The story starts with the heart-breaking breakage of the demijohn of 2012 Merot -- of which only three liters survives -- the rest staining the floor red.
I painted the floor to obscure the stain as well as the memory.
Since I was short of wine, and grape season was over I bought fresh refrigerated juice, Melbec. The juice was poor, poor quality making just 7.3% alcohol had I fermented it, but worse it had no flavor. Adding sugar would have brought the alcohol up, but it would still have tasted bad.
I decided to add dried fruit to add flavor and sugar. This seemed like a good idea, and I don't think the fruit had any additives that would prevent fermentation, but the fermentation stopped early leaving an awful tasting sweet, cherry-flavored mess. I tried restarting several times, but no luck.
One idea from the wine blogs had was to blend it with a rapidly fermenting juice, and that is why I bought Negro Toro brand Pinot Noir in May from Chile. Wine Village in Hamilton Ontario contracts with growers in Chile to import juice to Canada. Hamilton is between Toronto and Niagara Falls -- our local grape vendor imports a truckload in the Spring -- for which you need to pre-order.
The juice I purchased was actually a wine mix as the label said it had added yeast, tartartic acid, and tannin. I wish I knew how much.
2013 Pinot Noir Recipe
6 gallons (23 L) of Pinot Noir juice
2.1 kg sugar
11 g yeast nutrient
2 packs of Red Star Premier Cuvee
I let this ferment for 2 days, and then I began to add the Melbec/Cherry blend. I added it slowing, and the must kept fermenting. Now it has been four days, and it is still going. I am hopeful, but well, I have been hopeful before.
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