"Old Italian red" wine recipe

[johnthemc]

Hi everyone.
In my area, coal mine area of Pa, every holiday season there is alot of different
home brewers that put out "dago red" as it's been called forever.
Does anyone have an old recipe for this wine? I know if I can make this wine,
my elderly uncles and my two older brothers would love it!!
They really go out of their way to try to buy it and what was found last year ,
in my opion wasn't very good at all and the year before didn't taste like wine at all but welch's grape juice. I appreciate any info.
Johnthemc

 

[BigBend]

Dago red is a Peasant wine, Cheap, Easy, Packs a punch. I am currently making Dago Red. We just crusched 18 lugs of Zinfendel grapes from Napa Valley. Ours is ALL natural, no added chemicals or yeast, no sulfates, PURE 100% grape juice.
Chrush grapes (skins stems and all, using natures wild yeast)
let ferment for about 12 dyas or so, tell SG is down below 1.0
Than rack into carboys and airlock.
Rack again in about 2 months
Bottle oround Easter time
Drink and enjoy
about 14% ABV
We also do a secondy "pressing" using the must a second time with added sugar and water....This is very good also.
I know this contary to what everybody is learning here, but this is OLD school.

 

[Runningwolf]

Funny you bring this up, I talked to several people about this same wine today. They use Concord and make it just like Big Bend said. No chemicals, no yeast. I think they added grain alcohol though. Not positive though as that could be an individual thing.

Making wine without any chemicals and just going on wild yeast is a complete "crap shoot". It might turn out but it might all spoil. With that being said folks like Sirs (Eddie) has been doing it for quiet awhile with great success.

Cord is cheap enough that you could try it on a five gallon batch if you really wanted to. Keep us posted.

 

[pete1325]

Ditto that BigBend.....my last big batch (last year) was just that, a bunch of Pisano's in a garage, expresso in the morning, Adrea Bochelli, Sinatra and Martin on the stereo, cheese and last years wine for lunch just crushing and fermenting........none of those fancy additives, just let it cook. Best wine to date! Gonna do it again in a week or so.

 

[Runningwolf]

Ditto that BigBend.....my last big batch (last year) was just that, a bunch of Pisano's in a garage, expresso in the morning, Adrea Bochelli, Sinatra and Martin on the stereo, cheese and last years wine for lunch just crushing and fermenting........none of those fancy additives, just let it cook. Best wine to date! Gonna do it again in a week or so.

I wanna come party with you guys!! What was for dinner?

 

[Sirs]

Funny you bring this up, I talked to several people about this same wine today. They use Concord and make it just like Big Bend said. No chemicals, no yeast. I think they added grain alcohol though. Not positive though as that could be an individual thing.

Making wine without any chemicals and just going on wild yeast is a complete "crap shoot". It might turn out but it might all spoil. With that being said folks like Sirs (Eddie) has been doing it for quiet awhile with great success.

Cord is cheap enough that you could try it on a five gallon batch if you really wanted to. Keep us posted.

I so disagree with it being a crapshoot Dan the only thing thats a crapshoot is when you don't properly clean all your equipment thats the only thing that'll make it a crapshoot if you have good fruit/grapes and plenty of sugar in the mix your gonna get fermentation. only reason someone has trouble with wild yeast fermentation is when they do stupid stuff to screw up their fermentation like adding a bunch of nutrient or try to adjust the acid to early stuff like that, and the other things you need to do with commercial yeast.

Wild yeast all you need is sugar and good fruit/grapes with NO additves

sorry if it got off topic but this is always a sore spot for me

 

[Runningwolf]

No need to appoligize and I stand corrected. I knew you were doing it right with success and was waiting for you to respond. I agree, sanitation cannot be stressed enough.

So how do you really feel? LOL

 

[sevenal]

Peasant wine

Jesus probably had that, drank that and shared that with others that appreciated it daily.
Sounds unpretentious and delicious.
Best of luck and enjoy your vintage.

 

[BigBend]

This is only my third year year making Old School Dago Red with NO additives. I also make make several other fruit wines using the chemicals method. Of all the wine I make, Dago Red is by far rated the best. I have friends BEGGING for the stuff. Second best is Skeeter Pee.

 

[Rocky]

This is only my third year year making Old School Dago Red with NO additives. I also make make several other fruit wines using the chemicals method. Of all the wine I make, Dago Red is by far rated the best. I have friends BEGGING for the stuff. Second best is Skeeter Pee.

This is what I would call "damned by faint praise!"

 

[johnthemc]

thanks to all,
I will let you know how I make out.
johnthemc

 

[JohnT]

I would recomend that you try making a port. Its sweet and really packs a punch!

 

[johnthemc]

Big Bend,
There isn't any sugar to be added?
What kind of alcohol content will it have?
johnthemc

 

[BigBend]

Take a SG reading (hydrometer) after your first crush the grapes. It well give you a potential alcohol, if it goes to dry. Our reading showed a potential alcohol at about 14%. That's just about perfect in my book. This varys from year to year duee to the sugar content of the grapes. The sweeter the grapes the higher the sugar value and the higher the alcohol.

 

[johnthemc]

Thank You.
I will let you know how I make out!
johnthemc

 

[joeswine]

dago red

their's and old Italian store and goes like this,during Prohibition Italians were making wine in bath tubes as quickly as they could for sales to there neighborers and others,one time a customer ask the maker after tasting his product and almost chocking on it when was this made and the old Italian in his new broken American language said"aday a go"now say that quickly.

 

[Deezil]

Making wine without any chemicals and just going on wild yeast is a complete "crap shoot". It might turn out but it might all spoil. With that being said folks like Sirs (Eddie) has been doing it for quiet awhile with great success.

It really does come down to sanitation. I'm kinda in the middle, where i like using wild yeasts but tend to feed them a bit of yeast nutrient & energizer. Those two chemicals and pectic enzyme are about all i use.

I clean everything with water so hot it would burn your skin, and use k-meta for sanitizing, but honestly i havent added it to a carboy in probably over a year.. Not a school of thought i'd recommend for beginners but.. It's possible.

 

[jswordy]

w00t! We've revived a thread from 2011!

 

[hannabarn]

Thank You. I think!!!!
Barney

 

[bzac]

Isn't Dago a racist term for an Italian ? How many other racist words are allowed on the forum? Is there a list?

I don't know about the rest of you , but I've spent 12 years learning how not to make wine like my uncles. Why would you want to go backwards when home winemaking has gotten to a level where anyone can make professional quality wine?