Concord Blends

[Julie]

Instead of high jacking the pure pear thread, I figured I better start a new one because, Turock's, you have my interest and I know others will be interested in what you are doing with Concord.

Concord is more my husband's favorite than mine but I do enjoy a glass on a warm summer night sitting on the deck.

Concord/cranberry is one of my favorite. I currently have 10 gallons of concord/cherry going and I am really surprised at the flavor, you can taste the concord, cherry and the blend has created another flavor that is just enjoyable. I have tried concord/blackberry but did not like it. The two flavors seem to fight with each other.

I just added Hungarian med toast oak to a five gallon and I am excited to see how that comes out.

I am interested in the vanilla and the anise!

 

[Sammyk]

Julie, I thought you would like to know that I blended my concord with pomegranate. Found some at Walmart - Knudsen brand called Just Pomegranate and then added inverted sugar to 1.010. Worked like a charm!
Thanks!

PS we also bought the Just Cranberry by Knudsen but preferred the Pomegranate with the concord.

 

[JDC]

Black Cherry

I have made a Concord/Black Cherry blend for 3 years that I like, roughly 80/20. For 2011 I switched to to Montmorency Tart Cherry. I have not tried it yet - it has been bulk aging for awhile, I plan to bottle soon & will taste then. The Black Cherry blend is nice. I will never do a straight Concord again. I typically do these dry to off-dry & I generally do some oak. I also did 3 gallons of straight Montmorency from concentrate aged with a vanilla bean that turned out well.

 

[Turock]

Julie---here's a blend we do with blackberry that you might like better. All our red drinks go crazy for it----- 2 parts oaked concord, 2 parts elderberry,1 part blackberry. Those 3 together make a very complex-tasting wine and the blackberry is kind of in the background, but you can taste it. We call this blend "Trilogy."

I never thought of blending concord and cherry. Our sour cherry wine is so good by itself that we might not want to sacrifice it to blending. No cherries last year, and when we do buy them we spend a lot of money on them--so we never have an excess of that wine.

Another good concord blend is 50/50 with Niagara. People can disrespect concord all they like--but it's a very versatile wine, as is Niagara.

As I mentioned in the pear thread---we also do a vanilla concord and anise concord using star anise in the carboy. Vanilla is done with a homemade exract which holds up very well after bottling.

 

[Turock]

That Hungarian oak should be great on a concord, Julie. Hungarian oak is suppossed to lend a carmel flavor. Let me know how it turns out because we've been talking about trying that oak, but haven't done it yet.

 

[Julie]

Try the Hungarian in a blackberry it is fantastic.

How much anise for a 6 gallon batch?

 

[Julie]

Sammy, I would have never thought of pomegranate with concord. What was the ratio?

 

[Sammyk]

Julie we used the entire bottle of concentrate, 32 oz in 4.50 gallons of wine. We started adding and tasting and finally used the entire bottle so it is more pomegranate than concord (did not care for concord). Then we had to add inverted sugar. Racked back into carboys and will bottle in a week or so and taste again.

For others reading here concord was very weak because the grapes were not good quality and some were not fully ripe. I sent Julie a bottle for an evaluation because we could not think of what to do with the weak concord.

Lesson learned. At least we were able to turn it into something very drinkable.

 

[saramc]

Julie we used the entire bottle of concentrate, 32 oz in 4.50 gallons of wine.

I thought the Just Pomegranate was a juice, not concentrate? Were you adding this juice to the unfermented concord, or after the concord fermented--just wanted to confirm?

Other thoughts on blending: concord and crab apple is one of my favorites. As is concord-raspberry-elderberry, 1 part elderberry, 3 raspberry, rest concord; do the same replacing raspberry with oaked blackberry.

 

[Sammyk]

Knudsen makes a concentrate called Just Pomegranate (I also bought Just Cranberry) and one can tell it is concentrated. No directions on the bottle but I suspect one would add water to make a drink out of the concentrate. We were in the Juice aisle at WalMart looking for possibilities for blending. There was also one called Just Black Cherry. It was hard to decide which one to pick!

http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just-juice

The concord was 6 months old and lacked flavor and body (not enough and good quality grapes) and like I said we were going to dump it.

I did buy the organic ones.

We may experiment with some of the others to make wine out of them!

 

[Turock]

Thanks Julie--we'll give it a try on the BB.

When we experimented with the anise, we used 1 small and one large anise in a gallon of concord. The anise wasn't strong, just in the background. So we now have a 5 gallon batch going using the same proportion we used in the one gallon. 6 gallons would take about 6 small and 6 large anise--monitor it and remove the wine when you think the taste is to your liking. In the gallon batch, I think we left it on the anise for about 3 months or so.

I like the idea of the cranberry with concord--not something I'd ever think about. We have some cranberry in secondary ferment right now. We'll give it a try when we get it aged.

Other blends we do with concord is with elderberry and we make a burgundy/concord blend too that is very good. We use Alexander's concentrate for the burgundy.

 

[Julie]

For the concord/cranberry use 2 parts concord, 1 part cranberry

 

[jswordy]

Concord/blueberry - excellent (I call blueberry mixed with any grape wine Bell Bottom Blues)
Concord/muscadine - boosts vinosity of thin muscadine wine, reduces foxiness
Concord/strawberry - very good
Concord/banana - no real banana flavor to the mix, but adds lots of mouthfeel
Concord/medium French oak spiroll in secondary - excellent

I have not liked black cherry concentrate in anything I have mixed it in so far, but to each his own. I have not used the frozen concentrate, though, but pure juice concentrate in a bottle with no added sugar.

 

[ffemt128]

Interesting thread. I was experimenting with some blends last night as we are getting ready to bottle our Fall Juices. After initital blends, Concord-Niagra-Fredonia, we decided on the same except substitue the Niagra with Catawba. I'll also be doing a Concord-Niagra blend but it's interesting to consider blending with fruit wines. May have to do some more experimenting.

I have almost 8 gallons of Condord left, 7 gallons of Niagra and 6 gallons on Fredonia.

 

[Turock]

Thanks Julie for the proportions on the cranberry.

ffemt---Try making a Niagara lime---it's to die for. Add 2 cans limeaide to 5 gallons of Niagara. Bottle right after adding the limeaide. Be aware this will be a "dirty" wine because of all the lime pieces. But don't strain them out or else you'll lose the flavor. It is the best summer wine of all time! Be sure to shake up the bottle before pouring.

We always blend Catawba 50/50 with Niagara. Catawba alone is just too floral and the Niagara does a fine job of cutting it. Niagara is a good "cutting" wine--much better than any other type of dilution because its flavor lends it to fixing many types of other wines.

Another Niagara blend that we do is a real favorite of many of our wine drinkers. Pick up some white grape/raspberry frozen concentrate. Add 4 cans to 5 gallons of Niagara. That one is real delightful.

 

[ffemt128]

Thanks Julie for the proportions on the cranberry.

ffemt---Try making a Niagara lime---it's to die for. Add 2 cans limeaide to 5 gallons of Niagara. Bottle right after adding the limeaide. Be aware this will be a "dirty" wine because of all the lime pieces. But don't strain them out or else you'll lose the flavor. It is the best summer wine of all time! Be sure to shake up the bottle before pouring.

Interesting.

 

[Julie]

Interesting.

Go for it, I'm making a batch

 

[Turock]

Go for it, I'm making a batch

Good girl, Julie!! Just remember---I want your critique of it once you make it. Two other winemakers have tried this blend after I talked about it, and they rave about how good it is!!

 

[JDC]

Knudsen not a concentrate, just juice

Knudsen makes a concentrate called Just Pomegranate (I also bought Just Cranberry) and one can tell it is concentrated. No directions on the bottle but I suspect one would add water to make a drink out of the concentrate. We were in the Juice aisle at WalMart looking for possibilities for blending. There was also one called Just Black Cherry. It was hard to decide which one to pick!

http://www.rwknudsenfamily.com/products/just-juice!

The Knudsen products are not really concentrates, just a good strong juice. I used to drink the Black Cherry to help with my gout (until I started on Allopurinol) & the Knudsen BC is what I use to blend with my home grown Concord. Any true concentrate will be labled with how much water has to be added to reconstitute the juice. I also have some of the cranberry in the fridge, drink it straight - it is not a concentrate.

 

[saramc]

ffemt---Try making a Niagara lime---it's to die for. Add 2 cans limeaide to 5 gallons of Niagara. Bottle right after adding the limeaide. Be aware this will be a "dirty" wine because of all the lime pieces. But don't strain them out or else you'll lose the flavor. It is the best summer wine of all time! Be sure to shake up the bottle before pouring.

You will likely want to backsweeten AFTER adding the frozen limeaide, not by much, will vary. Starts to lose its limey taste after six months, so it is not one you typically keep around. This is a favorite here also, have five gallons ready for bottling. It is awesome blended with apple or spiced apple wine too, equal amounts.

FWIW, they call concord-cranberry a faux lingonberry wine.