Country Fair + SunCal - has anyone tried this?

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We don't usually post anything on here from EC Kraus. It is a direct competitor of George at Fine Vine Wines. Once when someone posted a link like this they sent George a bill for using it on the forum so please refrain from such posts in the future. I have sent him a PM to see if he wants this on the site at all or not.
 
I haven't used those particular products, but the fruit bases are probably comparable to the Vintner's Harvest fruit bases and the concentrates similar to the Alexanders brand. Just like there are various wine kit manufacturers...

I haven't use the fruit bases, though I know folks who do -- but I've used some of the Alexanders' wine juice canned concentrates along with my own fruit (steam extracted juice) and been pleased with the outcome.

On other forums I've seen both positive comments about the canned concentrates, for what they are, and also scathing comments about how the red concentrates are just *&@^#*&^. It all depends on what you are trying to craft.... high end, premium wine from canned concentrate? I think not; good enough everyday table wine with a bit of "I made it myself" pride and crafting your own - definitely something there.


I made a Blackberry-Barbera, and a Pinot Noir based all grape with indeterminate variety of table grapes. Not high end stuff to be sure, but neither was the blackberry juice (it was at least 10 years old) and the grapes were from the neighbor's before they ripped out their food garden to put in all ornamentals. Both were 3 gallon batches and cost me all of the cost of 1 can of concentrate, the sugar, and a packet of yeast (each).

Very Low Cost + Serendipity of Found Materials balances out Not Premium but OK to equal Pretty Darn Good! in my book, other folks may have a different mix of criteria.

I also make fruit wines using the welches concentrates as a base, and there is a step up in the vinifera concentrates over frozen breakfast juice -- it's all a matter of what you expect and what brings you satisfaction. There's definitely a place for these concentrates in the spectrum of wine making choices.
 
Yes, thats what I meant and have never used them but my brother-in-law used the Alexanders with very bad results twice. He almost gave up wine making until 2 years back I bought him a Mosti All Juice Pinot Noir which he and his wife absolutely loved.
 
Wade, I'd never made wine from cans until I made a cherry riesling pyment using a recipe from "The Compleat Meadmaker" - and he specifically says to use Alexanders. Maybe the fruit and honey makes up for a poor quality concentrate a bit? The pyment really turned out well - I made a double batch and split it in the secondary so that I now have 6 gallons of cherry riesling pyment and 6 gallons of elderberry riesling pyment.

Pelican - thanks for the info. I'm more about making a high quality wine and I'm getting some great ideas here about how to do that in a blended style. It definitely sounds like using a high-quality concentrate or all juice for the grape component would be really important.
 
Brewgrrrl, if you are specifically trying to achieve a high(er) quality wine, then I wouldn't recommend the canned concentrates -- get a good quality kit, or all juice kit and split it into 1/2 a batch of straight wine, and 1/2 the batch being whatever creative idea hits you. Or, make the 'wine' wine and make a fruit wine and then blend the two to taste... that works too.

Everybody has their own style and approach -- like I mentioned above, I get a real kick out of taking found material and creating something that is 'more than the sum of the parts'. Not having any idea how these would turn out based on the 'fruit' I started with -- I wasn't going to waste a good kit on either the blackberry juice or the neighbors grapes, but I did further my winemaking education with the projects, and enjoy the results.
 
Yes, I totally agree. My favorite wine to date was "free" but I had to pick the mulberries while surrounded by my friend's pack of hungry (and curious) GOATS. She still swears that giving me a bucket exactly like their feeding bucket was an accident...
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Since she also let me clear her out of all the wild blackberries that were ripe (which made another really delicious wine), I have forgiven her...
This makes me even more excited about my pinot grigio experiment - when I racked over this fresh juice wine, I put 1 gallon of it over 3lbs of blueberries I'd previously frozen and thawed. If it's as delicious as I hope, I'm going to do a full batch like that as soon as I bottle some of this other stuff I've got lying around...
 
Ha -- see if she will send me some goat milk --- every time I pour the bacon fat into the grease can next to the stove I'm thinking "I should use this to make soap...but..."
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goat milk & bacon grease soap, that would be educational!
 
LOL - okay, you are way more astute in "found" resources than this city girl is. I've never made soap, just enjoyed listening to my grandmother talking about things like that.
My friend has been planning on breeding goats and making cheese, but so far they are just sort of odd pets that hang out on her property. They can do neat stuff though, like stand perfectly balanced on their hind legs... which I found out when I tried standing on a ladder to get away from them during the "mulberry incident."
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