Northeast PA Wine competition Results

[Runningwolf]

Tonight was the Northeast Amateur wine competition. There was a five member panel of judges including winery owners and their wine makers. My results were as follows:
Black Raspberry 3rd place
Green Apple 3rd place
Lady Sangria 3rd Place
Vidal 2nd place
Winter Bliss 2nd place and in top five for best presentation
Sweet Indulgence 1rst place and 1rst runner up for best of show

Most talked about wine amongst the wine makers there was My Skeeter Pee I blended with Craberry. They could not believe it did not place and it was loved by all. The second most talked about was my Sweet Indulgence. One wine maker who was a Buffalo, NY cop offered to buy a case off of me at $45.00 a bottle when I told him what it would cost. Sorry buddy! All in all a great competition with a little over 100 entries. Lots of networking.

 

[rob]

nicely done, how much cranberry are you putting in that Skeeter? if you don't mind sharing.

 

[Runningwolf]

nicely done, how much cranberry are you putting in that Skeeter? if you don't mind sharing.

Rob, this was a Cranberry I made from juice. I bottled it rather tart deliberately for blending purposes. Just before bottling I added about 30% Cranberry.

 

[rob]

Dan, thanks, do you think frozen concentrate would be close or not, when you say made from juice what do you mean??? thanks for sharing, by the way would I take 30% of skeeter out of the carboy and add....

 

[Runningwolf]

Dan, thanks, do you think frozen concentrate would be close or not, when you say made from juice what do you mean??? thanks for sharing, by the way would I take 30% of skeeter out of the carboy and add....

I got the juice from Walkers. They press the fresh fruit for juice and sell it to wineries and wine makers. Frozen concentrate will work, of course it will not taste exactly the same. I would try it.
Assuming your batch is five gallons I would rack it to a primary bucket and add the cra berry to the taste you like. Whether it is one two or more frozen concentrates. Then rack back to your clean carboy and rack the rest to smaller containers like 1/2 gallon bottles or 750mm wine bottles with an air lock. Let them sit for at least a week for the flavors to mesh and also to look for any sediment fall out.
NOTE:Ensure you have stabilized your Skeeter Pee before proceeding to blending/sweetening.

 

[rodo]

Sweet Indulgence 1rst place and 1rst runner up for best of show

Congratulations Dan!!!!

Congratulations on all your placings but Sweet Indulgence in particular!
Well done my friend.

 

[Julie]

Great Job!

You have got to be on Cloud 9 and very proud, enjoy it you deserve it.


Ok Jeannie, Dan just gave us the list of what wine we are grabbing when we make our raid.

 

[countrygirl]

congrats dan! sounds like ya'll had an awesome time!
i've just mixed frozen cranberry concentrate with my last batch of skeeter pee...2 frozen cans and then 4 c. sugar. hope it tastes as good as urs!

 

[Wade E]

Great job Dan! I havent started my Walkers wines yet as Im refraining from doing so until I get more of last years batches in bottles although I dont know where the hell Im going to put them!

 

[Runningwolf]

Great job Dan! I havent started my Walkers wines yet as Im refraining from doing so until I get more of last years batches in bottles although I dont know where the hell Im going to put them!

I am biting at the bit waiting for them to open back up this month. The list is long. You know Wade we must have at least 50 very active members with home addresses that would be more then happy to alleviate you of the excess wine! This competition was right in the middle of the wine country here. This is the best time of the year as you drive through the area the aroma of grapes is very strong. The season is so good this year some of the grape growers are wondering if they'll be able to sell everything they have as the harvest is so huge.

 

[Runningwolf]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments!

 

[ffemt128]

Congrats Dan.... Well deserved.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Wow. It would be great to have 1 but all those. Excellent job. Sad to hear about the skeeter pee. I bet they were wanting more to do a more thorough test.

 

[JohnT]

Well Done Runningwolf!!!