# Does anyone know what kind of Blackberries make the best wine (Ohio)



## Davolous (Jul 28, 2015)

I bought 5 Acres outside of town, some of it floods. So I am planning on growing a mix of Elderberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries, and grapes. 

I was watching a wine making video on you tube and in passing the speaker was the the large blackberries that come from throne-less plants do not not make good blackberries wines. And of course that is what I have growing in my current back yard to cultivate from.

*Does anyone know what blackberries can be farmed in Ohio that make good wine?*


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## hounddawg (Jul 30, 2015)

only my opinion, but I love my BlackBerrys with briers on them don't know the name, but I only pick the ones with the large berry on it here in ark I have 2 types, one the little balls that make up the berry is more sour, the ones wit the bigger balls that make up the blackberry, them tend to be more sweet an much better tasting as for tame blackberries I aint got a clue although I have planted some triple crown, and some Arkansas freedom, as far as I know most if not all thornless come from a college from north west Arkansas, so I'll find out about the thornless here in a tear or two, my advice for what it's worth, is go out the the country and look for briar patches, look for the ones with bigger beads on them, but taste both types when jet black you'll know which you like soon as you pop 7 or 8 in your mouth of each, here seasons over but your way north of me so I don't know your seasons,
good luck,


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## Brew and Wine Supply (Jul 30, 2015)

Ripe ones


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## dorfie (Jul 30, 2015)

so to start i believe most of ohio is in hardiness Zone 6, with some smaller areas with Zone 5. that means that most blackberry cultivars will grow there. 
Triple crown blackberries are reported to have the best flavor, but of course everything is an opinion, they are also thornless. Are these the ones that you have growing already?
I have heard good reviews of triple crown, up on the same tier as them i have heard of Ouachita, another thornless variety. 
in my personal opinion, as someone who has worked with blackberries, i would say that they would make fine wine. the comment about using thorned varieties could have been a personal preference or been based on the fact that thornless varieties sometimes are more expensive, and so could be prohibitive to making wine from them since you would need many plants to get enough berries to make wine. 
I would go ahead and make wine from them! i am sure it would turn out great! wish i had your weather so i could grow blackberries easier!


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## kryten (Nov 10, 2015)

My experience with wild uncultivated fruit is that fully ripened, yet less sweet, fruit yields the best overall after fermentation to dryness.

The larger sugar quantity of ripe sweet fruit yields best for arrested or lower attenuated fermentations.

So decide upfront what you're going after in the scheme of things. IMO the upside to less sweet fruit is better flavor and you can always adjust the flavor and sweetness on the back end with sugar and concentrate extracts.


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