What are you making and what have you made ???

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Getting back into winemaking after a few years hiatus. WineXpert Double Noir kit in the fermenter now and ready to rack to secondary, 5.25 gallons of frozen juice (2019 Gewurztraminer from Willamette Valley, Oregon) acquired from Wine Grapes Direct and pitched 3 days ago, and another WE kit (Nebbiolo) yet to start.
Past wines have mostly been Cellar Craft kits, plus 5 gallons each of Chardonnay and Cab Sauv juice from an Oklahoma winery. Also 6 gallons hard cider and 5 gallons mead. I generally ferment to dry, even the cider and mead. All have been good or better, except mead was merely drinkable. I now have beehives, so further mead experiments are forthcoming with next good harvest.
 
I’ve got a strawberry/banana melomel in primary right now. In secondary I have several ciders, a blueberry/banana melomel, and peach hard iced tea. Next up will be my first kit-the double noir from we.
 
Well last year I made 4 cheap Pinot Noir kits, and 2 cheap Cab Sauv, plus a Chardenay so I would have something to drink now. I have some older fruit wines my husband make but my red selection was pretty much drank while my husband was sick. (He made all the wine).

Then we started on some wines to age. I made an Argentia Coast Amarone, an RJS Primeur Super Tuscan, and 2 RJS Primeur Malbec last year as well

This year I have made a Pinot Noir, and Cab Sauv, an Amarone, a Zinfandel, all RJS Primeur. A Grenache Mourvedre Vineco passport and an RJS port style.

My daughter has made about the same amount. We will take a break until the fall now, but I have bought 4 kits so far to make in the fall, an RJS RQ Nero D’Avola, a Wine Xpert LE20 Nerello, an RJS RQ Cabernet and a VineCo Passport Barbera.

My wine Cellar is starting to look healthy once again. 😀
 
I have made peach, pear, plum, wild plum, apple, pineapple, pina coloda, sweet cherry (not sure what kind, a light colored cherry), wild cherry, sweet cherry/wild cherry mix, blackberry and strawberry. Most of these I back sweeten fairly sweet except for a few bottles for my son who likes his wine dryer.

Right now, I have going 3 gallons of the wild cherry/sweet cherry mix, 6 gallons of peach, 6 gallons of tart cherry, 6 gallons of dark sweet cherry, 3 gallons of concord grape, 5 gallons of an unknown grape, 2 gallons of elderberry and a gallon of blackberry.

I've also got some of the Zinfadel and Cab Sauv juice from Coloma Frozen to start yet.


 
Just finished a small batch of WildBerry. Was a test using store bought juice and the knowledge I've gained so far. Came out at 9%, still a little hazy in the bottle likely because I probably should have used more pectic enzyme then I put in. Silly me thinking store bought juice would clear easier then fruit crushed lol!

It worked up fast though so that was nice. 4 weeks total from time I pitched in the yeast to when it was ready to bottle. 1/4 inch of sediment in the gallon jug so it dropped out nicely. Was nervous about that because I usually use premeasured packages but they are for 5 gallon or higher batches. Had to use a different clairifier that I could customize for the 1 gallon batch.

Picture of Gallon jug was when I racked and stabilized. Bottles today. 10 days clearing. I could probably have racked and let sit longer but it's for personal consumption so not super concerned about it not fully clearing. The 4 bottles likely won't last long. Maybe when I make a full carboy size and use my usual clairifier it will clear better.20210730_200441.jpg20210808_180859.jpg
 
Just getting back into this after several years.
Primary: 1 gal blueberry wine
1 gal blueberry melomel
Secondary: 1 gal blueberry wine
1 gal blueberry melomel
Bulk: 5 gal sack mead
1 gal maple wine
1 gal maple mead

Planning: blueberry-apple wine, blueberry-maple (maybe), cyser, apple, pumpkin, pumpkin mead
 
I bottled Carrot wine (Jack Kellers recipe Carrot Whiskey) and I started a batch of lime wine (basically Skeeter Pee but lime juice instead of lemon juice)..
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20210802_142303.jpg
    IMG_20210802_142303.jpg
    2.4 MB · Views: 14
  • wines.jpg
    wines.jpg
    1.1 MB · Views: 14
I'm making small batches of each of these this year. All from local growers.
Frontenac Gris
Chardonnay
L'Acadie Blanc
Riesling
New York Muscat
Petite Pearl
 
I’m updating what I’ve made this year due to adding more,
I have made 25 gallons of varietal sangiovese
I have made 40 gallons of varietal Syrah
I have made 30 gallons of Cab Franc heavy Bordeaux style blend with Merlot,Malbec and Carmenere.
I just started doing a batch of Zinfandel yesterday from a historic local vineyard vines are about 30 years old.
I feel like this year was a blockbuster year in regards to the vineyards and quality of fruit I was able to obtain. I’m producing the best wines I have ever made mostly due to the fact that I have been able to obtain such good grapes.
 
This fall:
6 gallons of Soave Classico juice from Italy
6 gallons of Verdicchio juice from Italy
6 gallons of Valpolicella juice from Italy
15 gallons of yet unblended Mourvedre,Grenach & Syrah from Amador grapes. Trying to copy Ch. Beaucastel
5 gallons of Primitivo from CA grapes
5 gallons of Petit Sirah from CA grapes
 
This fall I made 6 gallons Chardonnay, 6 gallons Sauvignon Blanc, and 6 gallon field blend "Vinho Verde" with malvasia bianca, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc all from CA.

For the spring I plan on making just Chilean Malbec, but am going to purchase some lugs of grapes to add to the standard juice buckets I typically use. Have not decided how much actual grapes I will add, but will probably crush and freeze some of the must for future juice additives.
 
This fall, my first two wines from juice buckets, both Italian.
- 6g Pinot Grigio with D47 yeast, and back-sweetened to bring it just off dry
- 6g Barbera with 71B yeast, and French oaked (medium toast)

I'm a novice, and was at first confused by off-gassing that continued during settling, but the kind folks from this forum talked me through it. So far, so good!
 
I have 5 gallons of skeeter pee in primary. 1 gallon of dandelion wine that needs to be bottled. 1 gallon of onion blossom traditional that I really have to figure out how to clear. 1 gallon of jam wine in secondary. 2 gallons of mixed berry melomel. And two empty fermenter that are screaming in neglect...
 
Current sitch:
6 gallons Skeeter Pee in primary
6 gallons Apres Chocolate Raspberry dessert wine (double batch) nearing bottling time
3 gallon RJS Cru Specialty Toasted Caramel dessert wine nearing bottling time
6 gallons FWK Blackberry nearing bottling time
6 gallons FWK Strawberry nearing bottling time
6 gallons FWK Barbera ready for bottling
2 gallons tomato ready for bottling

On the horizon:
Frozen raspberries for 6ish gallon batch
Frozen peaches for 6ish gallon batch
Pineapple juice for 6ish gallon batch, to be backsweetened with pina colada mix
Orchard Breezin' watermelon 6 gallon kit
Orchard Breezin' peach 6 gallon kit
Probably more tomato this summer/fall - so far, I am liking what I did last year so I want to make more
Possibly more FWK
 
Back
Top