Homemade Fruit wines

[lighthawk]

I have two grapevines on my property and I could only eat so many grapes and I got tired of feeding the birds so I started about 4 years ago with a simple wine making kit. Cost me about 70 bucks then. Now they are up over $110. Imagine that. Bought a couple of instructional books from simple to complex. The first one, the complex one, had me so confused when I finished it I almost gave up right there. The second, a Storey wisdom bulletin by Robert Cluett brought it down to the level a hillbilly like me could understand. So I gave it a shot. Since then I have been trying new things and combinations every year. I also bought 3 more kits and now I put up anywhere from twenty to forty gallons a year all of different blends. Blueberry/strawberry, Watermelon/strawberry, Blueberry/grape. Apple with a myriad of different spices added. Sometimes just cinnamon and this year with apple pie spice. The jury is still out on that one. There is an apple orchard on my way to work so every year I stop in and grab 5 gallons of fresh cider. I also live near a large blueberry grower and during the season I can get 10 lbs of blueberries for $2.00 a lb. I will continue to buy from them untill my bushes are large enough to supply my needs.
It has been a learning experience with some of them coming out delicious and others, well, not so much. They have all been pallatable but there are a few that will give me a shiver on the way down. Those get set aside to age. That is the beauty of wine making. Age cures a lot of mistakes

 

[Llama Gardener]

Well it sounds like fun to me!

 

[lighthawk]

It is a lot of fun. Every year I look for ways to "mix & match" a new combination. One year I made a Blueberry/Grape that was more like a cordial than a wine. very sweet and quite delicious. Needless to say none of that went into long term storage.

 

[jojo54]

Good for you, trying new things. Sounds tasty! Oh and welcome.

 

[Greenthumb18]

lighthawk,

Sounds great!

I make my own wine every year around September. I have grapevines too in my garden and last year I got a pretty good harvest and made wine out of them, I'll try to post pictures of it.
I also order grape juice from a winemaking place and choose what kinds of wines I would like to make, They also have other flavors besides the usual wine made from grapes.
That's how winemaking is, it takes time to be able to create a nice bottle of wine. When you make mistakes you learn and that's what will make you a good winemaker. The more you make wine the more you'll be good at it .

 

[lighthawk]

Thanks JoJo.
Greenthumb... You are absloutely correct.
None of the crops I mentioned come in at the same time so I freeze the fruit as I harvest it. The grapes are the last to harvest so when they come in I thaw it all and start playing "mad scientist". Everything I brew is from fresh fruit. This year I am planning to try growing sugar beets as a natural way to "sweeten" the pot.