Catawba - Fredonia Blend

[ffemt128]

Runningwolf or anyone else have any suggestions for a starting blend percentage? I don't want the Fredonia to just color the Catawba. This may be my next try, maybe a blend of Catawba, Concord and Fredonia? I have 10 gallons of Fredonia, 9 gallons of Niagra, 6 gallons of Catawba and 8 gallons of Concord to play with. Obviously I'll want some straight Fredonia, Concord and Niagra

 

[Runningwolf]

Doug I intended to make a pink Catawba with Fredonia and Catawba. Well my first trial was Catawba 75% and Fredonia 25%. The trial was only 100ml. I poured it into a glass, "oh crap, this is more blush than pink". I tasted it anyways, " Holy Smokes this is great"! Pink Catawba was eliminated from inventory and "Sammies Blend" was born. What I can tell is after making that 7-8 gallon batch, I ran up to Walkers and got 18 more gallons of Catawba and 6 gallons of Fredonia.

 

[Runningwolf]

One of the most popular blends in wineries here in the east is Concord and Niagara. Start out at 50/50 and play with it from there. Doug these blends do well being sweeter to bring out the flavors and aromas.

 

[ffemt128]

Thanks for the starting point with fredonia catawba. I was thinking 33%-66% catawba, glad I asked. The sammies blend is quite good. I was intending on a concord niagra and possibly a concord catawba blend.

 

[ffemt128]

I tried both the 75-25 and he 66-33 ratios, I think I'm leaning more toward the 66-33, although the 75-25 is quite good. May need to experiment more. maybe go 60-20-20 and add some Concord into the mix.

 

[ffemt128]

Did some bench trials last night with the tasting supervisor. We decided on a 2:1 ratio of Catawba to Fredonia and will sweeten to 1.015. Also tried a 2:1:1 Catawba-Concord-Fredonia sweetened to the same level. Both received a seal of approval.