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