This year I picked some wild grapes. I was not sure if I would try to make
wine or jelly so I froze them.

My question is how should I go from the frozen grapes to the first
fermenting stage for wine.

2nd question is, if I did not leave the shin on the grapes, would it be a
clear wine and if so could I control the color of the wine that way?

Steve
South Texas

Freezing is a good way to improve yield in fruit. My recommendation is to
go to Jack Keller's site. He has lost of wild grape recipes and hints for
making it. You can use whole frozen fruit or fresh fruit in exactly the
same way.

In general if you press grapes and do not ferment on the skin you will get a
light or white wine. Some red grapes will yield a white wine, others have
some color in the meat and will give a rose'. If you soak the skins in the
juice for even a few hours you will pick up some color. This is how white
Zen is made from dark red zin grapes. Having frozen the grapes will have
broken down the skin and will increase the yield of color. My guess is you
can crush and just use the juice and get a rose' or you can use the skins
and get a red.

Ray

"Steve Payne" wrote in message
...
This year I picked some wild grapes. I was not sure if I would try to make
wine or jelly so I froze them.

My question is how should I go from the frozen grapes to the first
fermenting stage for wine.

2nd question is, if I did not leave the shin on the grapes, would it be a
clear wine and if so could I control the color of the wine that way?

Steve
South Texas

In 1999 I made (poorly) a wine from wild "fox" grapes. As the bulk of
stems and seeds probably exceeded the bulk of fruit we put ours in a
hot steamer/juicer. The finished wine is almost black. Even a clear
bottle held up to a bright light is hard to see through.

No comment on the flavor though. They probably have enough tannin to
survive for some time.

Art S.

On Wed, 3 Dec 2003 15:58:02 -0600, "Steve Payne"
wrote:

This year I picked some wild grapes. I was not sure if I would try to make
wine or jelly so I froze them.

My question is how should I go from the frozen grapes to the first
fermenting stage for wine.

2nd question is, if I did not leave the shin on the grapes, would it be a
clear wine and if so could I control the color of the wine that way?

Steve
South Texas