what spices in concord grape wine?

[zack67360]

Hi,
Due to the drought this year, my little vineyard will not bear enough grapes to make even 5 gallons of wine. I have called the local vineyards and they said they will not be selling grapes this year due to the reduced harvest. So, I figure I'll just buy some Welchs grape juice to fill the 5 gallon primary with after adding my own grapes. But I have read that concord has a musky taste. So I thought I may add some sort of spice to the primary. Problem is I have no experience with adding spices to wine. What is the concencus to which spice taste best in concord wine, and how much? Thank you in advance,
zack

 

[Julie]

Hi Zack,

I have no idea on what spice would go with concord but I was thinking of adding pepper to a batch of concord

 

[Runningwolf]

I have never heard of adding spices to a concord. I would consider either getting some diamond or niagara juice locally and adding that if you can or else get some Welches concentrate to blend with it.

 

[grapeman]

Some people call it a foxy taste, which is really saying grapes taste like grapes. Think grape juice- that is the flavor of Concord and there is nothing wrong with it. Celebrate the wine for what it has to offer, not try to cover it up. It is like trying to cover up the smell of roses with another flower. Smell the roses............
Just my small take on it.

 

[BobF]

I like black cherry juice with concord. A lot!

 

[Julie]

actually i did a concord cranberry blend that is awesome

 

[BobF]

I bet that is good. I wish I could find a local source for pure cranberry

 

[zack67360]

Thank you for the replies, guess I'll forget the spices and stick with a juice blend then. Both the black cherry and cranberry mixed with the concord sound good. Bob and Julie, did go with a 50/50 blend of the juices?
Running Wolf, I wish I could get more local grapes from the vineyards here, but because of the lack of any significant rainfall and the terrible heat wave we've been in for such a long period, the commercial vineyards are keeping all their grapes for their own use. Even the berry farm here has closed early in the season. We need rain desperately.

 

[BobF]

Mine comes pre-mixed - Welch's Black Cherry Concord.

I picked up 6 qts of Knudsen's black cherry and a bunch of straight concord to do my own blend, but haven't yet. I'm thinking 1g black cherry, 5g concord.

 

[Julie]

Thank you for the replies, guess I'll forget the spices and stick with a juice blend then. Both the black cherry and cranberry mixed with the concord sound good. Bob and Julie, did go with a 50/50 blend of the juices?
Running Wolf, I wish I could get more local grapes from the vineyards here, but because of the lack of any significant rainfall and the terrible heat wave we've been in for such a long period, the commercial vineyards are keeping all their grapes for their own use. Even the berry farm here has closed early in the season. We need rain desperately.

I did a 60/30, 60% concord and 30% cranberry

 

[zack67360]

Mine comes pre-mixed - Welch's Black Cherry Concord.

I picked up 6 qts of Knudsen's black cherry and a bunch of straight concord to do my own blend, but haven't yet. I'm thinking 1g black cherry, 5g concord.

mmm. The pre-mixed would make it easy for sure. This will be one of my next batches for sure.

 

[zack67360]

I did a 60/30, 60% concord and 30% cranberry

This will also be on my list for the next batches. I just went out and watered everything I want to keep alive, and looked at my grapes while out there. It's looking like I will not have any of my own grapes to use. For some reason they are shriveling up on the vine, one by one. There are ants around the area, so not sure if it's the ants sucking the juice out, or what. I do not mind sharing, but it would be nice to have SOME grapes. At least the leaf fold worms are not an issue this year. I bought 2500 lady bugs. Course the next day after turning them loose there was not one to be found on the vines

 

[BobF]

I did a 60/30, 60% concord and 30% cranberry

What was the other 10%?

 

[zack67360]

I wondered this also Bob, but figured maybe it was sugar or water?? I typically add anywhere from 8# to 12# of sugar to my 5 gallon batches of must. I know some have said this is rocket fuel, but I like a strong full bodied wine. I have made some weaker wines to share with family that do not drink much and say my wine is too strong. But for my own taste I like to go with the higher alcohol. Just curious Bob and Julie, how much sugar did you add to your must and did you back sweeten?
Thank you,
zack

 

[BobF]

For concord and other heavy-flavored wines, I shoot for an SG 0f 1090-1095. For more subtle flavors, I go for 1080-1085

Some I backsweeten, others I don't.

Past BC/Concord batches I've backsweetened to 1005-1010 with simple syrup. The most recent I backsweetened with a quart of BC juice + sugar to 1010.

 

[Julie]

What was the other 10%?

Well this is what happens when you sit in a 3 hour meeting that just drones on and on and on and on and then have to answer questions because that manager is a twit! Ok, sorry, it's Monday and it has been rough.

What I should have said was 2 cans frozen concord juice, 1 can frozen cranberry juice per gallon. Does this sound better?

 

[SpoiledRotten]

What was the other 10%?

Just don't ever ask Julie to loan you $100.00. Know what I mean? You might not get but 90.

 

[BobF]

Well this is what happens when you sit in a 3 hour meeting that just drones on and on and on and on and then have to answer questions because that manager is a twit! Ok, sorry, it's Monday and it has been rough.

What I should have said was 2 cans frozen concord juice, 1 can frozen cranberry juice per gallon. Does this sound better?

LOL! I always called those "Near Death Experiences"

Exactly which frozen cranberry did you use?

 

[JDS]

Zack,
Hopefully you have better luck with your grape harvest this year. What type of grapes do you grow. I grow concord and make my wine straight from the grapes. I have never found it to have an off odor at all, and it tends to have a nice smell and a great pinkish-amber color. This coming year, I want to experiment with some kind of subtle spice as well, and I was considering either black pepper or star anise.

If you are going for high octane wine, you may try using strawberries. near the end of the season, they usually go on sale for like $0.99/lb. If you use a mesh bag during primary and squeeze/punch down once or twice a day, by the end of primary all of the fruit except the seeds will dissolve into the liquid and you won't need a press. It will take some serious racking to get out all the sediment, but it will leave you with some strong stuff. Last time I made it, right before bottling, I added a bit more sugar to sweeten it to taste. So long as you use stronger champaigne bottles and cork cages, you will be left with a nice sparkling strawberry wine that tastes very similar to a brut champaigne.