FWK Forte or Juice pail w/ a lug of Lodi grape?

[Spencerthebuilder]

Fall harvest is soon arriving on the east coast. I've done a FWK Super Tuscan with skins and found it an excellent product. I'm fortunate to have a good juice pail and fruit supplier locally. I'm told the pails are acid balanced, and are still chilled when I get them. This is my usual. Add in a lug of grape and I'm about $25 less and maybe a 1/2 gallon more wine than a shipped FWK kit. Any pressing is done with a good old fashion hand squeeze, so the quantity of grape is limited by the cramping in my hands.... So which to buy? Pretty much a jump ball, so what is the better product? A FWK Meritage forte or a pail of Cab Sav and a box of Merlo grape?

 

[winemaker81]

Which do you like better -- previous juice bucket/grapes or FWK?

I'd probably go with the juice bucket/grapes, as you can get that once per year. The FWK is available year around, although the varieties vary with supply.

 

[Spencerthebuilder]

Different varieties so no side by side is possible. So far most batches have been good. A slight oxidation taste in some as I suspect I've a tendency to leave it under the towl too long as I try EM. FWK is more predictable, but half the fun is in the making, experimenting and learning. The other half the fun would be enjoying it..

Twice a year, as the Chilean, Austrailian and S African juice arrives. Grapes supplies are less reliable. Raisins and currents.

 

[winemaker81]

You're doing EM under a towel? That's a bad idea, as it doesn't keep O2 out. Everything I've read regarding EM indicates a method is required to keep CO2 in and everything else out.

FWK is totally reliable so they're always there as a fallback. If your fall juice is good quality, I'd still go with it.

Folks have reported a lot of variability in the southern hemisphere grapes/juice, so I'm leery of it. I experiment a lot, but err on the side of having a good resul.t

 

[Spencerthebuilder]

Calling it EM, but it's really just missing the first racking by a week due to scheduling or other non hobby commitments. As I can taste the difference, i now do better.

 

[Bprinc]

Why not both?? That's what I plan on doing.

 

[Brant]

if you have access to lodi grapes, why not just purchase lugs and make from scratch? it would probably end up superior to the others and a little more predictable than southern hemi juice if there is variability as @winemaker81 suggests.

i'm jealous that you have options.

 

[Spencerthebuilder]

Very fortunate to have a good supplier in Providence. Im not set up to process several boxes of grape. 1 box of Merlot took 2 hours to strip, then crush with a Kitchenaid mixmaster and dough hook. Slow, but very effective. Made a nice must slurry. No cutting of the seeds. 1/3 Floated on pails of Barberra, Cab and Cab/ Malbec. Cooking away nicely. Cost per liter is much less than grape. I've read here that seeds add good tannins, but crushed seeds can make the wine bitter. What does the group think?

 

[winemaker81]

1 box of Merlot took 2 hours to strip, then crush with a Kitchenaid mixmaster and dough hook.

You don't need to mulch the grapes -- breaking the skin is all you really need.

 

[jgmann67]

You don't need to mulch the grapes -- breaking the skin is all you really need.

Agreed. I crushed four lugs of grapes in about an hour or so using a milk crate to break the skins and separate the grapes from the stems/leaves. Worked exceptionally well.