Three Questions

I have not seen that one and, like you, I see not reason to do it and can think of several to not do it. a) it is expensive, b) it could cause a stuck frement, and c) it would chang the taste.

Limited shelf life. I would not use it more than a few months. In fact I would not do it except as a sanitizing agent.

Very true. It depends on you stroage capacity. We all have stories about wines that we kept and they turned out great. I have kept bad wines for up to 8 years before they became good. I have also thrown wines out after 2 years. It depends a lot on what fault the wine is exhibiting.

Sorry but they can. The night sky is gone due to light pollution and the day sky is lessened by regular pollution. Maybe it seemed true when it was written.

Maybe the night sky is gone where you live, but not where I live. Sometimes I come home late on a clear night and the view of the milky way and magellanic clouds overhead is just stunning.

Anyway the "You can't take the sky from me" phrase in the context it was written referred to flying rather than viewing.

That seems odd to me too, but the only reason I can think of is that most fruits are naturally low in sugar. You need somewhere between 9 and 10% alcohol by volume if you want the alcohol to act as a natural preservative. Maybe that is the idea, most brandies are around 40% ABV. Now a glass in 5 gallons (Imp or US) won't do much, but 6 ounces in 122 or 154 may.

Old timers around here use old whiskey barrels to make grape wines; some use no sulfite and do not rinse the barrel. It's my undestanding there is about a gallon of whiskey left in the staves if you do that, they consider it a preservative that adds 'kick'. To be honest, I have never liked a wine made this way, it's _unusual_...

Regards, Joe