# Easy Red Wine Recipe?



## jamesbsmith (Aug 8, 2014)

Hi guys,

I do love red wine, but at present, it seems like I can only make it at the end of summer when there are black and elder berries on trees. Using frozen fruit turns out so expensive.

Has anyone had any success making red wine from juices? I was wondering about 3L red grape juice and 500g sugar / Imperial Gallon, but I think it comes out like a rose rather than a full bodied red? Blueberry juice drink is available, but I know drinks often make poor wine.

I have some great white wine recipes which are easily made, but I really miss my red!!!

Thanks guys!


----------



## Tom_S (Aug 8, 2014)

Yes, I have. I've made plenty of wine from off-the-shelf juice from the local grocery store. I've even made a blueberry wine from store bought blueberry juice. But make sure whatever juice you use says "100% juice" on the label. Don't use anything labeled "grape drink" or "cocktail." It's guaranteed to have anything from 5-25% juice, with the rest being water, HFCS, and food coloring.

As for a recipe, get some Concord grape juice, add enough sugar to get the potential alcohol up to about 11-12% (usually about 4-5 cups of sugar per 5 gallons), add 1 tsp of yeast nutrient per gallon and ferment out with Montrachet yeast. Once it's done, add K-meta and sorbate, then add enough sugar for desired sweetness. Age for 6 months to a year, racking off the sediment.

I really love the flavor that Montrachet yeast gives to Concord wine. The best reds I have made were using Montrachet.


----------



## seth8530 (Aug 8, 2014)

jamesbsmith said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I do love red wine, but at present, it seems like I can only make it at the end of summer when there are black and elder berries on trees. Using frozen fruit turns out so expensive.
> 
> ...



I am not quite sure where you are in your winemaking experience/journey but winemaking is best viewed as a process and not a recipe. 

Ie, think more along the lines of " I have my juice and the sugar is around 1.070... I want around 13% abv, so let me raise the sugars up to the required level"

Or perhaps another example " I have received my juice and the TA is around 3 g/l, I really want it to be somewhere close to 
6-7.5 ( depending on the wine and how it taste of course) so let me adjust it as needed prior to ferment".

Their is a reason why winemaking brings in "engineers" and "artist" one side is attracted to the process based part of making wine, while perhaps the other side is attracted to it because of the artistic side of winemaking.

In truth, the best winemakers have attributes of both the "engineer" and the "artist".

So tell me, what are you trying to do and what are you going for?


----------



## jamesbsmith (Aug 8, 2014)

Cheer Tom S!


----------

