Duos and combinations of Similar Fruits

[garymc]

I've been blending elderberry and muscadine wines. This past year, though, I put the elderberries and the muscadines together right from the start in the primary. Elderberries are low in acid and muscadines high. So I'm hoping that gives me one less adjustment to make and less chemicals in the wine.

 

[Gussman]

Racking wine and enjoying every minute of it. 6 primaries, 3 six gallons carboys, and 3 one gallon carboys all doing what they do best.

 

[knifemaker]

Marble King is in WV, sells clear pure marbles by the pound cheap, I would trust that much more than anything at walmart.

You mention elderberries but not duos with it, some of our favorites are:
EB and Blackberry
EB and Black Raspberry
EB and Purple Plum
EB and Cherry
EB and Apple Cider
EB dried with EB flowers
EB and Blueberry as mentioned above
EB and Ginger
EB and Chocolate
EB and Concord
EB and more EB together
WVMJ

Jack, By chance do you happen to remember with your eb concord, about what your percentage of each was? This inquiring mind needs to know!

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

I try never to do the same thing twice exactly the same at home, even if it has worked out really well before I always make some kind of change so that they all turn out different each time, otherwise what is the point of making your own stuff? You can choose to use the concord as a base wine and then adding elderberries. We use the frozen concentrate, dilute one can of it to determine how much sugar and acid is in it, and then determine the sugar in the elderberry juice depending on what style of wine we want to make from it. The next time I make it I will try to make it so that we dilute the concord with a lot of elderberry juice to get as much elderberry flavor as possible, balancing the must with the sugars from the concord and the acids from the concord, so in theory this would be all elderberry juice, no water, diluting the must to 1.100, it might end up a little high on acid but since its grapes we can always cold stabalize to drop out some of the acids. Or use dried elderberries soaked and simmered a little while to dilute the concord. Oak of course will take this up a notch. It all really depends on how much elderberry you have on hand and how much you like it. Unfortunately we have had 3 years of crop failure and havent had enough berries to do anything with. We also liked to make a dessert/port style with elderberry juice, blackberry, concord and black cherry concentrate, the acid levels in this can be high but we take it outside when its very cold and drop some of the acid out plus we plan to sweeten it up good when its finished. I can dig up the eb concord recipe later this weekend if the above didnt inspire you enough to figure out a recipe on your own WVMJ

 

[Gussman]

Thanks Mountaineer Jack for the last post. You gave a lot of information in that post and I will definitely get some Elderberry and (?) in the primary.

 

[Gussman]

Just finished a Green Apple Riesling Kit. It is fantastic. I have Blackberry Explosion, El Primo, Makn-Jamakn, and DD's Dragon Blood in Carboys. I'm going to Flavor Blend my next two kits as follows: I make the kits per instructions (?), I also make a one gallon recipe of my favorite "Blender" Wine. Before I bottle, I use the "Blender" Wine to add to the kit and that way I have control over the wine. I've done this several times and it makes a fantastic wine for call your own. Be sure to keep good records on the percentages of blends that you use.

This wine is making me awesome

Guss

 

[Gussman]

Going to bottle with one gallon of Old Orchard 100% Apple Cherry Frozen Concentrate. I was going to use this wine as a "Blender", but, it has such a great taste and the Cherry Flavor is wonderful. I was afraid the Apple would overpower the Cherry, but it appears the balance was good this time, in favor of the Cherry. I have the recipe if any one wants it.

 

[JackKeller]

Gussman, post it! Never too many recipes, and yes, Old Orchard and Welch's do a good blending for their concentrates. Just have to read the labels and avoid any with Sodium Benzoate (Benzoic Acid) or Potassium Sorbate (Sorbic Acid).

 

[Gussman]

Jack,
I'll post the recipe ASAP. Right now I'm caught up in a snow storm in West Virginia.

 

[Gussman]

Wine Duos and flavors. I read on this forum where everyone is searching for a "Blend" or "combination" of Fruits and/or Veggies to bring to dry that "Perfect" Wine. I too search every day for the "perfect" combination and try many, many different combinations. The one thing that I have realized, is that some fruit and vegetable flavors are more assertive than others. Some are Strong (Elderberry), some are Medium (strawberry),and some are mild (peach). Putting flavors together, or "DUOS" as I call them, should be of about equal strength, give or take a little to be consistent. Here's some of the "DUOS" that I like:
Apricot-Pineapple
Carrot-Apricot
Apricot-Peach
Strawberry-Rhubarb
Watermelon-Blueberry
Blackberry-Raspberry
Beet-Blueberry
Cherry-Raspberry
Orange-Pineapple
Raisin-Banana
Blueberry-Raspberry
Sometimes one fruit might be a little more assertive than the other, but you can make up for this by using more of the "Blander" fruit. The only trick to making these wines is to watch the acidity. Duos are a good use of fruit that isn't quite good enough to make a Top-Notch single fruit wine. But, NEVER, NEVER use inferior, spoiled, or unripe fruit. I'll post some recipes when I get time and hopefully some pictures of bottled "DUOS". Let your imagination be your guide. The possibilities are endless and lead to "Triplets", and multiple combinations of four or more. Enjoy!
God Bless

Guss

Great wine is great because it's maker has come to Wisdom through failure . Guss Imperio

 

[Gussman]

Abundance of Cherries

Today I learned that I have inherited over 150 pounds of Cherries. Wow! I'm going to make Cherry Wine, but was wondering IF anyone has some thoughts on good "Blends" for the Cherries? I currently have 6 gallons of Cherry (from my own tree) and Blackberry ( from neighbors yard) in the secondary. Thanking ALL for any suggestions.

 

[Julie]

cherry and concord blends well so does cherry and elderberry

 

[Gussman]

On my List

Thanks Julie,
I'm making a list for wines to make and I like your suggestion of Concord and Elderberry. I have fresh grapes and elderberries so I 'm good to go.

 

[Gussman]

Cranberries

Has anyone made wine from Dried Cranberries? I'm being offered a lot of dried cranberries from a friend and was hooping to make a nice Christmas Wine out of them Any thoughts? Any Recipes? Thank You.

 

[yanks4carolyn]

Oh 2 have 150lbs of cherries. Between jam and wine, I would be soooo happy! Hot buttered biscuits and cherry jam/jelly is amazing. Cherry wine? Shoot...ain't nothing like it! So let me ask, what types of cherries make the best wine? I live in Mississippi and the containers never have the type or name.

 

[Arne]

Oh 2 have 150lbs of cherries. Between jam and wine, I would be soooo happy! Hot buttered biscuits and cherry jam/jelly is amazing. Cherry wine? Shoot...ain't nothing like it! So let me ask, what types of cherries make the best wine? I live in Mississippi and the containers never have the type or name.

I have made cherry wine from both sweet and sour (pie) cherries. Both are good, but I make much more from the sour cherries. We have a cherry tree in the yard so most years have lots of pie cherries. I have to buy the sweet cherries so make most of my wine with the pie cherries. This year we had a late frost, tho. Didn't get very much fruit because of it. Kinda put a dent in my winemaking. Arne.

 

[knifemaker]

Like Arnie said, tart pie cherries rank way up with me, I'm drinking a tart pie cherry/apple blend right now, I think they're almost made for each other. Another that I'm quite fond of is a European blue plum/ niagara grape blend.
I also like elderberry/concord, and strawberry/rhubarb. Dale.

 

[yanks4carolyn]

I can get sour or tart concentrated juice. Montmorency (?) I believe. Will it work well for wine?

 

[Gussman]

Blended Duos

Today is Thanksgiving (Happy Thanksgiving Everyone) and I'm bottling my Tart Cherry/Blackberry wine I call KerriLiscious after my neighbor Kerri who help grow and pick the cherries and berries. Let me Brag!!! This wine is out-of-this-world Good. Can't wait until next year when I can again harvest the tree in my back yard. Now to work on other Duos!!

 

[Gussman]

Sweet Cherries

I have both Tart Cherries from my trees and now 200 pounds of sweet cherries. I'm blending my cherries with concord, plum, blueberries, and just plain cherries. Yummoliscious. I'm also adding oak chips that I bought from Kraus, and I like the difference Oak makes. Oh, did I mention Elderberries? Merry Christmas Everyone.