RECIPE:
2 cans Alexanders Merlot
1 can Alexanders Red Zinfandel
15 pounds Wildflower Honey
8oz dried Montmorency Cherries
1 1/2 pounds very ripe bananas
2 pounds frozen mixed tart & dark sweet cherries
2 pounds frozen blackberries
Medium toast French Oak cubes soaked in good brandy
750 ml bottle of good brandy
Wyeast 4946
THE PLAN:
Combine the 3 cans of grape juice with 2 gallons of water and 9 pounds of the honey in the fermenter. Leave covered with a towel for at least 24 hours. (The Alexanders has Potassium Sorbate) Cut the bananas into 1 inch slices, and put them and the 8 oz dried cherries in a large pot with 1 gallon of water, boil gently for 5 minutes, let cool to room temperature. Add the dried cherries and the bananas with the liquid to the fermenter with the grape juice and honey.
After 24 hours, mix in the bananas and cherries in the fermenter, add your yeast and ferment to 1.060. Add the other 3 pounds of honey by siphoning off a gallon and gently mix with the honey before adding back.
When the gravity reached 1.038, strain out the bananas and cherries.
At 1.010, add the other 3 pounds of honey by siphoning off a gallon of must, mix gently and add back, and ferment to 1.010. Siphon off into secondary onto the 2 pounds of frozen blackberries and cherries, and the brandy/cognac soaked oak. Leave for at least 4 weeks.
Rack several times again as needed at a minimum of 4 weeks apart until no more sediment forms, Use a fining agent of needed, stabalize and add 750ml of cognac or brandy. Check for sweetness and backsweeten as needed. Age for at least a year!