# Brambleyard



## dwhill40 (Apr 11, 2015)

So yeah, I realize this ain't a blackberry forum but vineyard guys will probably be able to weigh in with more knowledge along the lines of vintnering than a blackberry farmer. (hmmm, spell check doesn't like my new word) I just planted a 1/4 acre of Blackberries last week after propagating for a couple of years. Anyone have a favorite blackberry variety for making wine? I'm growing Arapaho, Apache, Chickasaw, Navaho, and two new primocane varieties. Any tried and true recipes or hard learned lessons would be appreciated. 

Thanks in advance,

There will be plenty of time to rest when I'm dead.


----------



## Bergmann (Apr 11, 2015)

I have made a lot of blackberry wine as well as melomels, I have made it from every kind of blackberry available in my area, I have used dried blackberries, frozen blackberries and many a fresh blackberry. I go to the farmers produce market and cannot resist a flat or two when there is a deal. I have even made tons of blackberry jam wine. The simple fact is I have never found a blackberry that does not make a marvelous wine. But don't skimp on the blackberries. 5 pounds per gallon or strait juice is the ticket. If you should find some that you do not care for, ship them to me. I'll work out a tasty fermented treat with them.


----------



## drumlinridgewinery (Apr 12, 2015)

I have navaho and Darrow. I have never made a awine from them. My wife and kids get them all. Maybe a few handfuls to throw in a batch here and there but never enough for a batch. I need to plant more plants 3 of each is just not enough. Sounds like you may have that . Good luck.


----------



## garymc (Apr 12, 2015)

I had a batch of blackberry wine that had a hydrogen sulphide odor that I had to get rid of. It turned out to be great wine. You want to pay special attention to yeast nutrition with blackberries to prevent that. Yeast nutrients, energizers, stepped feeding of nutrients are some things to look into. You can find a lot of information here by searching the general winemaking forum.


----------



## garymc (Apr 12, 2015)

Any of the varieties you have should be good for wine, especially Navaho. I liked the wine well enough that I bought 9 plants last year and stuck a lot of the shoots into the dirt, giving me another 30 or so plants this spring. I have Apache, Navaho, Ouachita, Osage, and triple crown.


----------



## WVMountaineerJack (Apr 12, 2015)

I think it more about how well they grow and get the berries ripe, We grew some of those on your list and they did poorly here in zone 6, we also planted Triple Crowns which do very well here and grow like crazy and give us good berries that make great blackberry wine. 

I might also suggest a row of Black Raspberries, Jewels do very well for us and make a fantastic black raspberry wine, its hard to tell their taste apart from wild black raspberries.

WVMJ


----------



## RedSun (Apr 12, 2015)

I'm not sure of making wines. But for fresh eating, the best semi-trailing blackberry is Chester and Triple Crown. In South, Black Satin also does well.

For erect blackberry, most of the U Arkansas varieties are very good. I believe they put out a couple more over the past few years. The erect type does not have that high yield, but easy to manage.

For special taste, you can have Boysenberry and other hybrid/cross....


----------



## Avantjour (Apr 12, 2015)

I recently purchased three varieties of blackberries.

Two are U of A's Thornless, Prime Ark Freedom and Ouachita and the others 
are Triple Crown Thornless.

Just repotted them while I get the irrigation system installed.

These should help my wine production.


----------



## toddrod (Apr 13, 2015)

I am looking forward to my 1st harvest of Osage this year. They make very pretty pink flowers and the plants are loaded. They are supposed to be one of the best tasting blackberries on the market according the the plant breeder from the U. of Arkansas. 

This will also be my 1st year harvest of Kiowa. These plants grew unbelievable and are loaded with flowers right now. I also have Ouchita which taste very good.


----------



## garymc (Apr 13, 2015)

Toddrod, I have several Osage and Ouachita plants also. I expect to get my first berries this summer, too. I'll try and think to compare notes with you on these.


----------



## dwhill40 (Apr 13, 2015)

Interesting chart.

Variety Berry diameter (mm) / Berry height (mm) / Berry mass (g) / Soluble Solids (Â°Brix) / Titratable acidity (mg/g)a / Â°Brix/acid ratio / Citric acid (g/kg) / Malic acid (g/kg)
Adrienne 16.9 20.1 3.8 14.1 13.1 1.08 6.5 4.9
Apache 26.4 34.4 13.3 11.7 16.4 0.71 1.1 11.5
Black satin 24.1 25.5 6.8 9.3 13.9 0.67 ND 15.7
Babak 22.6 27.0 8.3 7.0 16.5 0.42 ND 15.1
Chesapeake 24.2 31.6 14.8 10.5 15.5 0.68 2.1 13.0
Chester 22.9 26.0 7.8 7.5 18.8 0.40 ND 14.2
Helen 19.3 24.2 6.2 10.9 21.3 0.51 16.7 5.6
Hull Thornless 22.5 27.9 8.6 9.8 13.8 0.71 ND 9.8
Kotata 19.3 26.8 6.1 11.4 18.1 0.63 15.9 4.0
Loch Ness G 26.1 28.9 9.9 10.6 15.8 0.67 ND 11.3
Loch Ness P 18.4 18.5 3.8 12.4 10.1 1.23 ND 8.3
Lochtay 20.5 22.8 5.7 10.5 10.1 1.04 2.3 8.1
QDE-1 18.3 21.7 5.1 10.7 17.7 0.60 11.1 4.1
QDE-2 22.1 25.5 6.4 11.0 16.7 0.66 10.4 4.7
Silvan 19.3 28.0 6.8 11.6 16.1 0.72 12 4.4
Triple Crown 24.2 29.6 10.4 11.4 17.2 0.66 ND 15.8

So Blackberries are high in Malic acid. I had no idea. So is that a good thing with a malo frementation to polish it off?


----------



## dwhill40 (Apr 15, 2015)

Recieved Prime-ark 45 and Prime-ark freedom yesterday. Should be an interesting trial. I've read since buying them that heat affects bloom set. We shall see.


----------



## toddrod (Apr 18, 2015)

Here are my 1yr old Kiowa and Osage blackberries as of yesterday

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbrw-zwWsfU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbrw-zwWsfU[/ame]


----------



## dwhill40 (Apr 19, 2015)

You must have some kicka55 dirt there Todd. For one year that is impressive for both varieties. How much and when do you fertilize or do you use compost or both? My Ark berries in North Bama have grown well but we had a droughty spell last summer and I couldn't get to them to water. Do you water them regularly?


----------



## toddrod (Apr 19, 2015)

I put down a heavy layer of 13-13-13 when the buds swell and then put 3-4 inches of grass clippings for mulch. I do water but only when needed.


----------



## dwhill40 (Jan 4, 2017)

When you make a wine and the family and friends taste it and their mouth goes open and they look straight at you and say "[email protected]", you know it's pretty good. Cleaned out the freezer of last years pickings and made three gallons of %80 black berry, 12% muscadine, and 8% elderberry. I used Chickasaw bb's, wild muscadines and elderberries. Had to add a touch of acid to get it to 3.5ph, shot for <14%, I took it through MLF and got just enough buttery to counter the bb seed bitter. Back patting myself with this one.


----------

