I am fond of amaretto, but I fear it'll kill me before I get over it. I like it specifically in an amaretto sour, since it's a nice blend of almond with citrus. I wanted to try to capture this flavor in a wine, but I know I can't get it perfect. I mean, I don't plan to distill or do any of that crazy stuff. Nonetheless, I have some ideas and wondered how crazy they are.
I have seen various amaretto recipes on the Internet. Some have been really crappy like vodka with sugar and almond extract. More believable ones involve brandy of some kind. The most convincing thing I could find is that amaretto is a licquer made from brandy, apricots, and almonds. I don't know about the apricots though.
So lets say I don't involve the still in this, but I want to get some of the flavor of amaretto into a wine. My assumption here is to get some red grapes, whole apricots, a pile of almonds, and let it brew with a particularly strong yeast. After various finings, I should have something weak that I could drink in larger quantities.
What if I wanted an amaretto sour in a bottle? I'm assuming I could augement the recipe with 50% of a lemon wine. I haven't made one of those yet, but I've seen convincing recipes that all call for white grape juice and lemon zest (lots of it).
Does this seem less crazy now or am I still off my rocker? In this case, I'm not advocating anything like chilling the wine or distilling in order to boost the alcohol level. That means I'll never get the same flavor. However, that's not necessarily bad either.