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).

--
Allen McBroom ><>
www.NPSTKD.com
Remove WOOF when replying by email

Good for you. Sometimes you get surprised - I bottled my pumpkin wine about
a month ago. This wine is supposed to sit for 2 years, but I was very
surprised by what a few months of aging had done, considering it had tasted
like rocket fuel. It had mellowed to a very nice slightly sweet white wine,
very drinkable right now, but I'll wait.
Darlene

"Allen McBroom" > wrote in message
. 4.21...
> 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).
>
> --
> Allen McBroom ><>
> www.NPSTKD.com
> Remove WOOF when replying by email

Darlene:

Do you have a recipe for the pumpkin wine? One you're willing to share?

ty,


"Dar V" > wrote in message >...
> Good for you. Sometimes you get surprised - I bottled my pumpkin wine about
> a month ago. This wine is supposed to sit for 2 years, but I was very
> surprised by what a few months of aging had done, considering it had tasted
> like rocket fuel. It had mellowed to a very nice slightly sweet white wine,
> very drinkable right now, but I'll wait.
> Darlene
>
> "Allen McBroom" > wrote in message
> . 4.21...
> > 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).
> >
> > --
> > Allen McBroom ><>
> > www.NPSTKD.com
> > Remove WOOF when replying by email

Hi!
Are you familiar with Jack Keller's wine site? I used his pumpkin recipe.
Here's the address:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp
Darlene

"busygal" > wrote in message
om...
> Darlene:
>
> Do you have a recipe for the pumpkin wine? One you're willing to share?
>
> ty,
>
>
> "Dar V" > wrote in message
>...
> > Good for you. Sometimes you get surprised - I bottled my pumpkin wine
about
> > a month ago. This wine is supposed to sit for 2 years, but I was very
> > surprised by what a few months of aging had done, considering it had
tasted
> > like rocket fuel. It had mellowed to a very nice slightly sweet white
wine,
> > very drinkable right now, but I'll wait.
> > Darlene
> >
> > "Allen McBroom" > wrote in message
> > . 4.21...
> > > 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).
> > >
> > > --
> > > Allen McBroom ><>
> > > www.NPSTKD.com
> > > Remove WOOF when replying by email

Let the newsgroup scroll proclaim that "Dar V" > scribed
upon its pages in :

> Good for you. Sometimes you get surprised - I bottled my pumpkin wine
> about a month ago. This wine is supposed to sit for 2 years, but I
> was very surprised by what a few months of aging had done, considering
> it had tasted like rocket fuel. It had mellowed to a very nice
> slightly sweet white wine, very drinkable right now, but I'll wait.

Pumpkin? Cool. Now, what I'd REALLY be interested in is a recipe
for kudzu wine. We haven't found any other use for the plant, but if it
can be made into wine, we'll be sitting on a bonanza!


--
Allen McBroom ><>
www.NPSTKD.com
Remove WOOF when replying by email

What is kudzu? Is it edible? Poisonous? Jack has made wine from tons of
different things; here's his web address:
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp .
Darlene

"Allen McBroom" > wrote in message
. 4.21...
> Let the newsgroup scroll proclaim that "Dar V" > scribed
> upon its pages in :
>
> > Good for you. Sometimes you get surprised - I bottled my pumpkin wine
> > about a month ago. This wine is supposed to sit for 2 years, but I
> > was very surprised by what a few months of aging had done, considering
> > it had tasted like rocket fuel. It had mellowed to a very nice
> > slightly sweet white wine, very drinkable right now, but I'll wait.
>
> Pumpkin? Cool. Now, what I'd REALLY be interested in is a recipe
> for kudzu wine. We haven't found any other use for the plant, but if it
> can be made into wine, we'll be sitting on a bonanza!
>
>
> --
> Allen McBroom ><>
> www.NPSTKD.com
> Remove WOOF when replying by email

Let the newsgroup scroll proclaim that "Dar V" > scribed
upon its pages in :

> What is kudzu? Is it edible? Poisonous? Jack has made wine from
> tons of different things; here's his web address:
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp .
>

Kudzu? I'm afraid kudzu is the most prolific and insiduous plant
ever created. The gov't was loking for a way to stem erosion many decades
ago, and imported this fast growing leafy plany from Japan, hoping it would
take root and be the cure for heavily eroded areas. Turns out they failed
to do their homework, as kudzu just runs in a vine along the top of the
ground, and does noting to control erosion. However, having no natural
control function hee, the kudzu takes over the roadsides and the hills. We
joke that cows, if they stand still too long, will be overgrown by the
kudzu.

--
Allen McBroom ><>
www.NPSTKD.com
Remove WOOF when replying by email

Kudzu seems to be non-toxic... So you should be able to make a wine
out of it...
http://www.cptr.ua.edu/kudzu/default.htm#links



On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 20:52:32 -0500, Allen McBroom
> wrote:

>Let the newsgroup scroll proclaim that "Dar V" > scribed
>upon its pages in :
>
>> Good for you. Sometimes you get surprised - I bottled my pumpkin wine
>> about a month ago. This wine is supposed to sit for 2 years, but I
>> was very surprised by what a few months of aging had done, considering
>> it had tasted like rocket fuel. It had mellowed to a very nice
>> slightly sweet white wine, very drinkable right now, but I'll wait.
>
> Pumpkin? Cool. Now, what I'd REALLY be interested in is a recipe
>for kudzu wine. We haven't found any other use for the plant, but if it
>can be made into wine, we'll be sitting on a bonanza!