Cheers from Virginia

[Runningwolf]

Hi Angelina, Im Bonnie from Stuarts Draft VA. I also have vines,currently have Norton, Moores Diamond,Chardonel,Elvira, DeChaunac,King of the North, and Sueuben? Have 37 gallons from this harvest in the carboys. Boy it was a difficult growing season,I thought I was sailing smooth, then the wasps set in.Look forward to talking to you.

Not to hi-jack this thread but I would like to also welcome Bonnie to this forum. Bonnie I love the Stueben and Diamond wine How about doing an intro duction and telling us about your wine making.

 

[bonnie49]

i STARTED WITH wINEART KITS, OF COURSE, THEN PLANTED JUST 6 VINES. After making just a few gallons, I decided to put in 100 vines, justfor fun. Here in the Shenandoah valley, it is easy to lose most of a crop with one late frost, so this season was my first "big" harvest. I am begining to seriously doubt that my 10 Steuben vines are in fact Steuben. They never turned darker than burgundy, Harvested 9-31, with ph3.8, TA6.0 and SG 1.076 Ihave 1 gallon in the carboy, haven" yet tasted it. Im really excited about the Norton. Have 5 Gal in the secondary, it tastes good even befor oaking. I am really excited to find other folks, particularly in Virginia, who love winemaking!

 

[bonnie49]

I got the Norton from Double A Vinyard in NY. I find they really are good to deal with, but I believe they have sold out of Norton the past two years. They are American, and not patented, so they can be rooted and planted. I have rooted several plants, but they "take " at about half the rate of most grapes. If you cant get ready-to plant vines, I,ll save you some cuttings in the spring.

 

[Angelina]

Bonnie it sounds like you have some great wines going. How long have you being wine making? I am new at this myself.
From what I read the Norton's are hard to come by and everywhere I looked they were sold out. I would love some cuttings in the spring. Thank you for offering. It might be fun to swap some wine as well.
This forum has offered some great recipes that I am working on and they have been so helpful getting me educated and learning new things in wine making.

 

[bonnie49]

I guess Ive been at it about 10 years, more or less. Right now I have, in addition to my grape wines, 5 gallons of pear in the secondary. Have you ever made this, and if so, did you add any flavors or spices? B

 

[Angelina]

I am very new at wine making, as I am in second fermentation on my first batch (Mascoto), and primary on my first batch of Skeeter.
I have never made Pear but if I did I would add spices similar to what is in a spiced pear dessert.

 

[Giovannino]

Hi Bonnie, I agree this was a hard year for growing. My berries and grapes are only in their second and third year of growing so I have not gotten a harvest yet. However my vegetable garden had a real hard time between quick high heats, droughts and then too much rain to fast, everything wanted to bolt.
Although I didn't have wasps to deal with my trouble was with Powdery mildew. Thank goodness I was able to contain it and not of my wine fruits were affected. I look forward to talking with you too.
Where did you get your Norton's from? I have read up about this wonderful variety and considered growing them as well.

I think it's great to see people coming together. Well done WMT.

 

[VegasScott]

Angelina, according to the Discovery Channel you, Tim and Tickle should be making some moonshine and not wine! LOL!

What part of Virginia are you in? My parents are in Chesterfield and my sister is a few minutes away in Midlothian.

That is a very pretty part of the country. I'm in awe at some of the vegetable gardens I've seen on my visits! You should see what I go through in order to make my soils hospitible for my plants and raised bed vegetable gardens.

It sounds like you are a few months ahead of me. It also sounds like you are an all or nothing kind of person much like me. I'm now in my "homework" stage of the process before I open the wallet and buy some stuff to get started.

I'm interested in hearing your feedback on the kits and supplies you purchased! Best of Luck!

Happy Vinting!
VegasScott

 

[Angelina]

Hi Scott, the Discovery Channel was unaware of how much I like my freedom I think they should of said West by god Virginia, or so I've been told.

I am in the Winchester Area. It is beautiful here, I also grow a fruit and veggie garden and I am in the second year of growing some 3 year old Wine Grapes, Raspberries, Blackberries, Kiwi, Blueberries, and Figs. I had to recondition my yard to be able to plant anything. I had so much clay and rock.
I can only imagine what you go through with your soil.

I fair warn you if you open your wallet once for this obsession it might never close. As far as Kits go, I am glad I decided to get my feet wet and start with them. I learned a lot this way and it is a good confidence builder. I have made the Moscato and I did tweak it a bit with some tips I learned reading this forum. I am currently making a White Strawberry Merlot that taste pretty darn good so far without tweaking. I am also making currently 2 Skeeter Pees, a Skittles wine, 2 Apple wines 1 that I have divided into smaller batches and made a Blueberry Apple and Cinnamon Apple wine. I also have another 60 pounds of shredded Granny Smith Apples waiting in the freezer, more Skittles, a Tropical Fruit Riesling kit, a Blueberry Pomegranate, a White Peach, and a crazy amount of candy canes that even Santa would shake his head laugh at me for. (Candy Cane Wine)

As far as supplies go, I have bought a lot. I would recommend a equipment kit with the glass carboy, a auto siphon, some Oxiclean Free (Walmart) for cleaning your equipment and some Potassium Metabisulphite for sanitizing everything that goes near, or in contact with your wine, a spray bottle for sanitizing solution, a wine kit of something you would like to drink, and 30 wine bottles. I would start there and get a taste for wine making to see if it is something you want to be "all in" with.

One of the most important things I think you can do is read a lot and have a lot of patience when making wine. Patience is not a optional step for making great wine. Ask lots of questions, the guys and gals here are great and very helpful, even if the question has been asked a 1000 times, they don't seem to mind for the 1001 time that said I always try to use the search box first.

 

[North_Ga_Jug-Or-Not]

Well, besides the legal side of it of course...whats wrong with a little shine? Haha More people around here make shine than wine, and alot make "shine wine" if you like brandy. Folks that aint from around here decide to go hiking on the App trail, and always ask "whats that thumping sound I keep hearing? Am I goin crazy?" lmao

 

[Tom]

IMPORTANT !

The topic of shine will stop NOW. it is illeagal in the US and this topic is banned. So, please refrain from talking about this. You never know where this will go.
If we see messages on this subject it may be deleted and put you on moderation.

This is per owner of this forum

 

[North_Ga_Jug-Or-Not]

My appologies, I didnt know I was getting mud on your rug. Consider it taboo, as I am now educated and corrected.

So, how bout them dawgs!?! Lookin for that national next year.

 

[VegasScott]

Hi Scott, the Discovery Channel was unaware of how much I like my freedom I think they should of said West by god Virginia, or so I've been told.

I am in the Winchester Area. It is beautiful here, I also grow a fruit and veggie garden and I am in the second year of growing some 3 year old Wine Grapes, Raspberries, Blackberries, Kiwi, Blueberries, and Figs. I had to recondition my yard to be able to plant anything. I had so much clay and rock.
I can only imagine what you go through with your soil.

I fair warn you if you open your wallet once for this obsession it might never close. As far as Kits go, I am glad I decided to get my feet wet and start with them. I learned a lot this way and it is a good confidence builder. I have made the Moscato and I did tweak it a bit with some tips I learned reading this forum. I am currently making a White Strawberry Merlot that taste pretty darn good so far without tweaking. I am also making currently 2 Skeeter Pees, a Skittles wine, 2 Apple wines 1 that I have divided into smaller batches and made a Blueberry Apple and Cinnamon Apple wine. I also have another 60 pounds of shredded Granny Smith Apples waiting in the freezer, more Skittles, a Tropical Fruit Riesling kit, a Blueberry Pomegranate, a White Peach, and a crazy amount of candy canes that even Santa would shake his head laugh at me for. (Candy Cane Wine)

As far as supplies go, I have bought a lot. I would recommend a equipment kit with the glass carboy, a auto siphon, some Oxiclean Free (Walmart) for cleaning your equipment and some Potassium Metabisulphite for sanitizing everything that goes near, or in contact with your wine, a spray bottle for sanitizing solution, a wine kit of something you would like to drink, and 30 wine bottles. I would start there and get a taste for wine making to see if it is something you want to be "all in" with.

One of the most important things I think you can do is read a lot and have a lot of patience when making wine. Patience is not a optional step for making great wine. Ask lots of questions, the guys and gals here are great and very helpful, even if the question has been asked a 1000 times, they don't seem to mind for the 1001 time that said I always try to use the search box first.

Sweat deal! Were you making wines prior to joining this forum? It looks like you've had a good bit of success in a relatively short period of time.

I'm thinking I'm going to order a couple of books to get started, and then order my equipment.

In my area, Pomegranates grow really well. I'm thinking I could scavenage a lot of fruits due to the fact most people just let the fruit fall to the ground and don't want to be bothered with them. Eating them is a chore with all the seeds and mess it can make.

VegasScott

 

[Angelina]

I became I member here a day or two after making my fist order, I sorta hit the ground running. I read everything I could and when my supplies arrived I felt confident enough to go for it. I had never made wine before this.

Around here I can get Apples and Pears from a relative for free if the birds and critter don't beat me to them. Everything else that I am not already growing I can get at a reasonable price in season if I want to pick my own which I will.

I would imagine that if you pick the Pomegranates and scoop the centers out into a mesh bag inside a freezer bag, then throw them in the freezer for a week so the fruit cells break down you could then squeeze the juice out after defrosting them.

I got Mary's Wine book and it is pretty good for the basics. You also might want to check out Jack Keller's website, great information!

 

[VegasScott]

IMPORTANT !

The topic of shine will stop NOW. it is illeagal in the US and this topic is banned.

Geeze! Didn't mean to get anybody's pantys in a ruffle!

Nobody was advocating making moonshine. We were making reference to the popular TV show on the Discovery Channel as a joke. Please have a sense of humor! The show is actually quite good and shows the outlaws as well as Virginia ABC agents that shut them down. Take a look at the link below.





The topic is the beautiful part of the country that Angelina lives in and the wines she's vinting. Back to our regularly scheduled program.

Angelina, so you started with your "feet wet" (pun intended - squishing grapes) prior to logging on here. I will be sure to follow your threads to learn what I can from ya all!

I read another post of yours where you recommended flavoring your wines as they would be served as if desert. For example you stated flavoring an apple wine with cinammon and such. You made me salavate just thinking about that!

VegasScott

 

[Angelina]

Hey Scott, Tom wasn't being mean, it's just that there has been way to much talk about said subject lately and I believe this website could be flagged if it became a interest around here, One of our other Mods asked nicely not long ago for everyone to refrain from the subject. That's all Now back to our regularly scheduled program

Yes I did mention flavoring wines, actually I think Rocky or Runningwolf wrote something about adding Cinnamon sticks (1 per gallon) in there Apple wine and Julie said something about back-sweetening with brown sugar so I put the two together and thought a nice Apple Pie wine sounded very dessert. One of the reasons is that I got a little crazy and bought 180 pounds of Apples (3-5 gallon batches worth) so I wanted to have some variety other than 90 bottles of Plain Apple wine. One of my batches are Granny Smith and I will leave it alone if it turns out the way I hope. The other 2 are mixed Apples, one I will leave alone if it is to par and the 2 second mixed batch I will play around with and be creative.

 

[Angelina]

Has it really been two years!!!!! My wine has been aging to say the least! Two years ago we decided to buy a house that need to be overhauled! My beloved wine room got packed up, my 8 carboys of wine got racked onto 1 gallon jugs because they were not ready to be bottled. Old house was sold before new house was finished. Fast forward two years hubby built a addition that is now my wine kitchen with a wine cellar next to it! Christmas eve me and hubby filtered and bottled the wine. We were finally able to start making new batches of wine again last night! Some wine making friends joined us and it was great! Yay, so glad to be back to making wine again btw inadvertently by default my bottled wine had time to age, also a beautiful thing