A friend of mine asked this question a while ago but the question didn't really get an answer I could use so I am going to try to rephrase it to see if anyone can help. I live in the UK. Access to reasonably priced wine grapes is extremely limited and I am not wealthy at the moment. I could make expensive crushendo style kits once a year - I have a gallon made from my parents-in-law's grapes...
The red wines I like to buy are heavy, tannic and oaky. I also like wines which are fruity and have bite. A simple smooth, oaky / berry flavour is great too... I want to make a staple decent country red wine, preferably one I can make all year round. The thing is that I want it to have properties similar to the reds I like to buy. So I got to thinking of how I might achieve this. So far my brain is saying maybe an elderberry and blackberry base with a few canned blackcherries, some raisins and some oak chips, a touch of tea even, might make the kind of effect I want. I am only 18 months into my winemaking career, so I have yet to taste more than 3 of the 30 wines I have in progress. Within the next year I guess I might be able to make more educated guesses.
This is probably a very common newbie question. Has anyone ever devised a recipe with this aim in mind?
Jim