OK, now don't leave us hangin', how'd ya make it? This year is my second attempt at making Concord wine. I have 18 gallons aging that is now 3 months old and I am ALWAYS looking for advise from anyone who makes Concord.
As I have mentioned before on this site, when I was growing up, my grandfather grew his own grapes and made the best Concord that I have ever tasted. He died back in '73 and of course I had no interest in grape growing or wine making, but now that I'm retired, I find myself stumbling through grape growing and wine making. I have never found a commercially produced Concord that even comes close to what he made. Yes, Concord can make a nice wine, but we have become used to associating with a sugary, syrupy sweet wine.
Last year I made 12 gallons, but I did not get the taste that I was looking for. One batch was a light red, pinkish, blush that had a floral aroma to it, the other was a darker red, but ended up having a bit of a bite to it. I took both to a local enologist and he said that they were both drinkable, but the darker one seemed to be high in alcohol, but like I said, neither had that nice, somewhat dry Concord flavor that I was looking for.
This year, 12 gallons is a real nice deep ruby red in color and the other 6 gallons has a nice color, but is not as dark as the other. The wine in the 6 gallon carboy came from a different grape source, where the grapes were picked earlier than the 12 gallon batch.
Always interested in hearing about Concord wine making. Keep thinking that one of these days, someone out there will have that old Concord recipe that has been passed down over the years.
Ciao
