Have Grapes, need winemaker, NE Texas

[TexasGrand]

We anticipate harvesting 1000 to 2000 pounds of Muscadine grapes, mostly white Carlos but also some red Noble.

We would like to partner with some experienced winemakers to test different recipes. We have never made wine.

Suggestions or offers?

 

[jamesngalveston]

what part of Texas, first off.
do you have any equipment...etc.
i can help in some ways...

 

[TexasGrand]

what part of Texas, first off.
do you have any equipment...etc.
i can help in some ways...

I'm between Dallas and Texarkana, North of Tyler
I have no equipment
It would be great if several people made the wine. We could select what we like and try making it ourselves next year.

 

[jamesngalveston]

Im south , in Galveston...
There should be quite a few wine makers around Dallas are Shreveport (my hometown).
Where did all the muscadines come from....
would take some pretty good equipment to process 1000 lbs.
say 5 lbs per gallon, for a real fruit taste...thats 200 gallons.
somehow..i thing you jumped the gun getting that many lbs of grapes
and no way to make wine....

 

[robie]

Contact George at finevinewines.com, in Dallas. I suspect he knows pretty much everyone in the area.

 

[cedarswamp]

Im south , in Galveston...
There should be quite a few wine makers around Dallas are Shreveport (my hometown).
Where did all the muscadines come from....
would take some pretty good equipment to process 1000 lbs.
say 5 lbs per gallon, for a real fruit taste...thats 200 gallons.
somehow..i thing you jumped the gun getting that many lbs of grapes
and no way to make wine....

Grapes are a different animal from fruit wines. I've never made wine from grapes yet but from researching it last year I believe 100# was the suggested amount to use to end up with enough juice to fill a 6 gallon carboy.

 

[jamesngalveston]

even at that, you would have to have at least 10 6 gallon carboys..are 6 10 gallon are one 60 gallon....sorry ..i dont have the room.

 

[TexasGrand]

We made cases of Muscadine Jelly last year

Our current plan is to freeze them in 5 or 10 pound packages.
That gives me a year to sharpen winemaking skills in small batches or sell them.

Still interested in furnishing grapes for a share of the wine.
Maker would need to be in my area to reduce delivery cost.

I will have Black Spanish and Blanc du Bois next year in addition to the muscadines.

 

[WI_Wino]

even at that, you would have to have at least 10 6 gallon carboys..are 6 10 gallon are one 60 gallon....sorry ..i dont have the room.

I've got ten empty 5 gallon carboys sitting in my basement as we speak...

 

[Rampage4all]

I'm about a hour southeast of Tyler. me and my dad make wine and would be interested. How's the flavour of your grapes.

 

[JohnT]

We made cases of Muscadine Jelly last year

Our current plan is to freeze them in 5 or 10 pound packages.
That gives me a year to sharpen winemaking skills in small batches or sell them.

Still interested in furnishing grapes for a share of the wine.
Maker would need to be in my area to reduce delivery cost.

I will have Black Spanish and Blanc du Bois next year in addition to the muscadines.

You will need a big freezer! 100 to 200 bags!.

My best advise to you is to go ahead and buy the equipment and make it all at once. 1000 pounds of grapes shoud yield around 330 bottles of wine (or about 250 liters). I would get a nice size crusher/destemmer, a nice size press, and 1 or 2 300 liter SSVC tanks. I would not bother with carboys you would have too many.