Rhubarb wine question

Yes Julie, I feel it is worth making. I make 25l ~6.6 gallons and use a 1/2 litre (Brew King) or can (Alexanders) of white grape concentrate with the wine. It definitely adds body and character to the wine. Most people who drink it say it doesn't taste like rhubarb. I dont know if that is good or bad. I think it is very nice wine. I have made it dry but now add sugar after stopping anywhere from 1/2 to 4 percent. The better the fruit quality the less sugar that is required to make it a palatable wine. At least from my experience. I thought it was good enough to start growing rhubarb myself.

Dar who post here makes country wines, maybe she will weigh in.

Lee

I do feel it's worth making. Though if you don't like rhubarb, it's doubtful as to whether you will like pure (unblended) rhubarb wine.

How I usually make mine is detailed here:

Though I've more recently been experimenting with lees stirring:

General info on Rhubarb wine can be found at:

HTH, Ben

I visited Walkers Fruit Basket last year and got to try wine made from most of their juices. The dry Rhubarb was OK in my opinion but my wife really liked it. Hence I have 6 gal going now. It does make a very acidic wine. Good luck. Is type of wine worth making? That depends on your own personal taste.

Ray

Not in my experience. Obviously it depends on how much rhubarb you use (and the maturity/quality), but I've made Rhubarb wine with almost 4 lb/US gal. (437 g/l) - i.e. quite a bit of rhubarb - and still only ended up with a TA of 8.1 g/l. It's not uncommon to see recipes which involve acidification (even without deacidification of oxalic) - see

Very true and well said. Beyond taste I'd say that it is worth making based on the fact that it works well as a blender, is malleable in style, is highly individual, and is quite ageable.

Ben

I made a 5 gal batch last year with about 4 lbs. per gal. I bottled it when it was finished, and later when I opened a bottle, I found it wasn't quite finished. I now have a very delightful tasting sparkling wine with a nice, slightly sour after taste that is the rhubarb style. I am very happy with it though I'll probably never get it to sparkle up again in the upcoming years like this batch

Thank you all so much for your input - I will definitely make a rhubarb wine this year!!!

Let us know what you think about it and how it turns out. Darlene

I feel it is unfortunate that the ingredient doesn't have a more elegant name. Our favorite method is to use equal pounds sugar and chopped up rhubarb. Let the sugar extract the juices, strain. Using Wincalc adjust to your favorite starting S.G.. After a bit we've had a delightful wine that is nowhere near the sound of its name.

Dick

And just what is wrong with the name Rhubarb? I live in the deep south where rhubarb is not grown and have always considered it a delightfully exotic name. I have 5 gal going now made from rhubarb juice from Walkers Fruit Basket.

Ray

I think the Amana colonies in Iowa use a German slang word for their rhubarb wine. They call it "Piestengel". I'm tempted to use that on my next label.