# Which Florida Grape closest to Cabernet?



## jasonclick (Apr 30, 2018)

So just to give a little background... I've been a home-brewer (beer) for about 5 years or so. I tend to dive deep into a hobby. My garage is filled with brew equipment. 

For the past half year or so I've gotten an interest in wine... primarily dry red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon. I've made a few kits... one cheap kit that were were drinking a month after bottling... we were very happy with it. The 2nd kit, still in the carboy but it's a kit with skins that I bought a barrel I'll be transferring to soon. The next obvious step is to start growing grapes and make my own "home grown " wine right? 

Since I live in North Florida where its hot and humid, the grape that grows here is a muscadine. Me being very excited about the possibility of growing grapes and making red wine, i did about 5 minutes research and decided upon the Noble Muscadine... I purchased 2 vines from Ison's and put them in the ground this past Saturday. Here's the problem. The more I read about red muscadine wine, almost all of it is sweet... I don't like sweet wine.... I guess the reason they are made sweet is the wine is pretty harsh and it's sweetened up to be more palatable. So I'm thinking I might have planted the wrong type of grapes to make the wine I'm looking for. I'm thinking I should have gone with Black Spanish Bunch Grape (which I discovered after my muscadine order). The description on Ison's website is "wine produced from the Black Spanish is similar to a Merlot or Cabernet wine". Does anyone have experience with the 2 varieties? Should I purchase the Black Spanish Grapes to make a more of a Cabernet type wine? 

Black Spanish Bunch Grape
https://www.isons.com/shop/bunch-grapes/black-spanish-bunch-grape/

Noble Muscadine
https://www.isons.com/shop/muscadines/noble-muscadine/


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## sour_grapes (Apr 30, 2018)

Here is an article with some food for thought regarding Black Spanish: https://winemakermag.com/1678-black-spanish-varietal-focus


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## rustbucket (Apr 30, 2018)

#asonclick I don't like wines made for Florida Muscadine grapes either. The wines I favor come from northern temperate locations. 

An alternative to growing your own grapes is to have them shipped in. I found a place in Tampa, Pardo Wine Grapes, that brings them into the state and ships to 5 locations around the state for a very small shipping cost, one of those locations being only 10 miles from my current house. I haven't bought grapes from them but I have purchase several of thier juice buckets and made wine from them. I don't have any financial interest in the company but I am a satisfied customer. Pardo's website link is here.

I've never been to Green Cove Springs but we're moving from Miami to The Villages next week which will put me closer to you.


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## FTC Wines (May 1, 2018)

I had a friend in Cresent City Fl that grew Noble grapes, his vineyard was a few acres. We never saw the vineyard but drank some of his Noble wine. It was a bold, dark Red Wine. It was 15 yrs ago so I can't remember if it tasted like a Cab, but it was good, & we drink and make a lot of CB. We also use Pardo Grapes, both buckets & real grapes. Been using them for 4 years. Roy


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## jasonclick (May 1, 2018)

rustbucket said:


> #asonclick I don't like wines made for Florida Muscadine grapes either. The wines I favor come from northern temperate locations.
> 
> An alternative to growing your own grapes is to have them shipped in. I found a place in Tampa, Pardo Wine Grapes, that brings them into the state and ships to 5 locations around the state for a very small shipping cost, one of those locations being only 10 miles from my current house. I haven't bought grapes from them but I have purchase several of thier juice buckets and made wine from them. I don't have any financial interest in the company but I am a satisfied customer. Pardo's website link is here.
> 
> I've never been to Green Cove Springs but we're moving from Miami to The Villages next week which will put me closer to you.


Thanks for the link. I contacted them to get on their mailing list.


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