Re: Wine from grape juice?

Oct 06, 2003 4 Replies
N


Hi folks, I just harvested our concord grapes and want to try to make wine.


> My wife has already canned many jars with half grape/half sugar water to
> make sweetened juice.
> My question is, can the juice she has already canned with the sugar water be
> used to make wine?

Yes, if she didn't add anything but sugar. However, the cooking will have seriously affected the quality of the wine which you can make from the juice. [It won't be as good as uncooked.] Also, if the added too much sugar, you won't be able to ferment it either.


According to one recipe, yeast should be added to the straight mash juice
> and set for 3-4 weeks, until foam dissapates. (This would be straight juice
> with no sugar. Sugar would be added later).

That would work, but would if the sugar content were low, the wine would be low in alcohol, and wouldn't keep very well. Conversely, if the sugar content were high, you might not be able to start the ferment, or the wine might end up to alcoholic.


Bread yeast will not ferment to more than about 9%, and it won't eve start in a high-sugar juice. You need a good wine yeast for wine.


Does sugar content in juice affect the yeast action?

Yes. The more sugar, the more alcohol --- theoretically. However, if there is too much sugar initially, the yeast may die immediately, or they may convert some of the sugar to alcohol, and then die because of the high alcohol environment. Generally, one wants 20-24% sugar initially.

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G

I would tend to disagree with this statement --- cooked fruits are certainly different in flavor from fresh fruits, but I would not say they are worse ---- Just different.

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N

Cooked (or pasteurized) GRAPE wine (which is what we are discussing) is definitely inferior to uncooked wine, all other factors being equal. Cooking destroys essential flavour and "mouth-feel" ingredients. I suspect the same is true of other fruits as well.

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G

Again, in my opinion, I do not believe cooked fruits are always inferior

-- they are just different. Grape jelly is a cooked product, as is any fruit jelly and I think they have a lot of fruit flavor. One day a friend of mine brought over a delightfully fruity raspberry wine with a terrific mouth feel. He surprised the hell out of me when he said he made it from raspberry jam. Most of the better cherry wines I have tasted have been made from cooked cherries -- even pie filling makes a delightful cherry wine.

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N

"Greg Cook" wrote:

Cooked grape juice makes a wonderful grape jelly. But grape jelly is NOT the flavour most people expect from a wine. :)

And raw potatoes taste like, well, raw potatoes. Cooked potatoes make a much better dish.

I didn't say one can't make a good wine from cooked fruit (I make very good wine from pasteurized grape juice and canned cherries), but that it is inferior to a good wine made from fresh fruit (assuming the fresh fruit is edible in its uncooked state).

If you've ever compared a St. Emilion with a pasteurized bottle, you'll instantly see what I mean.

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