Zinfandel Port Wine
Silver Award Winner - Bottle Shock Open - 2017
Yield: 5 gallons or 25 bottles
Ingredients
6 gallons macerated Zinfandel juice with skins
4.344 lbs Dextrose, 11 cups separated for chaptalization
1 lb organic Banana chips – sweetened
5 oz dried elderberries
2.5g pectin enzyme
2 teaspoons yeast nutrient
17.5 oz maltodextrose
2.5 g Go Ferm
5 g Lavin EC1118 yeast
5 g Red Star Pasteur Red yeast
VP41 malolactic bacteria
2 oz American oak cubes
2 oz French oak cubes
At Fortification:
1500 ml 150 proof Everclear (or other high proof brandy)
1/2 tsp Potassium metabisulfite, split for two separate additions.
2 oz Glycerine
Directions:
Prepare fruit: After grapes are crushed and destemmed, cold macerate for 7-10 days.
Start Fermentation. Remove 1 quart of juice and freeze. Add 2.2 lbs of dextrose, banana chips, elderberries, pectin enzyme, yeast nutrients, and maltodextrose. Make a yeast starter with 100 ml water and Go ferm. Mix into juice and set aside. Keep temperature between 75-85 F. Specific gravity should be between 1.080 and 1.1.
Punch down: Punch down 2x a day until pressed off skins.
Co-inoculate: After 1/3 sugar depletion, add 1 tsp DAP directly to must and stir. Co-inoculate with malolactic bacteria according to package directions.
Chaptalize: Ferment down to 1.050 and remove ¼ gallon of wine. Warm enough to dissolve 3 cups dextrose and return to batch.
Chaptalize: Ferment down to 1.050 and remove ¼ gallon of wine. Warm enough to dissolve 3 cups dextrose and return to batch.
Chaptalize: Ferment down to 1.050 and remove ¼ gallon of wine. Warm enough to dissolve 3 cups dextrose and return to batch.
Press: Press wine off skins separating the free run juice from the press run. Add American oak cubes into press run only.
Rack: After 2 weeks, rack wine. Add French oak cubes to press run only.
Fortify: After 2 weeks, thaw frozen juice, mix press run into free run and add juice according to taste. ABV should be 17-18%. Add brandy to raise ABV to 20%.
Add SO2: At 3 months, rack and add ¼ teaspoon metabisulfite.
Bottle: After 6 months, rack and add ¼ teaspoon metabisulfite and glycerine. Filter and bottle. Age at least 1 year in the bottle.
Notes:
Macerated grapes contain so much particulate matter that it’s difficult to get a hydrometer reading. Use a medium mesh strainer to push grape skins away from juice and use wine thief to capture liquid for testing tube.
A yeast starter is particularly important for port since the high sugar concentration and high alcohol create a hostile environment for yeast. Watch temperatures do not drop below lower range overnight with a heating belt.
Fortification is X = V (C-A)/B-C
X = gallons of brandy needed
V = gallons of wine
C = final ABV wanted
B = ABV % of brandy
A = Alcohol % of wine
Credit: Adapted from Northern Brewer and Techniques in Home Winemaking by Daniel Piambanchi