Just started making wine a few months ago. I love wine. So I decided I'd try to grow my own grapes (other than the muscadine vines I have) only to be disappointed that way down here in Louisiana there are only a few types, like the Norton grape, that can be grown here successfully and it doesnt make very good wine. So I had to find another way. I discovered wine making kits. My curiosity as to why I was doing what I was doing led me here to this awesome place with a plethora of knowledge and experience. I've been reading through threads and have expanded my understanding so much (thank yall for that) so I decided I'd join the fun. I'm an extremist when it comes to my hobbies so like some of you here I have let the hobby consume a ton of my free time (and $). Which I love so far!
Hello All
- Thread starter Paul
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Welcome. I’m no wine kit maker but wine is wine amirite.
Thank you for the welcome. I'm hopeful 😅
Welcome to WMT! Great to have you here~ what do you plan on making?
Welcome to WMT!
Welcome. I started with country wines and moved on to kits quickly. What kits have you made, and have any made it to your glass?
Welcome to Wine Making Talk
You don’t like La grape varieties,,, I wonder if you can find apple? There are neat tannins in apple that give shelf life and nice red pigmented types. ,,, What do you have that is local?
You don’t like La grape varieties,,, I wonder if you can find apple? There are neat tannins in apple that give shelf life and nice red pigmented types. ,,, What do you have that is local?
Thank you. Great to be here! Well so far I have 3 FWK going, the Pinot Noir in Forte, Tavola, and Novella. Also a WE Classic Pinot Noir going, with some Master Vinter Pinot Noir Reserve and Weekday Wine kits, a Fontana Pinot Noir kit, and a Vineco Pinot Noir Signature Series kit waiting on an open fermenter. I also have 3 gallons of muscadines off my vines in the freezer I will be making wine with. Out past getting these done, I will be listening to suggestions but I think I will be a big fan of the FWK kits. Do you have any experience with any these? Thanks
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Thank you!
Thank you! Well best I can tell there are only 2 vineyards in LA that grow wine grapes and I believe they grow Norton grapes. I do plan on finding and purchasing this varietal of wine to see if it would be worth growing but from what I read they are mostly used to blend with other grape varieties and not a very good stand alone grape for wine. I read that the hot climate made the grape lack all the good qualities of wine grapes (sugar content, acidity, etc.). But I am not certain of this information because I got it skimming through the few articles about wine grapes in the south and decided early on growing them wasnt a very good option. Muscadines are the big thing around here for wine. Which I have a nice established vine and will most likely be adding a few to it. I will look into using apples in wine. Havent heard that one yet. But I will definitely have my ears out for any advice or help on growing wine grapes here! And using apples to help with the process. Would love to plant a little vineyard! If you find anything out let me know please! Thank you.
Thank you! I as well. I bombed about 10 different country wines before I moved on to the kits as well. I realized I needed to stick to what I like! Well so far I have 3 FWK going, the Pinot Noir in Forte, Tavola, and Novella. Also a WE Classic Pinot Noir going, with some Master Vinter Pinot Noir Reserve and Weekday Wine kits, a Fontana Pinot Noir kit, and a Vineco Pinot Noir Signature Series kit waiting on an open fermenter. None have made it to the glass yet! Do you have any experience with any of these?
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I haven’t made Pinot yet, but I’ve made a bunch of FWK I the styles you have. I live in the Hudson Valley of NY and there are a lot of great vineyards around to source grapes. No California varieties though. Hence the FWK, plus I can make them all year. They are a great starting point and make good wines. They will also give you good practice at testing SG and pH and are balanced so you won’t be on a crazy roller coaster out of the gate. They will typically follow a pretty straight forward process, getting you comfortable and confident with what should happen when. If you’re ever in doubt, ask. Even at bizarre times, folks from all over the world are on and you’re sure to get an answer sooner than you think.
There are a lot of great resources here and the folks are friendly and helpful. MoreWine has good wine making resources online, as does Bryan @winemaker81 on his website. There is a lot of planning and patience involved, and of course science and art, and fun! I’m still working harder on the first two than the others...
* What i look for first is aroma, one normally won’t find this unless the crop is ripe, so you are stuck with what genetics is there. Secondly the riper the grape the better the aroma. But, ,,, if you have a freezer there are nice aromatics as peach (I mostly do country wine blends). Another freezer choice is brown banana which the stores sell at discount.
* Acid, picking green always gives more acid. The down side is that aromatics are lower. Neutral point is sugar, since there isn’t any law that says home wines can’t add sugar.
* Tannin acts like acid to the taste buds and has antioxidant effects. My go to tannin is crab apple which this city plants as short trees under power lines. I look for astringent taste, not bitter which gets classed as a hard tannin. Of course one can always buy tannin in the bottle, then the question is which one? Scott Labs has a kit with choices that could be used to pick out attractive flavors.
Wine making is actually cooking, ,,,, mixing flavors.
Welcome.
I am also in the deep south and the thing about wine grapes, which some grow nicely here is pierces disease. The glassy wing sharpshooter will infect all plants in the south but only kill wine grape plants. Takes a couple years but that makes it even worse. kits or even frozen grapes are options for sure but we also make blackberry and blueberry, fig, elderberry muscadine etc.. All are very good wines with very low cost when they grow all around you. have fun wine-making and you will get a wealth of information from the folks on this site.
I am also in the deep south and the thing about wine grapes, which some grow nicely here is pierces disease. The glassy wing sharpshooter will infect all plants in the south but only kill wine grape plants. Takes a couple years but that makes it even worse. kits or even frozen grapes are options for sure but we also make blackberry and blueberry, fig, elderberry muscadine etc.. All are very good wines with very low cost when they grow all around you. have fun wine-making and you will get a wealth of information from the folks on this site.
Well, start foraging! I sure did. Many delicious wines can be made from fruit, vegetables, and flowers.
And welcome to WMT! This truly is a priceless site.
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I haven't ever had any Norton Grape wine from Louisiana, but I have had Tennessee and Kentucky grown Norton and it seemed to make what I would expect from Norton. It's probably worth trying some before you completely throw it out as not something you want to grow. Norton is a good choice, if the other choice would be sweet muscadine wines and they all seem to be somewhat sweet.
Thank you! I will certainly use this advice.
Thank you for this!
I definitely intend to do some smaller batches of most of those things you mentioned. Look forward to getting some good recipes if I can for them. Thanks for that info about the pest and disease as well.
Thank you! I will give it a shot!
