Wow, this was a long time ago. Life has not been particularly kind...haven't had time to mess with the grapes much. I came here hand started a thread about how to make wine from the old fence grapes at my old house in August, 2013.
I did successfully finish up my first wine about July of 2014 and it received rave reviews. I racked it off twice, and let it settle out until I could read newsprint through a gallon jug, then bottled. I got 4 bottles of rocket fuel (I had topped off a bit with apple juice and forgot to account for the sugar!) that came out at 26.5% ABV, and 20 bottles that finished at 14.5% ABV. It was given away as gifts and as requested at friend's gatherings all 2015, and into 2016. I still have people asking for it, and I have to tell them it's all gone.
This year, I'll be moving the shop again and there may be enough room to plant a few rows of grapes again. I've taken some cuttings from the original vine, which was eventually determined to be Niagara, and hopefully they'll root and I'll have that option this year. In the meantime, I've attempted to root cuttings from the local university vinyards every year, so far only one has ever taken-I've got a container-ized Mars black table grape, that does "OK".
Does anyone else here make anything from their Niagara grapes?
I did successfully finish up my first wine about July of 2014 and it received rave reviews. I racked it off twice, and let it settle out until I could read newsprint through a gallon jug, then bottled. I got 4 bottles of rocket fuel (I had topped off a bit with apple juice and forgot to account for the sugar!) that came out at 26.5% ABV, and 20 bottles that finished at 14.5% ABV. It was given away as gifts and as requested at friend's gatherings all 2015, and into 2016. I still have people asking for it, and I have to tell them it's all gone.
This year, I'll be moving the shop again and there may be enough room to plant a few rows of grapes again. I've taken some cuttings from the original vine, which was eventually determined to be Niagara, and hopefully they'll root and I'll have that option this year. In the meantime, I've attempted to root cuttings from the local university vinyards every year, so far only one has ever taken-I've got a container-ized Mars black table grape, that does "OK".
Does anyone else here make anything from their Niagara grapes?
