My wife bought me a couple of Catawba grape plants. I will be making a trellis, etc., but I have a question about using them in wine.
The Catawba wine I've bought in stores always has 49% of some other grape in the wine, and 51% Catawba.
Why is this?
From what I've read, it does make good wine, jelly, jam, etc.
Can I make a decent wine from this or do I need to mix it with another grape like Niagara or something else?
Thanks!!!
Stone Hill Winery in Missouri makes an excellent Catawba blend.
Stephen
I've been making 100% Catawba wine for over 10 years. It has it's own particular rose type aroma and flavor. Catawba;s history is very exciting for an American grape. It was crossed with Bacho in the middle 17th Century. It won a blue ribbon at Paris, France World's Fair in 1900. There are two distinct methods of fermenting this pink grape. The blue ribbon recipe basically creates a fairly dry white by fermenting only the juice and the other method is to ferment on the skins to build an amber color sweet wine. Both are good and I would recommend you try them before deciding to blend.
Sounds like it would make a nice wine by itself. I'll try it on the skins first.
Any idea how many years it would be before I would get a modest harvest, say 5 or 6 pounds, to make a gallon of wine?
These vines are each maybe 3 feet tall, first year plantings.
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required