embellishing an average wine

Blending in general is a good thing. I blend most of mine. I usually start with several 6 gallon pails of juice. After the first rack into

5 gallon carboys i used to have a lot of 3 liter jugs of the leftover topping wine. At some point i quit doing that and started throwing all of it into a 5 gallon then 3 gallon carboy as time went on. Whatever was left got bottled as a 'mutt red'. Invariably it was my best wine.

Most of my wine is Regina juice and it is just table wine, you are not going to make a stellar wine from less than stellar grapes or juice. That said, it's very good table wine.

Joe

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:

I made a cranberry wine several years ago. It is too much cranberry for me but I have found, like you that adding a bit to a bland wine will liven it up.

I have a lot of cherry wine that is fairly good but not great. But blend

20-30 percent with any of my Cab's or Merlots and it really adds something though it is hard to detect the cherry flavor.

I have made mediocre Wech's Niagara from canned concentrate. I have found that adding some of it to any light fruit wine and many meads will enhance them. I now know what they mean by adding vinuosity to a not grape wine.

Ray

Hi Joe ...

I have a friend who is movong to the south western part of PA and is looking for a source of Regina juice. Do you have a contact name, website, email, or phone number that I can pass along to him? Also, if you don't mind my asking, what is the current going price for Regina juice pails?

Thanks!

I'm actually in Pittsburgh, southwestern PA. If they are near Philly have them try Procacci Brothers. If nearer to Pittsburgh try Premier Produce (they sell out fast, it's all gone by now but they would ask for Jay) or Pennsylvania Macaroni (They sell it for more $ so usually have some left).

This year it was anywhere from $35 to $50 per 6 gallon pail. I was working on my house so didn't buy any grapes (sigh) so can't say what a lug was worth; it's usually around $20 for Grenache and Syrah. Hope that helps. They can email me if they need any additional info.

Joe

Thanks Joe!

I really appreciate this info.

He is looking for a place somewhere south (close the Maryland border) and a bit east of Pittsburg so this information will be a big help to him.

Those prices look really good! Here in Nebraska we don't have anyone who brings in grapes or juice (except for Brehms ... too expensive for me). We need to drive to Kansas City which is a 700+ mile round trip and even then, we need to pay $80+ for a 6 gallon pail of juice and $50 for a lug of grapes (36lbs). The KC homebrew shop has no competition so they can charge whatever they want. Not too many people live here in Nebraska and very few make wine.

Thanks again Joe for the info, Roger

Baltimore might be the ticket; I know I saw an Italian store near either Johns Hopkins or the University of Maryland hospitals that had Regina juice signs up. It was definitely in the inner city.

Joe

Roger, The area in Baltimore was Highlandtown, the place I saw was probably Santoni's. The owner is a home winemaking judge so this might be the place to start. I'm not going to say this is a horrible neighborhood but it is an area where you should pay attention to who is around and what is going on.

Joe

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This will give him some good options between Baltimore and Pittsburg. I'm sure he'll be able to find some.

Thanks again for all your help !!! I (we) really appreciate it. Roger

S&S in Baltimore sells grapes from California and winemaking equipment. They are not in the ideal part of town either and there probably isn't anyone there right now but there will be starting in September.

Thanks Paul!

I appreciate the information.

Roger