There is an article in the Winter 2004 edition of the "American Wine Society
Journal" written by Paul V. DiGrazia, M.D. that compares the polyphenol
antioxidants in red and white wines to his "Wild Blue fortified blueberry
wine and his DiGrazia Vineyards Wind Ridge Seyval Blanc blend.

The wines were analyzed by Vinquiry which is a BATF-certified laboratory in
Windsor, California

In summary:

Sample type Polyphenols (mg/l)

DiGrazia Vineyards Wild Blue fortified blueberry wine 6236
Cabernet Sauvignon (3 brands sampled) 3400-3760
Merlot (3brands sampled) 2777-3260

DiGrazia Vineyards Wind Ridge Seyval Blanc blend 715
Chardonnay (11 brands sampled) 270-520
Pinot Grigio(2 brands sampled) 340-350
Chablis (3 brands sampled) 320-350

Dr. DiGrazia used "ethanol extraction" in which he immersed seeds and skins
of the fruit in a solution of ethanol. No details were supplied.

This got me thinking of experimenting by adding some blueberries to a small
trial batch of grape wine. I have heard that in the past, some have used
elderberries with grapes to give more color and body. Maybe we can concoct
a "Super" healthy wine - ha ha. I might even get brave and go for the
gusto and add elderberries, blueberries, pomegranate and cranberries to the
grapes. I should live forever - ha.

Has anyone experimented by adding any of the fruits to their grape wines and
what was the resulting taste?

Paul - That was a good article. His fortified wild blueberry sounds like
the old Geritol vitamin product.

I have experience just the opposite of what you ask. I add some dry,
non-oaked white wine to fruit wines I make. I don't add enough to confuse
the taste of the fruits (cranberry, blackberry) but the addition seems to
bring out the fruit, expecially in the aroma.

I've tasted a lot of fruit wines (local wine contest) with so much grape
wine added that you don't know what you are tasting so I think you have to
be careful not to add too much. Some simple bench top trials shows the way.

Bill Frazier
Olathe, Kansas USA

"Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
...
> There is an article in the Winter 2004 edition of the "American Wine
> Society
> Journal" written by Paul V. DiGrazia, M.D. that compares the polyphenol
> antioxidants in red and white wines to his "Wild Blue fortified blueberry
> wine and his DiGrazia Vineyards Wind Ridge Seyval Blanc blend.
>
> Has anyone experimented by adding any of the fruits to their grape wines
> and
> what was the resulting taste?

Good comments. I have never experimented with the purpose of making a
healthy wine but do not see why not. Aren't all wines healthy? I do like
to add fruit wines to grape wines. One of my favorite blends is a rather
non descript cherry wine that mixes very nicely with Cabernet style reds.
This last year I did make a melomel with only one pound of blueberries per
gal. It has the flavor of mead but just a hint of berries but an amazing
amount of color.

We often hear wines characterized as having blackberry or cherry tones. So
as a home winemaker, why not add these to your grapes if they are supposed
to be a good thing? If you are not sure what to blend, try making each
separately and then blending them after the fact.

Ray

"Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
...
> There is an article in the Winter 2004 edition of the "American Wine
> Society
> Journal" written by Paul V. DiGrazia, M.D. that compares the polyphenol
> antioxidants in red and white wines to his "Wild Blue fortified blueberry
> wine and his DiGrazia Vineyards Wind Ridge Seyval Blanc blend.
>
> The wines were analyzed by Vinquiry which is a BATF-certified laboratory
> in
> Windsor, California
>
> In summary:
>
> Sample type Polyphenols
> (mg/l)
>
> DiGrazia Vineyards Wild Blue fortified blueberry wine 6236
> Cabernet Sauvignon (3 brands sampled) 3400-3760
> Merlot (3brands sampled) 2777-3260
>
> DiGrazia Vineyards Wind Ridge Seyval Blanc blend 715
> Chardonnay (11 brands sampled) 270-520
> Pinot Grigio(2 brands sampled) 340-350
> Chablis (3 brands sampled) 320-350
>
> Dr. DiGrazia used "ethanol extraction" in which he immersed seeds and
> skins
> of the fruit in a solution of ethanol. No details were supplied.
>
> This got me thinking of experimenting by adding some blueberries to a
> small
> trial batch of grape wine. I have heard that in the past, some have used
> elderberries with grapes to give more color and body. Maybe we can
> concoct
> a "Super" healthy wine - ha ha. I might even get brave and go for the
> gusto and add elderberries, blueberries, pomegranate and cranberries to
> the
> grapes. I should live forever - ha.
>
> Has anyone experimented by adding any of the fruits to their grape wines
> and
> what was the resulting taste?

Paul E. Lehmann wrote:
<SNIP>
> This got me thinking .....
>
> Has anyone experimented by adding any of the fruits to their grape wines and
> what was the resulting taste?

Paul,
Each year I make a blend of Chambourcin, Baco, Chelois and NY 73. To
this I add about 3% blackberries, by weight, as either fresh or frozen
fruit or already-made wine. Very ripe blackberries have a luscious, rich
flavor which contributes greatly to the grapes I struggle with. The
taste & nose are present, but well integrated in the wine, and most
people are aware of "something very good", but they don't know what.
Shhhhhhhh, Don't tell 'em, it's a secret. ;-)

Side note: I once brought some straight blackberry wine to a tasting
event, and some very knowledgeable & sophisticated people and went on
about the stuff, recommending it to others. They hadn't a clue that it
was a non-grape wine, and were surprised if not embarassed, to learn it
was homemade B'berry!
So, yes, adding other fruits to grapes can work.

BTW, Do you think most people have any idea what "brambles" taste like
when they say a wine tastes brambly? (chuckle, chuckle)

--


Mike MTM, Cokesbury, New Jersey, USA

Mike McGeough wrote:


> Paul,
> Each year I make a blend of Chambourcin, Baco, Chelois and NY 73. To
> this I add about 3% blackberries, by weight, as either fresh or frozen
> fruit or already-made wine. Very ripe blackberries have a luscious, rich
> flavor which contributes greatly to the grapes I struggle with. The
> taste & nose are present, but well integrated in the wine, and most
> people are aware of "something very good", but they don't know what.
> Shhhhhhhh, Don't tell 'em, it's a secret. ;-)

Mike, I will never tell.

My backyard vineyard is coming into production pretty good now - Merlot,
Cabernet Franc and Chambourcin - plus some Cabernet Sauvignon just planted
last spring. I like a "little" Chambourcin in the blend but next year I
think I will have excess Chambourcin so I think I will experiment with
adding berries of some kind to the Chambourcin. I also recently planted
high bush cranberries and this spring will plant elderberries and June
berries so I potentially have a lot of combinations to try in the future
with my excess Chambourcin - which I am not crazy about by itself.

After reading DiGrazia's numbers, I can see why I like Cabernet
Sauvignon so much. I know very little about wine-tasting, grapes, etc.,
but I know what I like. And the health aspect of wine is important to
me, so I'm glad you brought it up. As I get more into this hobby, I'm
wanting to make meads plus "mixing" elixirs from fruit and herbs from
my garden that will not only taste good but be good for me.

I've got 12 blackberry plants ordered (Gurney's has a thornless
special), plus a hardy kiwi harem, a jostaberry, a rugosa rose,
Jerusalem artichokes, and habanero, cantaloupe, pumpkin, and Alpine
strawberry seeds coming. I've got a fig and two young blueberry bushes
going into their second year. Also the usual herbs and edible flowers,
and I'm harvesting saffron, too. All of these I want to try with mead.

The question I have is this: Could one make a wine or mead
traditionally, then stir in a bit of an elixir (or three) that was made
with vodka without doing damage? (I'm talking more about taste and
stability than I am about %abv...although one would have to be careful
with that, too. I love to drink wine, but I don't enjoy getting
snockered.)

I don't want to do anything so sweet as a liquor, but I was thinking of
maybe filling some mason jars partway with vodka and tossing in the few
bits of fruit I pick as it ripens and letting it really cook in the
alcohol. I could have a blueberry jar, a fig jar, a habanero jar, etc.,
and build up quite a "medicine chest" over time. In the Schramm book,
he says he knows people who have jars of vodka and fruit sitting around
for decades, still on the fruit, and that the vodka pretty much negates
the need to rigorously sanitize. It's not clear to me, however, if he's
talking about straight vodka and fruit or liquers with added sugar.

Is there another accretion method that would work better for me? And is
there any reason one could not impart oak flavor by making an oak-chip
elixir?

Diane