This was my second attempt at a Raspberry Wine. This time I increased to 52 lbs of raspberries and 10 lbs of sugar which got me 5.5 gal of wine at 12.5% ABV. I oaked this version lightly (2 sticks of oak I had soaked in port). I back sweetened it to 1.021 and then killed the yeast with campden tablets before bottling. This was successful as the wine has been stable in the bottle for over 3 years now
I don't drink these very often but they are quite tasty. It is high time I captures some notes on it
Tasting Notes:
- Aroma:
- Rich and strong raspberry character. Quite pungent. I has a bit of a yeast character to it as well and you can smell the alcohol in it. It smells quite a bit like a typical grape-based wine
- Appearance:
- Dark red and a little murky (got some of the junk from the bottle into the glass)
- Flavor:
- Rich fruity character with a very light sweetness. Quite different than eating a fruit as the flavors seem so much more concentrated. A little tart on the finish. Has a fairly firm but nice booze character to it - alcohol is in the background compared with the fruit character. I feel like there is some yeast character in this as well - a bit of a estery and slightly funky note.
- Mouthfeel:
- Medium bodied and a little sticky on the palate. It has a bit of astringency.
- Overall:
- Very tasty. The fruit character is very nice, it has a pleasant level of sweetness and booziness to it, and the balance is quite pleasant. I think it is quite complex to sip and actually is fairly refreshing with the tartness.
