Hi all, question for the group.... I would like to start a new batch of grape wine. I have read 'supermarket grapes are not wine grapes', so what's the best thing to do??? cans of juice?? kit wine?? Any suggestions???
It is possible to make wine from table grapes, but they tend not to make the best wine. Table grapes are varieties bred for the best appearance, and also for thin skins and seedlessness in many cases. Wine grapes on the other hand, tend to have smaller berries, thicker skins, more flavor, and a higher sugar content. I snacked on some Zinfandel and Barbera grapes while making wine last fall, and they were quite tasty, but not the thing that looked great on a fruit platter (unless your guests were winemakers I guess).
Grapes also tend to be expensive this time of year, as they are imported from Chile for the most part. If you want the whole grape experience of making wine, either hold off until late summer, when varieties more suited to making wine become readily available at reasonable cost, or select grapes that have characteristics similar to wine grapes. If all that is available are the usual Thompson Seedless varieties, you might do well to mix in some juice concentrates into your must, and be ready to add enough sugar to bring the SG of the must up to 1.095 or so.
n9ukv - Are you new at this? If so buy a white wine kit at the homebrew/winemaking shop and follow the directions. If you have some experience and want to make wine from grapes go to
Bill Frazier Olathe, Kansas USA
Off season wine. Two things come to mind. First - Definitely consider making a batch of Welch's Niagara frozen concentrate. Go to Jack Keller's site for the recipe. It is fast and good. Ready to drink at 3 months. Don't make a real big batch as I think it is over the hill at 9 months to 1 year. A very nice fruity wine.
Then there is Mead. Always an interesting and infinitely variable off season experiment.
Ray
A buddy and I picked up 49 1/2 gallons of juice from this place yesterday.
I have my first three batches of Welches sitting now, all about three months old.
Being a beginner I failed to remember to put the campden tablets in the last time I racked. I just did that a couple weeks ago. When I did this rack I drank about a glass from each batch. I'll probably bottle in another two weeks.
First Batch - 1gal with 1 can Niagara, 2lbs Strawberry steeped at
160deg then added to primary. Cote des Blanc Yeast. This wine lost the strawberry aroma/flavor. Strong, and tastes like a white, hints of champagne. I dont care for whites or champagne much, didnt like this batch much. The yeast was probably a wrong choice.Second Batch - 1gal with 1 can Concord, 2lbs Strawberry steeped at
160deg then added to primary. Lalvin 1122 Yeast. This wine is quite aromatic and flavorful. The strawberry essence is just right, good alc content. Would definitly make this one again. Very good as is.Third Batch - 3gal with 3cans Niagara, 3cans Concord. This wine is pretty damn good, quite strong and suprised me as to how fruity it is, very grapy. With a little mellowing of the fruitiness this wine would be even better.
I went ahead and combined batches 1 & 2 just to mellow #1 and help for head space in secondary. Hopefully it'll turn out closer to #2 than #1.
I am getting ready to make a new larger batch that will be a combo of #2 and #3 leaning to just a bit more concord. And rather than all strawberry I'll add some other fruits(blueberries, raspberries, etc.) to help make a more complex flavor.
Welches w>Off season wine. Two things come to mind. First - Definitely consider
CJJ Berry wrote a very useful book on making wine from canned fruit ("Wine Making With Canned and Dried Fruit"), which is very useful in the off season. I've made some quite nice peach, pineapple, and cherry wine from canned stuff.
Cheers,
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.