My story is much the same as yours. I've been trying to figure out how
to make "big" red wines at home like the commercial wines I usually
buy. Here in the States wine grape concentrates are readily available,
as are table grapes, and other fruit juice concentrates. My first few
batches made entirely from grape juice concentrate were ok, but
completely unimpressive. They reminded me of those three or four
dollar wines one can find at the grocery store.

I've experimented with Raisins as both an additive and a wine base;
the results didn't merit their continued use. I've also been
experimenting with a variety of berry blends in both country wines and
melomels. It's too early for me to comment on the results, but
blueberries and blackberries should be excellent ingredients for the
type of wine you are after.

I've read that an old (and illegal) trick in Burgundy is to add some
Elderberries to the grapes when making Pinot Noir. This led me to
experiment with Elderberries as a wine base. I recently finished a
batch that was made from: 1/3 Elderberry wine from concentrate, 1/3
Cabernet Sauvignon from concentrate, 1/6 from Black Seedless table
grapes, and 1/6 from mixed Vinifera from concentrate. At bottling,
this wine was showing a lot of promise; much "bigger" than my earlier
attempts. I'm looking forward to sampling it in a year. I already
have a second similar batch bulk aging.

My best advice is for you to experiment with the ingredients you have.
In time you will likely develop a recipe that will suit your tastes.

Regards,

Greg G.