Long Term Fruit

[Stvr]

Hello,

After I get finished fermenting and bottlingmy current inventory ofgoodies, I need to give consideration to some long-term bulk ageing fruit wines. A year in the demi-john and another 1 to 3 more after that.


Other than Wild Blue Berry Wine which is agiven, what fruits (no-grape)do you folks recommend that is robust enough andcan improve with that kind of ageing?


Thanx, Stvr.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Nice neat setup you have Stvr...I have never aged anything that long..always need the carboys [demi's]
I mix WinExpert Grape Concentrates with my fruits and have noticed they are great at bottling and better with age...
We have done Blueberry, Blackberry, Chokecherry, Raspberry, Strawberry all with Red Grape Concentrate....they are all really nice wines...if you like them red and dry....the fruit flavors always come through...tho I tend to use more fruits than recipes call for.
I think with fruit wines...just make what you like and the style you like....and try aging some that long and then tell us how you liked them at all stages....

 

[Wade E]

I would imagine any tart wine like cherry, elderberry, black currant,
blackberry. I wish I could keep a good supply like that. I have to
start making some kit wines in a few months. I like those and my wife
doesnt care too much for regular wine. But she loves my fuit wines and
thats why I cant keep any on the shelf except fo a couple of each which
I put in wooden boxes and screwed them shut so that I can at least age
a few.

 

[Stvr]

Thanx Gents,


I'm in restock mode right now. With the exception of2 btls. ofCherry Port (1994) and 15 btls. of Wild Blue Berry Burgundy (1998), the remainderbottles are all under 4 months old. By the time I bottle what's fermenting (est.75 btls.) my three remainingstocking shelves and all ofmy small glass will be committed for the next 12 months.
A good time to get some full bodyrich berry wines bulk ageing in the wings, me thinks.Edited by: Stvr

 

[Wade E]

I'm always in restock mode!

 

[Waldo]

I would recommend Blackberry and Muscadine

 

[Stvr]

I would recommend Blackberry and Muscadine

Yes, definitely a Blackberry is on my radar screen. I can find suitable quantities of frozen berriesat a decent price here.


The Muscadine is another issue. That's your Southern Grape. It doesn't make it this far north, at least I've never seen it in these parts.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Blackberries are always high priced around here...

I saw a 12oz package of fresh Blackberries at Sam's Club for $5.88...I looked at them...they were like jewels...with the price tag to match.

Dried Blueberries were equally expensive. Where do you pick your blueberries???

I think I am going to break down and buy some cans of wine making puree of those two fruits and some Black Currant as well....save driving to the remote wooded locations to pick, the days in the woods picking......avoid the red ants, mosquitoes, wood ticks that are always protecting their domain...avoid getting scratched, the possibility of getting lost....think the cans of juices and puree's are sounding better all the time.....

My husband loves picking fruit...the more hazards the more he likes it...He picked fruit in California as a kid...he loves the challenge of picking wild fruits...I like to grow fruits in nice 'tame' conditions....

Edited by: Northern Winos

 

[Stvr]

Dried Blueberries were equally expensive. Where do you pick your blueberries???

It's ALL expensive!


........ and I don't pick, no time.


I've developed a comfort zone for using fresh flashfrozen fruits. IMHO, they are frozen usually within hours of being picked. Also the ice crystals break down the fruit fibresassisting the flavour and sugar extraction andmore complete fermentation.


I purchased my recent batch of frozenWild Blueberries in 5 lbs. boxes x 3 = $15.00ea. (45.00 CDN$) I get them from a rural farm marketretailer that specializes in farm fresh & frozen produce. (I purchased BB's fresh from a roadside vendor several years back and I paid $80 for just 10 quarts!)Edited by: Stvr

 

[NorthernWinos]

Dried Blueberries were equally expensive. Where do you pick your blueberries???

 
It's ALL expensive!
 
........ and I don't pick, no time.
 
I've developed a comfort zone for using fresh flash frozen fruits. IMHO, they are frozen usually within hours of being picked. Also the ice crystals break down the fruit fibres assisting the flavour and sugar extraction and more complete fermentation.
 
I purchased my recent batch of frozen Wild Blueberries in 5 lbs. boxes x 3 = $15.00ea. (45.00 CDN$) I get them from a rural farm market retailer that specializes in farm fresh & frozen produce. (I purchased BB's fresh from a roadside vendor several years back and I paid $80 for just 10 quarts!)

WOW!!! That is very pricey, but know the wine is good from those fruits.

Guess we have gotten ourselves into a hobby and have to pay the price if we want to enjoy the wine...

Keep us posted on your progress with your new wines and bottling of the ones in your cellar...

 

[Cracked Cork]

STVR, nice wine room there. I have aged wild black raspberry 9 years
and it was excellent, our cherry also ages well and I have a bottle of
black berry from the 70s (got a half gallon at an auction and made 1
bottle and drank the rest) and it was so smooth it was unbelieveable.
Our strawberry wine though hasnt seemed to age very well and looses it
strawberry flavor, on the other hand we made some ginger wine 10
years ago and found a bottle of it and opened it up and it tastes just
as strong as it did when we made it! We have some elderberry from a
concentrate that is good out to 8 years, we are starting to make if
from fresh homegrown fruit so I can have some homemade stuff to age a
long long time.



Crackedcork

 

[Stvr]

STVR, nice wine room there.


- THANK YOU.....Stvr


I have aged wild black raspberry 9 years and it was excellent, our cherry also ages well and I have a bottle of black berry from the 70s (got a half gallon at an auction and made 1 bottle and drank the rest) and it was so smooth it was unbelieveable. Our strawberry wine though hasnt seemed to age very well and looses it strawberry flavor, on the other hand we made some ginger wine 10 years ago and found a bottle of it and opened it up and it tastes just as strong as it did when we made it! We have some elderberry from a concentrate that is good out to 8 years, we are starting to make if from fresh homegrown fruit so I can have some homemade stuff to age a long long time.

Crackedcork

-I have a couple of Cherry Ports bottled in 1994 waiting patiently for me to attend to them. Just waiting on a special time. The Wild Northern Ontario Blueberry Wine sat finished in the carboy since 1998 and it just got bottled this past summer. It is just awesome. I have another 5 gal.batch on the go right now. It won't last that long this time.


My Strawberry didn't age well either. It oxidized in the corked bottle at sometime in the last 5 years.I'm not crazy forStrawberry anyways.
I havesome 6lbs. ofElderberry in the bigfreezer, look'n for an empty carboy to free-up. I saw a recipe forGinger wine somewhere thatI'm gonna give that one some very serious thought to now.


Thanx fer post'n!

 

[Wade E]

How on Gods earth do you people have that kind of patience?

 

[Stvr]

[/QUOTE]

WOW!!! That is very pricey, but know the wine is good from those fruits.

Guess we have gotten ourselves into a hobby and have to pay the price if we want to enjoy the wine...

Keep us posted on your progress with your new wines and bottling of the ones in your cellar...[/QUOTE]




I figureraw materials only, excluding labour and capital equipment costs, home made vino costs me under $2.50 CDN$ ! That's cheap, since anything decent retailhere is $25 to $35 per btl. and more.


BTW;


Boiling:
MINT, PARSLEY, WATERMELON & PEACH, GRAPE/home, ANISE, BLACK CURRENT, WILD BLUEBERRY


Bottled:
CHERRY PORT, WILD BLUEBERRY, BANANA, CRANBERRY, PINEAPPLE, RASPBERRY

 

[Wade E]

Those sound pretty good.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Those sound great...tell us about your Back Currant and Cranberry...dry or sweet????

 

[Stvr]

Those sound great...tell us about your Back Currant and Cranberry...dry or sweet????

The Cranberry Wine (1gal.) recipe guideline was pulled from the net @ "Roxanne's Kitchen". Ioften fiddle with these and adjust them with my owningredients or adjuncts. In this case I used a litre of Cranberry concentrate and cut back on the berries and I prefer to use only Demerara sugar. I remember I had atough timekeeping the fermentation going. I had to use a heater cable on the primary, even though my basement is not that cool. Yeast : Lalvin K1-V1116.Still Bottle ageing. Finish: dry.


MyBlackcurrant Wine (3gal.)is RED in colour, Doh! The recipe guideline used is a 1gal. multiplied x3andfrom an oldWine-Art recipe booklet, a local vinhobby vendor. Frozen blk. currant berries, blk. currant and red wine grape concentrates, plusDemerara sugar. The S.G. was high on this one.I added extra dry currants and a pound of bananas for body, plus a Cinnamon stick for spice. It's new and busy boiling away in the secondary, just recently racked from the primary. I'll finish it: dry.


I bottle in clear glass and cork cap all my stuff. The Cranberry btl'd. a nice clear ruby red colour. I read good info on this fruit, that it improves withwell with age.















Edited by: Stvr

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks for the info on your Cranberry and Black Currant wines...very interesting...We also prefer dry wine and seems many folks here do those two wines on the sweeter side.

I hate to be a dunce, but what is Demerara sugar????

I think you win the award [if there is one] for patience on aging your wines....at least in this group...

 

[PolishWineP]

Demerara is used as the generic name of a type of specialty raw cane sugar often used in home baking and in sweetening coffee. It is normally brown in colour—the natural colour of cane sugar. It takes its name from the Demerara colony in Guyana, which was the original source of this type of sugar, but is produced today mainly in Mauritius.


Related types of raw sugars include Muscovado and Turbinado sugar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demerara_(sugar)

 

[NorthernWinos]

Thanks for that info...now I am more sugar savy...