumption here is to get some
red grapes, whole apricots, a pile of almonds, and let it brew with a
particularly strong yeast. After various finings, I should have
something weak that I could drink in larger quantities.

What if I wanted an amaretto sour in a bottle? I'm assuming I could
augement the recipe with 50% of a lemon wine. I haven't made one of
those yet, but I've seen convincing recipes that all call for white
grape juice and lemon zest (lots of it).

Does this seem less crazy now or am I still off my rocker? In this
case, I'm not advocating anything like chilling the wine or distilling
in order to boost the alcohol level. That means I'll never get the same
flavor. However, that's not necessarily bad either.