Midwestern wine grapes

Check out your local winemaking store near you. They may have a stemmer/crusher you can rent - OR there may be a local club that you could join that may have one also.

Do you subscribe to "Winemaker" magazine? If you do, go to some past issues and you might find a source for California grapes that are shipped to a location near you.

You are smart to try a blend. I share your taste - CA grapes are TOO high brix and the resultant wine is too jammy and alcoholic for my taste. Blending with your local grapes would help a lot.

greetings! glad your 1st batch was successful... was it a kit or a pail of juice?

1) Here in the Boston area, we ( my partners in vine) go into the wholesale produce center to brokers who sideline in wine grapes, juices & equipment. 3 or 4 brokers handle the less expensive ( insert your qualitative judgment here,) Lodi/Central Valley grapes & 5 gal pails of varietal juices. 1 guy deals in more upscale grapes from further north. The largest homebrew supplier sells (her opinion) great grapes from Napa ( autumn) & Chilean grapes (spring) both on a preorder/pig in a poke basis. She also has fresh frozen Italian juices. There's quite a few home vintners here, so we have options... maybe you do too? A 35# lug of grapes: $22-$45 depending... I don't buy juice but I think its in the $55 a pail range for CV, and $$$illy for the imported .

2) We don't have guys who offer that service, but I do know that in other states folks offer "enhanced processing options." at point of sale.

3a) Craig's List/ ebay/ etc? Crusher/destemmers aren't cheap but worth the investment if you're a toy-guy in this for the long haul. Maybe there's a rental opportunity out there. We bought most of our toys from an old timer who was retiring from the grapes & switching to juices; he's become a mentor & friend.

3b) Join other forums; post for sharing/rentals.

3c) Pls don't laugh too hard: try going to small produce markets whose staff are Italian, Portuguese, Spanish - winedrinking cultures! I've made some good friends & got pointed in good directions by conversing with these local guys. "They know this guy who wants to get rid of..."

Start asking questions...google local groups. I'd bet that a local homebrew group has a closet vintner or 2 you can pump for info.

HTH pardon my rambling but I'm home sick, it snowed again last night and Nyquil stingers give one a loquacious glow... regards, bob

I destemmed ~ 200 pounds of grapes by hand for years, it's boring biut not that bad. Depending on how much you want to do that is an option. You can rub them across a milk crate too but I never tried that, i just bought a used crusher.

If you blend that high acid Mich with low acid Central Valley fruit you may have a winner. The local stuff might be high acid loweer brix and the CA stuff would be the opposite. I would blend after measuring though.

Joe

I suppose I could destem myself, then. My family will drink no more than 100 bottles a year. Add 20 bottles for friends. And yes, you guys have convinced me of the need to measure, measure, measure. If I do stumble on a good wine, it would be good to have the relevant numbers (mix %, types, brix, TA, pH) in a logbook.

Since I have a large freezer, I will probably freeze the local grapes too (after crushing and destemming) for best flavor extraction.

I will echo the sentiments of the others here. After some looking, i found 3-4 folks in the Cleveland area that import California varietals every season. I buy into the load for about 500lbs. I pay about $.90/ lb for the grapes and I use their crusher destemmer. Most places allowed me to use their crusher / destemmer.

I also pick about 500lb of Chancellor grapes. Yes, a high acid wine that had to bring down with a bit of CaCO3. It is a bit full and foxy, but bland.. I will probably blend with my Cab.