Juice / Grape Hybrid Wine

[Wine_Wayne]

I recently made a Carmenere from a kit and it has a very nice full body to it, even better than a normal $15 bottle you could buy in a store. The kit came with grape skins which I assume is what gave it such great body. I have done some looking and it is difficult to buy just grape skins without a kit and even if I did, it would not be fresh.

My idea is to buy crushed grapes to add to the 6 gallons of fresh juice I am buying. I imagine that this would result in a much fuller bodied wine with better flavor than just making it from juice. I don't own a crusher or a press, so I don't want to just do a full batch of grapes given I will probably be pressing the grapes with a spaghetti strainer by hand.

Has anyone done this before? Did it turn out well? Does anyone know of instructions on how to do this properly? I am still pretty new to wine making so I could use some advice.

 

[Boatboy24]

I did it back in the spring, and I believe a few other members tried it. I did two batches - Carmenere and Malbec. For each batch, I purchased 1 6gal juice bucket, and 1 lug of grapes (~18lbs). I destemed the grapes by hand and put them into 5gal paint strainer bags. From there, I crushed them manually with a potato masher. The first of these batches will go into a barrel in a week or two for about 4 months - I'll sneak a taste when I transfer. The jury is still out on this process, but I can't see where it wouldn't improve the body and tannins. One thing to note though: the juice buckets usually come pre-balanced and adding fresh grapes could throw that off. It would be a good idea to measure SG/Brix, and pH after combining your juice and grapes.

I plan on repeating the process this fall with California and/or Italian grapes and juice.

 

[ZeitGeist]

I also went through the same process in the spring with 6 gallons of Cab Sauv juice and an 18lb lug of grapes. I'm in the same boat as you and used a spaghetti strainer and some gloves to do my final press. She's sitting in the carboy now going through malo, smelled / tasted great at transfer and I am confident it will outshine my Cab from last year.