I read all the time about how many on this forum makes wines they love from grapes or kits. I have yet to taste a commercial wine that I can say I really like. That is one reason that got me into wine making, but I have only made fruit wines. I know it is probably my palate that is untrained to like especially red wines. I have tried many different varietals of red wine and just cannot find anything to my liking. Also have tried many different whites, and have not found one that I would call great either. Does anyone have a recommendation of how to train my taste to red wine, so I can enjoy different avenues of red wine or do I just stay with the fruit wines. I have made a couple of variations of DB and enjoy them, I also have a few different kits under my belt from making Orchard Breeze kits and have enjoyed them also, except for being overly sweet. I have started tweaking them, per some suggestions on this forum. I want to try red wine making, so that hopefully I will make something I like, but I do not want to invest in a kit and wind up not liking it. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions of what to make. Thanks in advance.
Seeking advice what to make next
- Thread starter Dale1978
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I'm in the same boat as far as loving my home made fruit wines and not liking grape wines from the store. Most store bought wine is just not tasty! I did recently have a glass at a resuraunt that was good. It was a Boggle brand, cabernet souveringes. (Spelling checker please!!!) It may have just been the food and company, but it was surprisingly good. Worth buying a bottle just to try again.
There is one local winery that makes very good wines, grape as well as fruit. They are responsible for me even liking wine
Blacksmiths Winery out of Casco Maine. They do have a web site and it is now legal to ship wine out of the state. Assuming it is leagal for wine to be shipped into your state. Their wines are priced $16-32.
Thats just about it for grape wines I liked well enough to remember the labels. I would buy one of something different each time. We have a large selection to chose from. Sometimes they were good for a couple of bottles, then not so good anymore. Mostly I chose baced on the label
If you want to learn to like store bought grape wine try some good quality wines, not just the cheep stuff. Thats about my only guess as to best method of training your pallet to like something not so good. I often add a splash of my own wine to the store bought stuff as I drink it. It makes it taste better.
Once you find one you like, then hunt up a kit to make yourself. I have yet to bother..... My dry fruit wine is so darn good, why make so-so grape wine????
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There is one local winery that makes very good wines, grape as well as fruit. They are responsible for me even liking wine
Blacksmiths Winery out of Casco Maine. They do have a web site and it is now legal to ship wine out of the state. Assuming it is leagal for wine to be shipped into your state. Their wines are priced $16-32. Thats just about it for grape wines I liked well enough to remember the labels. I would buy one of something different each time. We have a large selection to chose from. Sometimes they were good for a couple of bottles, then not so good anymore. Mostly I chose baced on the label
If you want to learn to like store bought grape wine try some good quality wines, not just the cheep stuff. Thats about my only guess as to best method of training your pallet to like something not so good. I often add a splash of my own wine to the store bought stuff as I drink it. It makes it taste better.
Once you find one you like, then hunt up a kit to make yourself. I have yet to bother..... My dry fruit wine is so darn good, why make so-so grape wine????
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Elmer
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I am in the same boat, I have some free space opening up real soon.
I have 2 of my last kits bottled.
3 of my last 6 are bottled and I need something else.
I need to make a red.
For me the decision comes down to making something I know I like, so when I run out of my current stock I will have a back up batch well aged.
Or
Make something I dont normally make, but know I like (IE: shiraz)
Must be tough to have these decisions!
I have 2 of my last kits bottled.
3 of my last 6 are bottled and I need something else.
I need to make a red.
For me the decision comes down to making something I know I like, so when I run out of my current stock I will have a back up batch well aged.
Or
Make something I dont normally make, but know I like (IE: shiraz)
Must be tough to have these decisions!
Thanks for the reply. I am trying to remember, but I think one store I shop at has Blacksmiths, I will look the next time I am in there. One store I shop at has a wine consultant, but I stopped taking her recommendations, due to she could not point out anything I liked. I have tried $20.00 and below wine, not trying anything higher than $20.00 and just wasting my money. When you read about people really liking a wine, you want to try it and like it also. I know everyone's taste are different, but just trying to expand my wine making experiences. It may be I just keep making the fruit wines and live with the fact, I will never like a grape wine unless it is masked with some sort of fruit like the mist kits. I have been thinking about following Joes Wine or Lone Star Lori threads of using a better kit than a mist kit and add a fruit pak in the end to see if I can make something better and seeing where that goes. At least I am making wine that I like and can drink, thats the main thing.
bkisel
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The LHBS I patronize always has two beers and two wines "on tap" that they've made in house. This has been a help to me as to which wines I might like or not like to make myself. Also, when out for a restaurant meal, if the opportunity presents itself, I'll order a wine that I've not tried before - this has also been a help to me.
Its simple...you are from the south, where they have force fed you huge quantities of sugar all of your life. When you drink a red wine, all of the sugar has been taken away, and thats why you don't like grape wine. With fruit wine, I'd bet that you always backsweeten or add extra fruit at the end.
What I have found is that the older I get, the less I like sweets of any kind (well, except for ice cream) and I have changed from drinking sweet wines to liking the dryist possible reds. Maybe the sugar receptors in my brain are wore out!
What I have found is that the older I get, the less I like sweets of any kind (well, except for ice cream) and I have changed from drinking sweet wines to liking the dryist possible reds. Maybe the sugar receptors in my brain are wore out!
Its simple...you are from the south, where they have force fed you huge quantities of sugar all of your life.
You are right about sugar being a big part of my life. I got to have my sweet tea for sure. I have not thought about it that way, and yes I do back sweeten my wines. I do not sweeten to the point of commercial wines but I do back sweeten. I guess like Elmer said experimentation gives you a lot of decisions and as Bill stated start trying wine in restaurants and try to learn to like unsweetened drinks. Thank you for pointing that out.
You are right about sugar being a big part of my life. I got to have my sweet tea for sure. I have not thought about it that way, and yes I do back sweeten my wines. I do not sweeten to the point of commercial wines but I do back sweeten. I guess like Elmer said experimentation gives you a lot of decisions and as Bill stated start trying wine in restaurants and try to learn to like unsweetened drinks. Thank you for pointing that out.
Well, on some of these big reds, if you don't MLF them then they just don't taste very good. As an example, I've never had a liking for Cianti--it was always so harsh. Then a few years back, our friend who owns a winery got in some juice buckets and a bucket of Cianti tipped over in transit and some of the juice leaked out so he couldn't sell it. He begged us to take it. That wine turned out so great that almost every year now we get a bucket of it. Even our friends who don't like dry wine said they couldn't believe they were drinking a dry wine. The MLF smooths it out and makes it more robust. We make quite a few big reds and MLF all of them.
Also, you'll find that after you've been making wine for a number of years, your pallete changes. You don't favor very sweet wines anymore. Semi-sweet is fine--but you begin to enjoy the dry wines more. You also need to be patient with big red wine. Much of it, we further age for 1-2 years in the bottle after 1 year of bulk aging. Oaking with good oak spirals or barrel aging also brings another dimension to the wine.
Also, you'll find that after you've been making wine for a number of years, your pallete changes. You don't favor very sweet wines anymore. Semi-sweet is fine--but you begin to enjoy the dry wines more. You also need to be patient with big red wine. Much of it, we further age for 1-2 years in the bottle after 1 year of bulk aging. Oaking with good oak spirals or barrel aging also brings another dimension to the wine.
Thanks for the advice Turock. I will look into trying something like your talking about. I am at the stage in my wine making career that is what I am wanting to do, is make something and let it age for however long it needs to, and be something that I am proud of in the end. I have many wines at different stages, so aging is not an issue anymore. That is one reason i was looking into making a red wine and get into the challenges it would bring. Thanks to everyone for your input.
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