OK,

So I'm a bit of an experiementer, and I have Terry Garey's book on
home winemaking. Inside she has a recipe for wild grape, which is
more like a wild berry than a grape, but nonetheless I thought I'd
give it a try.

Here is a shot of the grapes one for comparison, and one of the whole
lot.

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/420...parison0dm.jpg

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/371...dgrapes4bi.jpg


I had enough for 1 and 1/2 gallons so I made a one gallon batch and a
half batch with the rest made up with Welch's concorde concentrate.

About 3 pounds a batch, the grapes (berries) are very potent in the
pigment category. Here is a look at the raw crush...

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/303...pecolor4dw.jpg

I must say, the raw juice with sugar added reminded me a bit of the
elderberry or a grapey blackberry in aroma. As fermentation went on
though it got more "woodsey" and wild, not like a grape wine or like
the berry wines I enjoy. I'll keep it around to see what happens, but
at this point, I'm not looking to try again next year unless it really
turns around. I just took it off primary today, but didn't sample
it... I want to let it it settle out a bit and will taste at first
rack.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5...ferment9ge.jpg

If anyone has ever tried this, I'd love to hear comments.

Thanks,
Greg

Interesting...
Those look just like the grapes I made into wine a few weeks ago.
(Mentioned in the 'A gallon of "sugar wine"' thread, Sept. 12.)
I pretty much followed the Terry Garey recipe.

I had about 7 pounds. At first I was going to make just a gallon,
but then I spread it out to 2 gallons by adding more sugar and water.
And recently I've been thinking spreading it out to 3 gallons by
adding some frozen concord concentrate. The reasons I'm thinking of
doing this a

(1) I'd rather work with a single 3-gallon carboy rather than
2 one-gallon jugs
(2) I'm not sure the grapes were quite ripe enough, and so I'm
wanting to lessen the influence of the grapes.

I hope yours turns out well. But even more that that, I hope
mine does. :-)

Jeff Hay-Roe
Sechelt, B.C.

As fermentation went on
> though it got more "woodsey" and wild, not like a grape wine or like
> the berry wines I enjoy.

so let me guess, you fathom yourself a regular Henry David Thoreau in you
endeavors.

I approve.


--
billb

> but then I spread it out to 2 gallons by adding more sugar and water.

I'm less than impressed with the notion of just making alcohol out of sugar
water. It can be done, but then what?

Add some sugar, okay, we all do that, but to make that the focus??? That's a
horse of a different color in my book.

--
billb

Thyose are riparia grapes. They are very acidic and difficult to make
into a balanced wine. Early on they were used in hybrids becasue of
the extreme cold tolerance of the vines (up to -60 F I think). Baco
noir is a prime example of a riparia hybrid.

Many sources say to let the grapes sit on the vine until after the
first frost when they will sweeten. If you try that here you will not
see a grape that late because wild animals will get to them well before
that.

Me I have decided to use them for jelly and jam. Breeders have given
up on them too for hybridization I believe (IIRC this info is from The
American Wine Society Presents Growing Wine Grapes)

Those look like the wild grapes we in the midwest used to make wine out of.
They are very highly colored as they have dark red juice and are high in
acid. We would press the juice and use a gallon of it to make 5 gallons
of wine, and on some batches we would also press elderberries and use a
gallon of elderberries and a gallon of the wild grape juice to make a 10
gallon batch adjusting the SG and acid to normal parameters. This would
give a fairly well balanced wine, as the high tannin in the elderberries
would be reduced to a more moderate level.

Hi: I've tried it and used it to acidify my hydrangeas.

Joe
"Hoss" > wrote in message
...
> OK,
>
> So I'm a bit of an experiementer, and I have Terry Garey's book on
> home winemaking. Inside she has a recipe for wild grape, which is
> more like a wild berry than a grape, but nonetheless I thought I'd
> give it a try.
>
> Here is a shot of the grapes one for comparison, and one of the whole
> lot.
>
> http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/420...parison0dm.jpg
>
> http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/371...dgrapes4bi.jpg
>
>
> I had enough for 1 and 1/2 gallons so I made a one gallon batch and a
> half batch with the rest made up with Welch's concorde concentrate.
>
> About 3 pounds a batch, the grapes (berries) are very potent in the
> pigment category. Here is a look at the raw crush...
>
> http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/303...pecolor4dw.jpg
>
> I must say, the raw juice with sugar added reminded me a bit of the
> elderberry or a grapey blackberry in aroma. As fermentation went on
> though it got more "woodsey" and wild, not like a grape wine or like
> the berry wines I enjoy. I'll keep it around to see what happens, but
> at this point, I'm not looking to try again next year unless it really
> turns around. I just took it off primary today, but didn't sample
> it... I want to let it it settle out a bit and will taste at first
> rack.
>
> http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/5...ferment9ge.jpg
>
> If anyone has ever tried this, I'd love to hear comments.
>
> Thanks,
> Greg
>
>