Howdy........... It's been awhile since I posted, but I'm glad to see things still hopping around here. Back in the early summer, I made a gallon of wine using a gallon of Welch's Grape/Mango juice blend, a packet of Montrachet yeast, no water, and no sugar. I cleared it in the usual 28 day kit method of adding bentonite, and bottled after two rackings and about six weeks. Tasting the dregs left me with the idea I'd wasted a perfectly good packet of yeast; it was pretty nasty stuff. Finding no wine around the house that suited me tonight, I thought I'd see just how bad the grape/mango had become. Much to my surprise (a TREMENDOUS surprise), the wine I bottled in July was very nice! A bit like cranberry, no tannin strength at all, mostly dry, low acidity, the color of cranberries, and a very confused and pleasantly surprised amateur vintner. The body is lacking, but considering I paid $2/gallon for the juice, that's 50 cents a fifth. This is drinkable enough right now it could be served as a late afternoon wine to guests who are a bit adventurous, and not too rigid in their expectations. The other three bottles will rest for a few more months, and maybe I'll try one around Christmas. Again, glad to see all the activity in this NG, the lack of OT trash, and (finally) a decline in postings re the French (although, I must admit, I cheered quietly for many of those posts).
- posted
20 years ago