Catawba - Fredonia Blend

[ffemt128]

Runningwolf or anyone else have any suggestions for a starting blend percentage? I don't want the Fredonia to just color the Catawba. This may be my next try, maybe a blend of Catawba, Concord and Fredonia? I have 10 gallons of Fredonia, 9 gallons of Niagra, 6 gallons of Catawba and 8 gallons of Concord to play with. Obviously I'll want some straight Fredonia, Concord and Niagra

 

[Runningwolf]

Doug I intended to make a pink Catawba with Fredonia and Catawba. Well my first trial was Catawba 75% and Fredonia 25%. The trial was only 100ml. I poured it into a glass, "oh crap, this is more blush than pink". I tasted it anyways, " Holy Smokes this is great"! Pink Catawba was eliminated from inventory and "Sammies Blend" was born. What I can tell is after making that 7-8 gallon batch, I ran up to Walkers and got 18 more gallons of Catawba and 6 gallons of Fredonia.

 

[Runningwolf]

One of the most popular blends in wineries here in the east is Concord and Niagara. Start out at 50/50 and play with it from there. Doug these blends do well being sweeter to bring out the flavors and aromas.

 

[ffemt128]

Thanks for the starting point with fredonia catawba. I was thinking 33%-66% catawba, glad I asked. The sammies blend is quite good. I was intending on a concord niagra and possibly a concord catawba blend.

 

[ffemt128]

I tried both the 75-25 and he 66-33 ratios, I think I'm leaning more toward the 66-33, although the 75-25 is quite good. May need to experiment more. maybe go 60-20-20 and add some Concord into the mix.

 

[ffemt128]

Did some bench trials last night with the tasting supervisor. We decided on a 2:1 ratio of Catawba to Fredonia and will sweeten to 1.015. Also tried a 2:1:1 Catawba-Concord-Fredonia sweetened to the same level. Both received a seal of approval.

 

[DaveB]

Runningwolf or anyone else have any suggestions for a starting blend percentage? I don't want the Fredonia to just color the Catawba. This may be my next try, maybe a blend of Catawba, Concord and Fredonia? I have 10 gallons of Fredonia, 9 gallons of Niagra, 6 gallons of Catawba and 8 gallons of Concord to play with. Obviously I'll want some straight Fredonia, Concord and Niagra

I’m new to this forum and only been making homemade wine for a couple years. Has any ever blended Catawba and strawberry together??

 

[winemaker81]

I’m new to this forum and only been making homemade wine for a couple years. Has any ever blended Catawba and strawberry together??

This is a very old thread, and none of the members have been on the forum in 3+ years, so I'd not expect an answer from them.

I have not blended Catawba and Strawberry, but it will probably go well. For this, I'd make the wines separately, bulk age at least 3 months, and then conduct bench trials.

"Bench trials" is just taste testing. Make up 100 ml samples of various blends, e.g., 90/10, 80/20, 70/30 etc. I use a medical syringe marked in metric as it's easier to measure thing. Taste 'em all and if you like a blend, go with it.

 

[DaveB]

Ok!! Thank you for your reply!! I’m going to try it and see how it goes.

 

[winemaker81]

Ok!! Thank you for your reply!! I’m going to try it and see how it goes.

You may find this post useful, where I described how my son & I actually conducted the bench trials for blending.

https://wine.bkfazekas.com/how-i-blend-wines/