It's getting to be that time of year. The pumpkins will be hitting the shelves. I'd like to know if anyone has made Jack Keller's pumpkin wine. If so, how did it turn out? I know it has to age at least a year. What's it taste like? Could you tell it was pumpkin? Tell us your experiences.
Greg Greg Smith snipped-for-privacy@spamblocker.netzero.net Remove "spamblocker" to e-mail
Greg, Yes, I have made pumpkin wine, but it was a combination recipe from Jack's site and Terry Garey's "The Joy of Home Winemaking. It should be two years old before drinking. The wine was about 7 months old when I bottled it and
13% alcohol by volume. At first the wine had a harsh, raw taste, but I was pleasantly surprised when I tried the glass of leftover wine after I bottled it. It had mellowed to a off-white/tinge yellow, slightly on the sweet side (almost like a Riesling). It was drinkable now, but I think I will be very happy with it in another year or so. Sorry, not much pumpkin color or pumpkin taste. I will try it again. DarleneDidn't really expect it to taste like pumpkin. Just trying to think of what it would taste like. Can you compare it to anything else, other than Riesling? Does it taste like a grape wine, or is it like some other wine that I may have had? I'm thinking that I will just have to wait to taste it.
How do you have the patience to wait 2 years to drink it? You've only been making wine for 3 years or so, right? Do you have your cellar stocked up?
Greg
Greg Smith snipped-for-privacy@spamblocker.netzero.net Remove "spamblocker" to e-mail
It reminded me of your basic white slightly sweet grape wine. I'm learning to be patient. I only have 1 bottle left from the 20 bottles I made my first year. Of the 55 bottles I made my second year, I have about 44 left. I have not tried any of the wine I made this year - I only get to taste at bottling when there is usually about 1 glass left. I will admit to taking tastes of the topping-up wine at various times, so I know how the wine is going. And yes, I am getting my cellar stocked up. You'll be surprised by how the wine changes, and it is definitely worth learning to wait. I typically alternate making wine I can drink early, then my next batch will be a wine that needs a little aging, and then a few which really need to sit, like the pumpkin. Darlene
First the pumpkin wine questions. The recipe calls for 5 pounds of pumpkin. How much if 5 pounds of pumpkin? Is that a 8 inch pumpkin? Two 8 inch pumpkins? Also, I'm thinking of modifying the recipe to make you think pumpkin pie when you taste the pumpkin wine. I've never used spices, but I would think I'd be able to modify a mead recipe, don't you think?
As for not drinking the wine. I just adopted the practice of making kits between the fruit wines. Since I just started, and I make 1 gallon batches, the bottles could disappear pretty quickly. I'm now at the point of always having some bottles from a kit on hand. It's usually a sweet or semi sweet wine, just my preferences. The last batch I bottled was a Cranberry-Grape from juice. Got that on the shelf for over a month before I opened a bottle. Found that one has a LONG way to go before the strong cranberry bite mellows to the point of not making you pucker up.
Greg
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I've done this; what I find with spices is that they may seem strong at first, but as the spices mature in the wine, they mellow out considerably. My spiced pumpkin wine is nice, but it doesn't have the strong spicy flavor I was going for. Consider using brown instead of white sugar.
Karen
One of the first things I bought when I started to make some of these different wines, is a kitchen scale - you can usually get them at Wal-Mart for under $10. First, try to find a pie pumpkin - it will taste the best versus a carving pumpkin. If that is not possible, then remember this - all the inside gunk (seeds & stringy stuff) comes out and you need to take the skin off, you just want the pumpkin. I would guess at least 2 - 8 inch pumpkins, or if you weigh them, I would get about a 7 or 8 lb pumpkin. By the way, I froze my pumpkin before I used it for wine. Good-luck with the spices, I have not tried that. Darlene
Thanks to both of you for the suggestions. I'm still looking in the mead groups for some spice recommendations.
Greg
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