An older friend of mine recounted a story from his youth that I thought
I'd share with you.

It seems that his parents had to leave for a full month while he was in
high school. They didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone, and they
couldn't pull him out of school for a month, so they suggested that he
invite a friend to stay with him. So he did, and while his parents were
gone, he and his friend found a recipe for Dandelion wine, which takes
us back on topic for this forum.

They spent quite a bit of time carefully picking Dandelions from the
yard and proceeded to get the gallon batch of wine started in the
basement. Being teenagers, they quickly forgot about their winemaking
project and got distracted with other things. My friend said that the
only time he thought about the wine was when his mom got back and asked
"What happened to all of my sugar?!?!"

About three years later he was away from home and going to college when
his dad called and asked, "What did you make that wine from?" to which
he responded "uhmm... Dandelions...". His dad then said, "That was
REALLY GOOD!"

The moral of the story... I'm sure that many of you are mother hens to
your wines as am I. We measure specific gravity, acid, and pH. We check
them periodically to make sure the airlock is tight and the
fermentation hasn't stopped prematurely. We look for signs of infection
of anything else amiss. And finally, we make sure to rack them or stir
the lees on a set schedule so that the lees don't autolyze and add
off-flavors to the beverage.

This fellow and his friend apparently made a remarkable beverage by
throwing together the right ingredients and completely ignoring it.
They didn't even have an airlock. He thinks they just had a cap loosely
screwed onto the top. I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't be as
careful as we are or that we should completely ignore are wines and
meads as they progress, but perhaps a lot of what we do is actually
overkill and doesn't really improve the beverage or increase our
chances of success.

Regards,

Greg G.

I think it improves our chances of success, but it's those occasional
rays of accidental success that are what make us think that it might be
better to toss the recipes.

Two stories - the first time I made wine it was with friends and the
friend's father. It was a Niagara from the vines on the lot my friends
had just bought a year earlier. It turned out great and the hook was
set for me in this hobby. But try as we might, we haven't been able to
quite replicate that wine. Looking back on it now, it wasn't made in
the strict recipe method, and because of the interests of the friend
(he actually has a life, for instance...) none of his subsequent wines
have been either. So far it's been a once-in-a-score wine, but luckily
it came first, or I wouldn't be doing this.

Second, this past harvest I helped an friend (significantly older than
I) make a wine from his grapes. He remembers his folks making wine
from the same grapes years before. I think it's turning out reasonably
well, but he has a memory for some flavors (and some power) in the wine
that just aren't there, and best I can tell it's the "recipe-ness" that
took out the flavors. It'll end up a good, stable wine, but he wanted
a wilder and riskier wine. Should've asked.


Rob

>... It'll end up a good, stable wine, but he wanted
> a wilder and riskier wine.

Maybe ferment it hotter and leave it on the skins until they sink.
That's how wines were made around here; it wasn't uncommon for people
to just leave it on the skins for a month. They could be black with
tannins.

As to leaving well enough alone, my father has always said "It will
turn out fine in spite of what you do to it." He's right. His father
had none of the hardware I use and made good wine in old whiskey
barrels rinsed until they came clear with hot water and mint leaves.
His wines were well liked.
Joe

An interesting story and it is true that it is very easy to make wine and
many of us do fuss over it way more than necessary, but I really drought
it's accuracy. If they started it and left it on the leas for 3 years, with
an airlock that surely dried out and no sulfite to protect it from oxidation
to boot, that is about what it would taste like -- an old boot. The leas
would have rotted and probably produced sulfur and it certainly would have
been oxidized. The only thing that might have saved it in all that time
would be if it had turned into sherry but that generally requires a lot of
body and dandelions would not have given that.

Just my take on the story. Sounds like an urban myth. Send it to the
Mythbusters! ;o)

Ray

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> An older friend of mine recounted a story from his youth that I thought
> I'd share with you.
>
> It seems that his parents had to leave for a full month while he was in
> high school. They didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone, and they
> couldn't pull him out of school for a month, so they suggested that he
> invite a friend to stay with him. So he did, and while his parents were
> gone, he and his friend found a recipe for Dandelion wine, which takes
> us back on topic for this forum.
>
> They spent quite a bit of time carefully picking Dandelions from the
> yard and proceeded to get the gallon batch of wine started in the
> basement. Being teenagers, they quickly forgot about their winemaking
> project and got distracted with other things. My friend said that the
> only time he thought about the wine was when his mom got back and asked
> "What happened to all of my sugar?!?!"
>
> About three years later he was away from home and going to college when
> his dad called and asked, "What did you make that wine from?" to which
> he responded "uhmm... Dandelions...". His dad then said, "That was
> REALLY GOOD!"
>
> The moral of the story... I'm sure that many of you are mother hens to
> your wines as am I. We measure specific gravity, acid, and pH. We check
> them periodically to make sure the airlock is tight and the
> fermentation hasn't stopped prematurely. We look for signs of infection
> of anything else amiss. And finally, we make sure to rack them or stir
> the lees on a set schedule so that the lees don't autolyze and add
> off-flavors to the beverage.
>
> This fellow and his friend apparently made a remarkable beverage by
> throwing together the right ingredients and completely ignoring it.
> They didn't even have an airlock. He thinks they just had a cap loosely
> screwed onto the top. I'm not suggesting that we shouldn't be as
> careful as we are or that we should completely ignore are wines and
> meads as they progress, but perhaps a lot of what we do is actually
> overkill and doesn't really improve the beverage or increase our
> chances of success.
>
> Regards,
>
> Greg G.
>
>

I tend to think they story is true. With respect to the lack of an
airlock, he did say that he thought they had a screw top lid on top.
Once fermentation had stopped, the weight of the semi-loose lid at rest
may have been just enough to stop air from getting in. With respect to
the lees... the carboy was in a cool basement. Perhaps the cool
temperature and alcohol content of the beverage prevented autolysis
from getting out of hand. Many of the old country wine recipes produce
very sweet wines. As I'm sure you know, sugar makes up for a multitude
of sins in wine making. It's not hard to believe that the sugar content
could have masked any off flavors that were produced by autolysis or
oxidation.

Greg G.