Wine Breather off topicPlanned to go to the Black Sea down the Danube and return by other means but when I got to Budapest I turned round due...
Phil Ayres
My port is still fermenting, so my advise is what I'm "gonna" do, rather than what I did. :)
I'm going to buy a vinometer, and measure the alcohol content of my aged, dry wine. Then I'll use the famous calculations to determine how much alcohol will be needed. I also intend to blend with a younger, fruiter wine, maybe at a ratio of 2 gallons young wine to 4-5 gallons aged wine. (I'll determine the alcohol level there as well).
I'll test wine glbuttes of the wine with sugar added to determine how much sweetening the bulk will need.
I figure I'll use Everclear, or moderate quality vodka, instead of brandy -- I don't know of any inexpensive, neutral brandy. Maybe Grappa or Marc is clean and inexpensive. Maybe I'll taste test those a wineglbutt at a time as well.
After everything is calculated out, I'll mix according to the math, then age some more. The wine may throw some more sediment with added alcohol, even if its been clear for a while. Unless possibly, if you've filtered it.
I think my obsession with testing is because there is a lack of internet info on homemeade fortified wines. I hear winemaking copebreastions don't allow fortified wines, so there may be a little less incentive to work out, test, refine, retest, then publish recipies.
