Spiced wine?

[mojorader]

Hey I'm just finishing up some cider and would really like to make a batch of some spiced wine that will be ready by the time it starts getting cold here in Michigan. (the kind that's great heated up on a cold night by the fire) I've looked all over and have only found things for mulled wine. Is there a way I can just buy some juice and ferment with the spice (or spice in secondary) or should I just make a red and mull it later as needed? If anyone has a recipe out there that would be awesome too!
Thanks!

 

[saramc]

Considering this is almost mid-September you would really be pushing the envelope to try to get something even drinkable, especially pre-spiced, by the time it gets cold in Michigan. Just my two cents. What about a spiced cider?

Have you played around with the spices in typical mulling kits, or other spices, and determined what spices you want to use? I use the mulling spices available from Atlantic Spice Co., but I mull my wine after I open the bottle. That gives me a greater choice in wines. Have even just poured wine into a mug, filled my steeping spoon, and microwaved it....or mulled in the crockpot and returned it to the bottle and tucked in the refrig.

If you have a particular wine that you like, mull it, find the spice combination you like & then formulate your recipe. Some spices you add during early/active fermentation and others do better as the wine is slowing down or even bulk aging.

 

[Hummer]

I agree with Saramc that if you want something quick, mulling is probably your best option. But, making a real spiced wine, and any good wine, takes time. I suggest you make more wine now and set your sights to drinking properly aged wines a year to two years hence when they will be really good.

Making spiced wine by adding spices during fermentation is easy to do and works very well. There's no magic formula, just use what tastes good to you. It's so much like cooking, you can follow a recipe, or you can be more creative and follow your taste buds.

I've made many spiced wines with apple cider, cranberries, peaches and apricots. Spices like cinnamon, allspice, clove, ginger, and cardamom pair beautifully with fruit wines. A little bit of spice goes a long way. For instance, I made a spiced apple starting with apples pressed to 7 gal. of cider, added 9.5 lbs. sugar, 5 tsp acid blend, 6 tsp yeast nutrient. In a small nylon strainer bag I used 3 cinnamon sticks, 2 large slices of fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon whole cloves, and 5 green cardamom pods. On the 2nd racking at 2 months I thought the fresh ginger overpowered the wine so I removed the spices. In taking out the spice bag I accidentally squeezed more ginger into the wine, oops.

I back sweetened it with white grape juice concentrate and bottled it a year later. It took another 6 months for it to mellow out but man is is good, everyone likes it.


Here are a couple other examples:

A spiced cranberry apple with 7 gal. cider, 6 lbs. fresh cranberries, with 5 cinnamon sticks, 2 tsp. allspice, 1 tsp. cloves. Cranberries add acidity, flavor, and a beautiful orange color.

A spiced peach port with 25 lbs. peaches, 1 lb. each of craisins and raisins, 7 cinnamon sticks, 2 tsp. allspice, 1 tsp. cloves, 1 tsp. cardamom.

Here are a few of my apple cider based wines, four with fresh whole cranberries, two with the lightly pressed fermented skins from Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah grapes, both of which were oaked. These are in 10 gal. and 12 gal. buckets.

 

[DPBISME]

I make Mulled Wine every year and I would go with "Mulling"... It gives you more control and I am unsure how the spices would effect fermentation, thought the post in front of mine is "positive".

In my experiance when making a Spiced Beer is that they take a little longer to set up... Something about the spices seems to slow the conditioning phase of fermentation.

So if I take an Ale or Stout Recipe that should be ready in 5 weeks and put spices or pumpkin and spices it it it is not ready in the same 5 weeks...