thinking ahead - holiday flavors?

I'm gonna have a primary free the first weekend in July. I've been thinking of a lot of recipes I want to try, but I figured I might want to try something that can be available for the holidays. Ferment early July, bottle August sometime, age till Nov./Dec...

I just had some thoughts running through my head, and figured I might put them in here in hopes of getting some help and other ideas.

My first thought was to do something with pumpkin/cinnamon flavors. I don't want a strong base, so maybe a watered down apple juice base? Since apple and cinnamon go well together (like some do for EdWort's recipe), but not sure how the pumpkin would fit together.

what about peppermint/mint flavor (not much as these flavors are pretty strong). Any good base to go well with mint flavors?

And finally, is anything with chocolate/cocoa mix worthwhile? I might be willing to try a strawberry and chocolate/cocoa wine, as those flavors would go well together (just not sure in a wine).

In the world of wine..........6 months not much time.

I've used chocolate in meads.........takes a very long time to age out.

You will want to stay lower ABV (maybe 8% or so)

I wouldn't get too carried away with spices and seasonings.

The more stuff you add the longer it takes to all meld together and condition.

I'm doing a 11% Oak-Aged American Barleywine this weekend that i'll try around Christmas and may give a few away as presents. I'm going to let it age for a month or two in secondary and then i'll bottle in small 7oz champagne bottles. It will only be a 1 gallon batch but that should yield around 20 small bottles.

I have a cranberry I'm saving for Thanksgiving this year. I made it from bags of Craisins, bottled it after 5 months, and it's already quite tasty.

To go from fermentation to bottling in one month is quite rare. There is a triple berry skeeter pee recipe floating around that is apparently ready to bottle in fifteen days. Other than that the only thing that comes to mind with quick turnaround are herb wines and one that you may consider is a Chocolate Mint wine (recipe and notes taken directly from WinepressUS recipe book)--made from the plant "chocolate mint". If you do not grow it you can probably find someone near you who does or even find some dried and actual plants on eBay. This wine literally tastes like a peppermint patty.

Chocolate Mint, 1 gallon recipe - Martina's After Eight Wine (MedPretzel on WinepressUS website)
4 cups of chocolate mint, chopped -- they were frozen. [1/2 oz dried=2 cups]
3 lbs sugar
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/8 tsp tannin
3 tsps. acid blend
1 campden tablet
1 packet of Montrachet yeast
Water to one gallon

Let the water boil, add the herbs. Take the mixture off the stove, and let it sit overnight. You can adjust the amount of herbs and/or the amount of time you let it seep to adjust the flavor. I'm very impatient, so 4 cups and overnight worked just fine for me. Add everything else when the water is room temp (sugar, etc). I used a little more sugar -- I usually go by SG, so I added enough sugar to get to about 1.085.... Ferment out (SG 0.990). Clears very well on its own. I started this one on the 21st of August, and it was done already in October, but I just got around to bottling it now. I personally don't think it needs additional sugar, since the taste and smell are so unique, but I think once could sweeten to taste.