# Awesome white wine



## Tom_S (Oct 31, 2012)

This is an awesome wine which I've made a couple of times. It makes a nice, sweet white wine. The wait is totally worth it. 

The first time I ever used D47 yeast for white wine, I was put off by the odd smell the wine had once fermentation was complete, and even tried splash racking a few times. It wasn't a bad smell, just kind of odd. It still smelled like that for a while, and foolish me poured out the first batch instead of letting it age. I think it would have turned out well had I not been so concerned about the smell and let it age some more. The second batch I tried smelled the same, but I decided that must be normal and let it age. The first time I tasted this wine, it blew my mind with how good it tasted.

I've made this for 12% alcohol but wouldn't hurt to make it a little less strong, like maybe 10 or 11%. This is for a 1 gallon batch, increase everything except yeast by 5 for a 5 gallon batch. 

Batch size: 1 gallon
Alcohol content: 12%

Ingredients: 1 gallon white Niagra grape juice (Welch's or other store bought. Concentrate will work fine), 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 packet Lalvin D47 yeast (no substitutions), yeast nutrient, potassium sorbate, campden tablets

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar with the Niagra grape juice in primary fermentation vessel (or enough sugar to get a 1.090 starting gravity reading on a hydrometer). Once sugar has totally dissolved, add yeast nutrient. Once that has dissolved, add yeast by sprinkling on top or by making a starter.

Let ferment out until nearly dry, rack off lees and let sit for two weeks to a month. Rack again, add 3/4 cup sugar to sweeten (more or less depending on desired sweetness, 3/4 cup gives excellent results), and add potassium sorbate & campden. Wine may have odd smell at this time, this is normal and will go away with time. Let age for at least 6 months, a year is preferable. Rack wine or filter, then bottle. Wine should be aged enough to drink immediately or can be stored.


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## robie (Oct 31, 2012)

Sounds really good!


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## Tom_S (Oct 31, 2012)

It is. I'm really impressed with what the D47 did to the wine. Before I used Montrachet with the Niagra juice and it tasted good, but the D47 version blows it away. As soon as I tasted this batch for the first time, I became a believer in D47 for white wines. I think this is a good nominee for the best wine I've ever made.


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## 1Mainebrew (Oct 18, 2013)

I keep reading about the Niagara white grape juice, but I've never seen it here in Maine. Where do you find it? Walmart? Thanks!


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## LoneStarLori (Oct 18, 2013)

This sounds really good and I like that it's a 1 gallon recipe. I guess I'll have to get some D47 and give her a try. Thanks for sharing.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Oct 18, 2013)

QA23 is supposed to be a more heat tolerant yeast with similar characteristics of D47, it might also work if you cant keep the D47 cool. Welches peach niagra also works well, instead of adding sugar you could also add the concentrate. WVMJ


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## dralarms (Oct 18, 2013)

I make it using Welches concentrate, mix 15 cans per instructions then add 3 cans in without dilution. Makes avery nice white. Gets better at the 1 year mark.


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## 1Mainebrew (Oct 24, 2013)

Anyone make this as a sparkling wine?


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## tkmorgan (Nov 20, 2013)

dralarms said:


> I make it using Welches concentrate, mix 15 cans per instructions then add 3 cans in without dilution. Makes avery nice white. Gets better at the 1 year mark.



How much does 15 cans make?


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## dralarms (Nov 20, 2013)

6 gallons of finished wine, or right at it.


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## wineforfun (Jan 29, 2014)

dralarms,
I have some Welchs White Grape concentrate. i am just going to make a gallon to start with and see how I like this. So according to your calculations, I would put in 2.5 cans mixed concentrate and .5 can straight, or just use 3 cans concentrate and water up the rest.

Did any of you use acid blend, tannin or energizer with this recipe?


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## ckvchestnut (Jan 29, 2014)

Thanks for posting the recipes, I may give this a try too!


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## dralarms (Jan 29, 2014)

wineforfun said:


> dralarms,
> I have some Welchs White Grape concentrate. i am just going to make a gallon to start with and see how I like this. So according to your calculations, I would put in 2.5 cans mixed concentrate and .5 can straight, or just use 3 cans concentrate and water up the rest.
> 
> Did any of you use acid blend, tannin or energizer with this recipe?



If you are doing 1 gallon then use 4 cans so when you top off it won't weaken the flavor. And no additions other than yeast nutrient. I figure Welches should be balanced already.


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## kevinlfifer (Jan 29, 2014)

Where to get Niagara conc.

http://homewinery.com/cgi-bin/concen.cgi

I used this with 8 lb of grapes (I have one vine, a Niagara)
To just over 5 gal. Back sweetened with 3 cans of white grape juice frozen conc. from the big box store, and 2 cups sugar. (and all the nutrient, k-meta and sorbate ... as needed) This wine is for a friend, and she loves it.

It took forever to get the CO2 off and get it to clear but it turned out really nice for a sweet white.


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## wineforfun (Jan 29, 2014)

Thank you.


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## wineforfun (Feb 3, 2014)

To you all that have made this...........you are adding the yeast right after mixing concentrate, water, sugar and nutrient? Not letting it sit overnight, etc. before adding yeast?


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## dralarms (Feb 3, 2014)

Correct, unless I'm using fruit I see no reason to wait to pitch the yeast.


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## wineforfun (Feb 3, 2014)

Thank you much. Will get this going tonight/tomorrow.


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## Whitehrs (Jun 1, 2016)

wineforfun said:


> To you all that have made this...........you are adding the yeast right after mixing concentrate, water, sugar and nutrient? Not letting it sit overnight, etc. before adding yeast?



So, if you are using the concentrate it was sterile, packed and frozen. Does not require any additives to kill wild yeast and protect against infection. So, you can pinch it right away. If you use fruit, you will need Campden tab(s), and or other additives. These will actually kill your yeast with the wild yeast, so, you let it gas out for 24 hours, then pinch it.. 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.. I'm new and I'm sure a veteran master vintner will school me any time now..


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## Jericurl (Jun 7, 2016)

Whitehrs said:


> So, if you are using the concentrate it was sterile, packed and frozen. Does not require any additives to kill wild yeast and protect against infection. So, you can pinch it right away. If you use fruit, you will need Campden tab(s), and or other additives. These will actually kill your yeast with the wild yeast, so, you let it gas out for 24 hours, then pinch it..
> 
> Someone correct me if I'm wrong.. I'm new and I'm sure a veteran master vintner will school me any time now..



That is how I do it, yes.
Generally if I am using something that should have come from sterile conditions, I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume I am good to go immediately.
If I suspect any kind of contaminant any step of the way, then I use K-Meta or campden.


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## tweak (Oct 28, 2016)

I started two gallon's of this last week, and just racked it into 1 gal carboy's... looking forward to seeing this progress.


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## wineforfun (Oct 28, 2016)

Ah yes, I forgot all about this wine. May have to get some going. Was not to my liking but my wife and friends really liked it.


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## tweak (Oct 28, 2016)

wineforfun said:


> Ah yes, I forgot all about this wine. May have to get some going. Was not to my liking but my wife and friends really liked it.



Not really my style of wine either, but it seems like an easy recipe that the wife would like, and I had open fermenting space.


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## wineforfun (Oct 28, 2016)

tweak said:


> Not really my style of wine either, but it seems like an easy recipe that the wife would like, and I had open fermenting space.



Yep, if she likes a sweeter moscato type, this would fit the bill once you sweeten it for her. And you are correct, it is pretty simple and straightforward.


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## CheerfulHeart (Oct 28, 2016)

Does this recipe work well with other juices or juice blends, such as pineapple-guava or cranberry and apple? The peach-grape sounds very nice too.


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## Stressbaby (Oct 28, 2016)

WVMountaineerJack said:


> QA23 is supposed to be a more heat tolerant yeast with similar characteristics of D47, it might also work if you cant keep the D47 cool. Welches peach niagra also works well, instead of adding sugar you could also add the concentrate. WVMJ



Yep, I've gone to QA23 for a lot of whites, it's just about bullet-proof.


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## crabjoe (Jan 6, 2020)

Is there any wine I could blend with that would work well to help remove some of the foxy, or with the foxyness of the Niagara still be just as strong?


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## Rice_Guy (Jan 7, 2020)

crabjoe said:


> Is there any wine I could blend with that would work well to help remove some of the foxy, or with the foxyness of the Niagara still be just as strong?


When Welches makes white grape juice concentrate they run it in a vacuum evaporator. (see recipe in post #1) This strips the volatiles ie foxy notes. Niagara is the normal feedstock for Welches, but they can use other varieties to tweak demand.


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## Steve Wargo (Jan 8, 2020)

crabjoe said:


> Is there any wine I could blend with that would work well to help remove some of the foxy, or with the foxyness of the Niagara still be just as strong?


I also made White wine where the juice was sourced from Niagara. Most likely all come from the same source. Some say foxy, I smelled petrol. You could try adding a concentrated flavoring to mask it. I'm going to mix some Niagara wine and banana wine and see what I get. In the past, I've made Concord grape juice (red) and it didn't have the "foxy" aroma that comes along with the Niagara white juice. Pour a glass of your Niagra wine and let it sit 15 minutes with an occasional stir, some of the foxy aromas dissipate. Now aged *Riesling* has a petrol smell, like gasoline. https://drinkriesling.com/riesling-rules-book/“petrol”-and-riesling Some people like Niagara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_(grape) some compare to aged Riesling. Another link to American grapes https://winefolly.com/review/native-wine-grapes-of-america/ It's a different taste profile, that you might end up liking as a change of pace wine.


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