# Strawberry time again



## pwrose (Apr 26, 2012)

Its been a while since I have been here to post and it looks like things have changed a bit.
Last year bout this time I started my 2011 strawberry wine. It went a little like this
100 lbs of strawberries (never frozen)
Cleaned and sliced in at least half
Put into an 18 gallon tote and the exploding berries took off, really all over the wall and floor.
However when said and done, it made only 6 gallons of wine, I didn't add any water it was all strawberry juice. If I had not hid a bottle or two it would all be gone now, but I have my stash.

On to this years strawberry. I hated cleaning and slicing 100 lbs of berries last year, so this year I am looking for a new way to accomplish the mission.

MISSION:
200 lbs + (depending on what I can get, Im at 45 lbs right now.
Obtain the juice without having to top or slice the berries.

Suggestions welcomed,
I was thinking steam juicing but that might take just as long as topping and slicing.
The other thing I was thinking was I have a 10 gallon deep fryer for turkeys, Put that over a flame and cook the berries down to a juice and strain.

What do you think??????????


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## winemaker_3352 (Apr 26, 2012)

I would at least core them.

If not the core taste could run into the wine.

Pretty easy to do with a straw - stick the straw in the butt end of the strawberry - push it up through the top.


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## pwrose (Apr 26, 2012)

Have any idea how long that will take with 200 lbs of berries.
I more or less did that last year with them and it was only 100 lbs, took about 6 hours.
that was without any help.


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## winemaker_3352 (Apr 26, 2012)

I have always have my family come and help out.

We did 304#'s this year and it took about 7 hours.

Get a few people 200#'s you could knock out in a 2-3 hours..


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## Luc (Apr 27, 2012)

pwrose said:


> Have any idea how long that will take with 200 lbs of berries.
> I more or less did that last year with them and it was only 100 lbs, took about 6 hours.
> that was without any help.



So ???
Its a hobby.........

Six hours is nothing. 
When I made my plum wine I was busy every evening (after work) from 6 to 12 for a week to mash and pit them.

Picking dandelions got me every evening going for about 2 hours for about 2 weeks.

6 hours work is nothing in my point of view.

Luc


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## Turock (Apr 27, 2012)

We work with 100# of strawberry every year and just pull the green part off--goes pretty fast,actually. We run them thru the grape crusher to get the juice going,bag them,and toss them into the primary.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Apr 27, 2012)

We crush them with a grape crusher also, add enzymes and let them set overnight then strain through a paint filter bag (dont squeeze), the treat like juice. You can add some water with sugar at your target SG to the pulp, stir up real good and strain again for a little more juice (we like to use this for a topping off batch). No slicing, no cut fingers, no pulp to keep from blocking your racking, no seeds to add bitterness.

We are making a strawberry mead with 50 pound of strawberries in ~5 gal of must and 1.5 gal honey. Just before racking into a better bottle, we added 10 pounds of sliced strawberries to boost the flavor for a couple of days, restrained into the secondary, smells great!

Crackedcork


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## corntassel (Apr 27, 2012)

I just stim the berries put them in galloon bags and freeze them. After the season or any time after2 weeks take some out steam juice them then while the juice is hot put them in ssterilized jars and store for later. That way you don't have to process all at once. The caned juice will last for a year or more. I do all my fruit this way and can make all juice wine all year at my convenience.


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## rogerb (Apr 27, 2012)

When I worked in restaraunts(years ago) we had a tool that looked like a small melon baller with little teeth for coring the stems out of tomatoes. If you could find one or even a small melon baller it could increase the speed of preparing them.


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## pwrose (Apr 27, 2012)

Luc its a hobby but with the amount of work I do these days I am lucky I have time to run down to the strawberry place and get the berries in the first place. I wish I had the time I did a year ago.

I like the idea of popping on the tops and mashing. Steaming a little as I go wouldn't be a bad idea either.
Keep the suggestions comming.


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## brewski09 (Apr 27, 2012)

pwrose said:


> Luc its a hobby but with the amount of work I do these days I am lucky I have time to run down to the strawberry place and get the berries in the first place. I wish I had the time I did a year ago.
> 
> I like the idea of popping on the tops and mashing. Steaming a little as I go wouldn't be a bad idea either.
> Keep the suggestions comming.



ug: agreed, hobby time is well spent


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## jswordy (Apr 29, 2012)

pwrose said:


> Have any idea how long that will take with 200 lbs of berries.
> I more or less did that last year with them and it was only 100 lbs, took about 6 hours.
> that was without any help.


 

I did 150 pounds plant-ripened all the way through by carefully removing all green in 9 1/2 hours. There was no white in my berries. My wife took pity on me and helped for the last couple hours. Hobby or not, that was real work.


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## brewski09 (Apr 30, 2012)

jswordy said:


> I did 150 pounds plant-ripened all the way through by carefully removing all green in 9 1/2 hours. There was no white in my berries. My wife took pity on me and helped for the last couple hours. Hobby or not, that was real work.



So, it sounds like its about 3.5 pounds of strawberries per minute, per person... Now for the real question. How much of the previous batch did you consume per hour per person while prepping said strawberries?


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## jswordy (Apr 30, 2012)

brewski09 said:


> So, it sounds like its about 3.5 pounds of strawberries per minute, per person... Now for the real question. How much of the previous batch did you consume per hour per person while prepping said strawberries?


 
Zero. I bought an extra gallon of berries for snacking, but didn't even touch them. I basically sat there and worked strawberries from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Stopped long enough to eat two pieces of toast late morning. That's why I prefer to use pie filling.  But it will all be worth it.

If you have a nice sharp paring knife, it makes the work go much easier.


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## pwrose (Apr 30, 2012)

Well here is what I have decided, I got 100 lbs right now however I am in Maine on business. When I get home Friday I will take what I have right now and make the first batch. I will dump the bags of berries in my cooking pot (5 gallon) and cook them down to juice. This will have everything except the bad berries in it, including the green tops. Then I will strain the juice off and squeeze the pulp for any extra juice.
On the next 100 lbs I will cut the tops out as I am baggin them. I have been averaging about 16-25 lbs each time I get the call to come get them. That should not take that long to top them before I freeze them, if I do it as I get them. Then I will try the same process as I did with the first 100 lbs.
I will post it up as it happens.


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## pwrose (May 16, 2012)

Well its finally official 160# of strawberries in the freezer.
I am going to take some of the posted advice mainly due to time factors and juice a few at a time.
I have some gallon jugs that I can put the juice in to freeze until I am ready to use it.

I am wondering though should I put the pectic enzyme in before I juice them or after but before I freeze them?


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## tonyandkory (May 17, 2012)

I have a Good grips Strawberry Huller





http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017106FA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

it cores the berries and there is a push button on the back to eject them and it goes very fast


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## Turock (May 17, 2012)

If all the berries are frozen, there is no need to steam them. Dump them into a container, let them thaw to room temp. Get some meta on them while they thaw. When they are approaching being all thawed, get some pectic enzyme on them. Next day, take PH reading, set brix, etc. and go for it. You might want to bag them too---if not, be sure to strain out the seeds before going into secondary. Add no water---really don't need it because you'll have tons of juice. You've never had a better strawberry than one made with no water additions. You should end up with around 16 gallons of wine, so you can use that estimate to know how much of your chemistries to add at the primary. Good luck.


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## pwrose (May 17, 2012)

Turock,
I made my strawberry that way last year, no water and basically 100 lbs made 6 gallons. I just dont have the time that I had last year to deal with them that way. Therefore I will be juicing them and freezing the juice until time to use it. I also dont want the mess I had last year with the pulp still in the bag. The other thing is I am not going to destem them this time. One of the oldtimers around here does it that way and has never noticed the difference. He adds water to his though and I dont.
He actually made two 50 gallon barrels last year and said he used around 400 lbs of berries.
Oh and I doubt I get 1 gallon of juice from 10 lbs of berries, I might but like I said it took right at 100 lbs last year to get 6 gallons. I will be happy if I get to the 10 gallon mark.

That huller probably would not work on half the berries I got because they are so small. You have to know that the berries I get are the reject berries from a commercial strawberry farm, not a u pick deal. The only thing I have to watch out for are green berries for the most part.


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## jswordy (May 17, 2012)

pwrose said:


> Turock,
> I made my strawberry that way last year, no water and basically 100 lbs made 6 gallons. I just dont have the time that I had last year to deal with them that way. Therefore I will be juicing them and freezing the juice until time to use it. I also dont want the mess I had last year with the pulp still in the bag. The other thing is I am not going to destem them this time. One of the oldtimers around here does it that way and has never noticed the difference. He adds water to his though and I dont.
> He actually made two 50 gallon barrels last year and said he used around 400 lbs of berries.
> Oh and I doubt I get 1 gallon of juice from 10 lbs of berries, I might but like I said it took right at 100 lbs last year to get 6 gallons. I will be happy if I get to the 10 gallon mark.
> ...


 
I got 10 1/2 gallons out of a double-pressing of 150 pounds of berries, if that helps you any in your planning. I did use a sharp paring knife to knock off the greens from the top of each one. These were field ripened berries, red all the way through. I did freeze them first.

I put my berries into a 5-gallon paint strainer bag and then into the press. Ran through the whole load, saving the pressings in a bucket, then ran through the pressings one more time. I saved back and froze the very first gallon of juice to come off, for back-flavoring later.

It is now in first secondary, and in one week it has cleared great so far! I am impressed at how quickly it has begun to clean up.


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## jswordy (May 17, 2012)

Here's one of the strawberry carboys after just 7 days. After what I have seen of other strawberry wines, I think this is pretty far along already in the clearing process. When it's not in the sun, it is deep red.


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## Boatboy24 (May 17, 2012)

OMG! I want a big ol' glass of that!


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## pwrose (May 18, 2012)

js
how much sugar did you have to add to get your sg reading up to where you wanted it and what was it.
I was thinking about cooking some of the juice down to bring the SG up some without adding as much sugar, i think that would really kick up the flavor some as well.


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## tonyandkory (May 18, 2012)

pwrose said:


> js
> how much sugar did you have to add to get your sg reading up to where you wanted it and what was it.
> I was thinking about cooking some of the juice down to bring the SG up some without adding as much sugar, i think that would really kick up the flavor some as well.




Like fermenting a GIANT strawberry Fpack lol great idea


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## jswordy (May 18, 2012)

pwrose said:


> js
> how much sugar did you have to add to get your sg reading up to where you wanted it and what was it.
> I was thinking about cooking some of the juice down to bring the SG up some without adding as much sugar, i think that would really kick up the flavor some as well.


 
Juice itself was 1.030. I took it to 1.085. I dunno how much sugar that was. I make up an invert solution and just add it and water until I get the volume and hydrometer reading I want.

I am going to simmer reduce the one gallon of juice I saved and then add sugar, basically making an invert syrup but using the juice instead of water. I am not worried about "diluting" the wine cuz that one gallon of juice will be spread over 25 gallons of finished product. The added juice will be less than 4% of volume. This process will happen on second racking, when I will also stabilize. After that, it will all be an aging and settling process.

The big deal with strawberry is like the other berry wines - to make it sweet enough to bring out the berries again after fermenting dry. This wine is pegged as a contest wine, so I am hoping it turns out well. When bottled, there will be 1-1/2 pounds of berries in every bottle. That's not pure juice, it has water added, but if that, field-ripe berries, and the back-end work can't make this into a kick butt wine, I'll be surprised.

*Boatboy24,* me too! But it's way too early, though I did sneak a swaller out of the primary when siphoning. 

*UNDER EDIT:* Oh yeah, there also were 2 lbs. sliced bananas per gallon in a bag in primary, for body. Fruit flies loved 'em!


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## g8keeper (May 18, 2012)

i have to admit, jim, that sure does look like a thing of beauty....awesome color....


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## jswordy (May 18, 2012)

g8keeper said:


> i have to admit, jim, that sure does look like a thing of beauty....awesome color....


 
Why thank you Ken! I'll save you a bottle.


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## whackfol (May 18, 2012)

Jim (and others):
Beautiful carboy! Would you elaborate more on your procedure? I have the opportunity to purchase 50lbs of fresh strawberries from a local U-Pick farm. They will be picked in the words of the owner -- ripe plus, but not mushy. I have never made a strawberry wine and am looking for procedures. I have read Jack Keller's and E K Kraus' recipes and read most of the strawberry wine posts on this site. 
My questions:
1) You state you yielded 10.5 G wine from 150lbs of fruit. Is this weight before cutting the tops off or after?
2) In a later post you mention you added water. I can't figure out how much to add. What is your suggestion? How does it effect the s.g
3) Are you fermenting on the pulp or did you crush and press and then ferment? I was planning to run through my C-D and press in my wine press as you did. I just don't know if it is treated like a red wine or white wine.
4) When did you add the sugar and what volume did you calculate in figuring your sugar additions? or Did you just add and measure s.g until you reached 1.085?
5) What about acid additions. How much do you add in g/L. I only have tartaric. Will this be sufficient or do I need a blend?
6) You discuss an F-Pack. I understand it is a flavoring addition. What is it, where is it purchased and when it is added?
7) I understand you plan to backsweeten (and this may be part of an F-Pack). What level of residual sugar are you targeting and is it sweet, semi-sweet, ...etc?
8) How do you stabilize the wine?

Thanks,
Whack


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## pwrose (May 18, 2012)

whackfol said:


> Jim (and others):
> Beautiful carboy! Would you elaborate more on your procedure? I have the opportunity to purchase 50lbs of fresh strawberries from a local U-Pick farm. They will be picked in the words of the owner -- ripe plus, but not mushy. I have never made a strawberry wine and am looking for procedures. I have read Jack Keller's and E K Kraus' recipes and read most of the strawberry wine posts on this site.
> My questions:
> 1) You state you yielded 10.5 G wine from 150lbs of fruit. Is this weight before cutting the tops off or after?
> ...


 
Hope that covers it for you if you have more questions feel free to ask. If I ever get my blogs back from the old site I will post the strawberry that I made last year. It has all the basic info that you would need to make one.
If not just be patient and I will get the info on this one going in a week or so. Got to take a trip to Philly and then to Mobile before I can get a chance to get this one started.

Dont forget to keep your slurry to make a strawberry skeeter pee. This is the best skeeter pee I have made yet.


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## jswordy (May 21, 2012)

1) You state you yielded 10.5 G wine from 150lbs of fruit. Is this weight before cutting the tops off or after?

Before. My fruit weight is based on 30 gallons. I weighed one gallon and found it to weigh 5 pounds. I did not cut the tops off, I cut the green off. It's possible to do this and not remove much red at all. There is not very much weight to the green. I'd guess I lost 10 pounds or so.

2) In a later post you mention you added water. I can't figure out how much to add. What is your suggestion? How does it effect the s.g

I roughly doubled the volume with water. By the time it's all done, it will be around 6.25 pounds per gallon, give or take. If you search the forum, 6 pounds/gallon is a highly recommended strawberry weight per gallon. It balances flavor with cost considerations well.

3) Are you fermenting on the pulp or did you crush and press and then ferment? I was planning to run through my C-D and press in my wine press as you did. I just don't know if it is treated like a red wine or white wine.

I froze the fruit after prep, then bagged it in a 5-gallon paint strainer and ran it through the press. I reserved the pulp and then ran a second pressing. I tasted fruit after the second pressing to be sure all flavor had been extracted. On the pulp fermenting is tough with strawberry; many people I know who have done it have had clearing problems, even with bagged fruit. Since I do not like to artificially clear my wines, I try not to begin with musts that will make clearing problems for me.

4) When did you add the sugar and what volume did you calculate in figuring your sugar additions? or Did you just add and measure s.g until you reached 1.085?

My upper limit was 25 gallons must (150 pounds divided by 25 is 6 pounds/gal). The juice started at 1.030. I added water to make 16 gallons, then added invert sugar syrup and water to achieve 24 gallons at 1.085, using the hydrometer to measure. All that happened right away, before the chemicals were added and the must allowed to rest. I added yeast the next day.

5) What about acid additions. How much do you add in g/L. I only have tartaric. Will this be sufficient or do I need a blend?

Citric at 2 tsp/gal is recommended almost universally in strawberry wine recipes I have seern, so that is what I use.

6) You discuss an F-Pack. I understand it is a flavoring addition. What is it, where is it purchased and when it is added?

I don't f-pac. After stabilization, I use the juice as-is, adding sugar to it before putting it in the wine to backsweeten. I add more sweetness with invert sugar syrup after that, if needed. The very first gallon of juice will be the most pristine, which is why I saved and froze that gallon off the press. Just put it in a gallon plastic jug and leave room at the top for expansion (3 inches or so) and leave the cap on loosely til frozen. Thaw when you are ready to fix up the wine.

UNDER EDIT: I just read my earlier post that was going to simmer and reduce the juice this time. OK, I'll go with that, then! But I usually do the procedure I outlined here.

7) I understand you plan to backsweeten (and this may be part of an F-Pack). What level of residual sugar are you targeting and is it sweet, semi-sweet, ...etc?

I guess semi-sweet is closest. This wine will be sweet but not as sweet as a dessert wine. I generally do not use hydrometer readings but sweeten to taste. I am told and also have read here that 1.020 is a good hydrometer reading to try to achieve for a sweet wine, but I wouldn't know since I sweeten to taste. What I am tasting for is the fruit flavors, which will come back out as the wine gets sweeter. Once I taste full strawberries, I will stop right there. No need to make it taste like Boone's Farm. I use this same method with all my wines that get backsweetened.

8) How do you stabilize the wine?

When I rack, I add 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulfite per FIVE or SIX gallons at the second, fourth, sixth racking, etc. This usually works out great for me, since 90% of my wines are cleared after the third racking, so my fourth racking is usually my stabilization racking, and it is also right in order for more potassium metabisulfite. 

After it clears, I rack into a clean carboy and use 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulfite per FIVE or SIX gallons, and 1/2 tsp potassium sorbate per ONE gallon. (I always capitalize and underline the gallons when I mention these measurements, because it is easy to think everything is by the gallon and make a big mistake. I did that as a beginner and I would hate to cause anyone else to do it.) 

If the wine is not to be further manipulated, I wait 3-5 days to be sure it is still and proceed with the bottling process. If it is to be sweetened/enhanced, I do that at any time after stabilization that is convenient. I wait 3-5 days after enhancement to be sure no fermentation has restarted, then I go into the bottling procedure.

UNDER EDIT: Forgot to mention I used 2 pounds bananas, cut into 1-inch segments with the skins on, per gallon of must. Floated those in the must in a strainer bag after volume and SG had been set. The yeast loved them and they will add considerable body and mouthfeel, but will not add flavors. The bag was drained prior to racking to secondary.


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## whackfol (May 21, 2012)

Jim and PW:

Thanks for answering my questions. Can't wait for the weekend.

Whack


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## gordini (May 23, 2012)

I've made fair bit of strawberry over the past few years. I'm always looking for new ideas. Like CrackedCork, I use a grape crusher and add enzymes to reduce the fruit to mush. I use 70ppm free sulphur at the crush. If you let the green tops ( calyxes) die in the must, you have big flavour problems. Depending on the style I use either wild yeasts or commercial. I always ferment on the pulp and pump out from underneath to rack into stainless steel. Bitterness from the seeds could be an issue, but fining takes well care of that. My big problem is the finished colour.... very little... Has anybody solved the problem on maintaining natural colour in strawberry wine?

Thanks


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## WVMountaineerJack (May 23, 2012)

Yes Gordi, we solved the natural color problem, we add elderberries  Very Natural. CC



gordini said:


> I've made fair bit of strawberry over the past few years. I'm always looking for new ideas. Like CrackedCork, I use a grape crusher and add enzymes to reduce the fruit to mush. I use 70ppm free sulphur at the crush. If you let the green tops ( calyxes) die in the must, you have big flavour problems. Depending on the style I use either wild yeasts or commercial. I always ferment on the pulp and pump out from underneath to rack into stainless steel. Bitterness from the seeds could be an issue, but fining takes well care of that. My big problem is the finished colour.... very little... Has anybody solved the problem on maintaining natural colour in strawberry wine?
> 
> Thanks


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## bricklayer67 (Jun 5, 2012)

*Work work work...*



Luc said:


> So ???
> Its a hobby.........
> 
> Six hours is nothing.
> ...



When I did dandelion wine, I had 8 hours of picking and 10 hours of cleaning into enough dandelions to make 3 gallons of wine.


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## gordini (Jun 6, 2012)

Forget about the green tops ( calyxes). As long as they are not left in the pulp for too long, they wont influence the outcome. Just make sure they don't die and go black. Mash with enzyme and then continue as you have done.


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## Cabernut (Jun 25, 2012)

Hello all, I have one question: whats the word on those strawberries that are getting mushy? I have about 20 more lbs to process and the bucket I'm working on contains a lot of these. Some have mushy spots that look a bit purple-ish. Should I cut those parts out or only gut out the green & white?

EDIT: I guess what I'm asking is: How ripe is too ripe?


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## gordini (Jun 27, 2012)

Strawberries definitely do not ripen after picking. I work on a strawberry farm, and we recommend to our customers that they keep the strawberries in the 'fridge until they need them, and bring them out a few hours before you serve them. Keep moisture away from them, and leaving the green tops ( calyxes) on will help preserve their condition. But once they start bruising, dropping condition, and softening, they are beginning to lose their acid and flavour. Definitely cut out the unripe bits, but you could possibly get away with with the darker spots if they don't have that "old" strawberry smell about them. As with any fruit, the better the condition, the better the wine.


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