Blackberry Wine recipes

Here in East Devon we seem to have a few ripe berries, many green ones and some still in flower. I saw someone picking to day. I dont think they would get many. The spring and early summer were very wet. I may not bother unless they ripen very soon.

Last year the crop was very good and early too.

I'm a rank noobie and have to ask if the blackberry at 5 or 6 lbs. per gallon is fresh picked or store bought. Is there a difference?

Steve Vegos

In response to:

5-6 lbs is basic for blackberry but as to whether store bought are different from fresh picked. That is a hard question. Store bought are probably domestic. Then which domestic? Fresh picked may be domestic or may be wild. Is there a difference? Probably, but I could not say what. If you are going with store bought, you might actually get better berries with frozen than fresh. Frozen berries may be picked at their peak an frozen immediately while fresh are picked early to allow for shipping. We seldom have much control over any of this and just use what we get. If you really get into all this you will probably want to check TA and pH on any of these and learn to adjust them for ballance. This may improve your chances of a superior wine. Or you can just do it by recipe and make a probably make a decent or better wine. If you are just starting, just go by recipe and don't worry.

Ray

Thank You Ray:

I found a thread from 1998 on blackberry wine that was over 100 posts. It is quite interesting. Evidently very few under-ripe berrys in a batch can make the wine quite astringent and leaving it on the seeds too long can do this as well.

Well, since the black berries are free it's obviously false economy to scrimp on the quanity. So I will shoot for 30lbs for a 5 gallon batch. I've been very careful to pick only the ripest fruit since I can check the patches more or less daily.

One of the reasons I asked the original question is, I have ran into canes in one location producing berries so rich in flavor they taste almost like licorice. Never have bumped into this before.

Thanks Steve Vegos

snip

Steve,

Ever wonder how those "new" blackberry varieties are developed? Well, there is an intensive cross-breeding program behind it, for sure, but originally it began when someone "selected" a particular wild berry plant for retention because it had unusually large berries, unusually good flavor, or some other characteristic they wanted to retain. The berries you mentioned with the intense flavor may be candidates for further study.

You might want to attempt to identify the exact cane that produces those berries and tag it with a piece of ribbon so that you can return in the winter (when the canes are dormant) and dig it up. Replant it right away in a good location where it will get about the same sun exposure and water as the original site. Give the canes a year or two to see if they continue producing the same flavor of berries. If they do, then contact the University of Arkansas or Oregon State, two major blackberry breeders in the U.S., and describe the flavors to them and ask if they want the plant. I'm not saying they will, but if they do then your "find" may end up being bred into a new berry someday.

Just a thought....

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page

Thanks for the suggestion. Found and flagged the canes today and will do a 'Pepsi Challange' as a reality check to my palate. We'll see what happens.

Steve Oregon

in article snipped-for-privacy@western-pr.com, danthemen at snipped-for-privacy@danthemen.dox wrote on 6/8/04 3:54 pm:

There are loads more than last year where we go. What we've picked has hardly made a dent in the amount still left on the bushes. More this year than last and not much evidence of many others picking them. Last there seemed to be loads drying up on the bushes.

in article 1gidfyd.19vluk91of17i8N% snipped-for-privacy@wonk.demon.co.uk, Shane Badham at snipped-for-privacy@wonk.demon.co.uk wrote on 11/8/04 9:20 pm:

We've just spent a week at Aberystwyth, Wales and on the campsite some of the hedges had brambles in. They have only just started to turn black and were much smaller than the ones we've been picking in Leicester.

In message , Nikki Cluley writes

Bit late following this up, but yes, I tried it last year, doing a direct substitution of blackberries for sloes. Came out a little 'muddy' tasting, I suspect because the fruit was a little over-ripe, and had been frozen. Plan to do it again this year with better quality fruit. Also made crab-apple gin, too - that was spectacular!

cheers, robin

in article snipped-for-privacy@badminston.demon.co.uk, Robin Somes at snipped-for-privacy@badminston.demon.co.uk wrote on 29/8/04 9:55 pm:

Made some blackberry brandy the other day, so will be interested in how it turns out. Tell me more about the crab apple gin! I went shooting with my husband yesterday morning and in the far field where he goes were two crab apple trees with the fruit just strting to fall off them. A couple of shakes got a load more down and I've got about 15lbs of them. Going to make some crab apple and rowan jelly, but won't need all of the apples.

In message , Nikki Cluley writes

:))) Well, it's pretty much the same principle as sloe or blackberry gin. The best container I found was a 2-litre cider flagon from Waitrose. Gather your crab-apples - I prefer to use a mixture of apples from different trees to get some sort of balance of acidity and so on. Chop the apples into quarters, or however small they need to be to go through the neck of the flagon. Leave out any bruised or scabby bits. When you've filled the flagon, add 6-8 ounces of sugar, and top up with gin. No need to buy expensive gin, supermarket's own-brand is good enough, but I prefer to get proper grain-distilled rather than the very cheapest option.

Leave it, in the dark, for a couple of months, shaking occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Then empty it, and strain it (I used a succession of coffee filter papers). Sweeten it a bit more, if need be.

One other thing, it's best stored in the dark, because it will darken as it ages. And then one other thing after that. It does start off looking (how can I put this delicately) a certain shade of yellow, which might make it less desirable to give away as a present to people. All the more for you, then...

cheers, robin