Freeze your own grapes?

[NoSourGrapes]

I have good access to grapes, the problem of course is harvest time comes all at once. Since I am new to this, I see the activities as quite passive, once it is in the aging vesel. How about crushing, destemming, put them in airtight bags and freeze? Then say three months and six months later, start another batch?

 

[Turock]

I think that if you have the room, it might be better to freeze them whole. The only issue I'm thinking of with crushed grapes and all the juice is that you might get some oxidation. If you do crush them I would add some meta to the crush so that when you thaw them, you won't have oxidation. I've never done this, so maybe someone with real experience with it will give you some advice.

 

[Scott]

That's what I did when I couldn't make it a harvest time, hand destemmed and froze whole. Make sure they are thawed well and kinda warm, my niece kept complaning while stomping them, my feet are cold my feet are cold...

 

[drumlinridgewinery]

I have done the same - hand destem and freeze in 1 gal ziplock. Never added any meta at that time but do when thawing. I do this with almost everything until I have enough fruit to make a batch.

 

[GreginND]

I have 300 pounds of marquette in the freezer now. They were crushed and destemmed, treated with sulfite and frozen in sealed barrels. We'll see how it comes out when I thaw them out in a few months.

 

[NoSourGrapes]

I have 300 pounds of marquette in the freezer now. They were crushed and destemmed, treated with sulfite and frozen in sealed barrels. We'll see how it comes out when I thaw them out in a few months.

Thank you for the responses. Greg, please keep me posted, very interested to see how it turns out.