Garden planning Wine

[hawkwing]

Just planning my garden for the year. I’ve already started lots of seeds indoors. Still snow on the ground up here.

This may be wishful thinking but I was wondering if there is anything I could grow in a northern climate that would make a decent wine? More looking for a single season crop. I’m looking for ideas outside of Rhubarb and Raspberries etc. Carrot wine makers didn’t sound like they had much success. I think I saw somewhere someone say parsnips were maybe the best. I’ve seen people talk about tomatoes but I can’t imagine a great wine from them.

Hopefully someone has some good ideas and experiences with garden wines.

 

[ChuckD]

Just planning my garden for the year. I’ve already started lots of seeds indoors. Still snow on the ground up here.

This may be wishful thinking but I was wondering if there is anything I could grow in a northern climate that would make a decent wine? More looking for a single season crop. I’m looking for ideas outside of Rhubarb and Raspberries etc. Carrot wine makers didn’t sound like they had much success. I think I saw somewhere someone say parsnips were maybe the best. I’ve seen people talk about tomatoes but I can’t imagine a great wine from them.

Hopefully someone has some good ideas and experiences with garden wines.

I have heard good things about ground cherries. Maybe from BigDave?

 

[hawkwing]

I had to look them up. Hardy to zone 4. Unfortunately I’m in a zone 3 region.

 

[CortneyD]

I saved a recipe for a carrot wine that had chamomile and mint in it and I was intreigued enough to mark it as a "to make". Ground Cherries can also be sown as an annual, which is what we do even though we are zone 4. They produce really well as long as you start them about the same time as your tomatoes/tomatillos. And there's always tomato wine!
I like to use the search function here and search out country wine recipes... maybe that's a good way to find something that's interesting to you!

 

[hawkwing]

What do ground cherries taste like? I assume tart? With added sugar would they taste more like bing cherries or pie filling?

 

[BigDaveK]

I have my first tomato wine in the carboy. Wanted to have a taste before this year's harvest. If I like it I'll have to experiment. (A little hot pepper maybe?)

I've read that many root crops make fine wines. No experience. On the list.

I've also read wonderful opinions about flower wines. Again, no experience. On the list.

Squash and melons! And again, no experience. On the list.

Gee, I'm a big help.

 

[ChuckD]

They are in the tomato family. I have only eaten them fresh. When ripe they are tart with a sweet fruit flavor. Not like cherries but not tomatoes either. It’s been a while but my grandma always had them in her garden. They seed themselves readily. Search for them on this site and you should find Big Dave’s post where he talks about them.

ETA. Ok maybe it wasn’t BigDave but I swear I read about them here a few weeks ago. Or maybe it was all in my head

 

[BigDaveK]

What do ground cherries taste like? I assume tart? With added sugar would they taste more like bing cherries or pie filling?

Nothing like cherries but they are good for pies and jams. And wine.
My ground cherries are different each year. Sometimes more tart, sometimes more sweet. It's up to Mother Nature. I was very pleased with my ground cherry wine this year and will be increasing the number of plants. VERY strong pineapple flavor which surprised me. That decreased somewhat at bottling time. Bottle aging now and I'm really curious where it's going.

 

[BigDaveK]

They are in the tomato family. I have only eaten them fresh. When ripe they are tart with a sweet fruit flavor. Not like cherries but not tomatoes either. It’s been a while but my grandma always had them in her garden. They seed themselves readily. Search for them on this site and you should find Big Dave’s post where he talks about them.

ETA. Ok maybe it wasn’t BigDave but I swear I read about them here a few weeks ago. Or maybe it was all in my head

@ChuckD, yeah, that sounds familiar - I think it was Big Dave.

 

[CortneyD]

What do ground cherries taste like? I assume tart? With added sugar would they taste more like bing cherries or pie filling?

My ground cherries have always been sweet when ripe. They're a mix of pineapple, honey and vanilla (I think) and are delicious but VERY seed-y so I hate making jams/jellies with them, but wine is another thing all together!

 

[BigDaveK]

I had to look them up. Hardy to zone 4. Unfortunately I’m in a zone 3 region.

Out of curiosity I had to see what grows in zone 3. In addition to what's been mentioned already, I came across the haskap berry or honeyberry. Taste described as raspberry blueberry. Some varieties hardy to zone 1. Sounds interesting. I'm going to think about this one for my own garden.

 

[salcoco]

zucchini and cucumber both make good wines.

 

[Rice_Guy]

We can make wine from everything out of the garden. Just be ready to add things that are missing in a balanced fermentation. pH, aromatics, yeast available nutrients, tannin, sugar, even water.

I had to look them up. Hardy to zone 4. Unfortunately I’m in a zone 3 region.

*Tomato makes a good wine like a Chardonnay, it is low on sugar and tannin and generates lots of lees so consider bentonite.
*Ground cherry needs acid and tannin, a nice clear juice.
*zuchini makes a good extender juice, low on acid, sugar, aromatics and tannin
*I put together a “Thanksgiving” wine based on winter squash and cranberry.
*There are scented cute varieties as “lemon cucumber” in my catalog that look interesting. Add acid and sugar and tannin source.
*Mint makes an excellent wine, basically treat it like a tea that you add sugar and acid and tannin to (like a dandelion). Chocolate mint . . . etc
*I would look for haskap on zone 3, but know that honey berries are a three year project.
*I would walk the neighborhood and collect mulberry, I like it with 2 to 5% lemon juice and last year loaded it with tannin to make a “big red” wine.
*rhubarb is excellent and makes a good acid source to add to peach or ground cherry, I have added 1 to 2% tannic crab apple the last several years.

All in all everything in the garden will work and if you have a big freezer you can blend traits from one species with another to come up with a balanced beverage like a grape.

 

[balatonwine]

someone has some good ideas and experiences with garden wines.

Dandelions. If you have them.

Not a garden wine, but since they are free, require no care, need no indoor seed starting, and will not use up garden space which should maybe be used to best use to make food, not a beverage, maybe the best option I can suggest.

Oh, yes.... and the early leaves make for a great salad. Similar to arugula in taste. So they have two things to consider.

 

[hawkwing]

So lots to consider. My parents started some haskap. But I was looking at it as a multi year project.

I’m having difficulty envisioning a good tomato or cucumber wine unless they taste nothing like the source fruit. I’m one of those people that just doesn’t care for mint in anything. I don’t understand how people love it.

Pumpkin might be interesting but likely requires spicing. Going outside of fruit is a big change and uncertain territory that will require much more research.

If I’m looking at multi year projects I might have to look at haskap, blackberry if I can find a hardy variety. However my space is limited and partially shaded.

 

[VinesnBines]

Pumpkin doesn’t need extra spice. Don’t forget dandelion. It is time for me to start another batch. Rhubarb is lovely. I’m going to try cucumbers/melon this year!.

 

[toadie]

Haskaps are great but you need two different varieties for pollination. Also a bit of work to pick and the birds love them.

 

[ChuckD]

Don’t forget the beets! I started one last fall and it’s already quite good. It still needs time to shed the beet flavor but it’s showing lots of promise.

 

[Raptor99]

I just planted some Lingonberries, which are similar to cranberries. They are cold-hardy to around -40 F. I'm not sure how they will grow here, but I thought I'd give them a try. Not a one year project, but if they grow well it might be worth it. My parents lived in MT, and their raspberries grew well there. Some varieties have no problem with the cold.

 

[Khristyjeff]

I had to look them up. Hardy to zone 4. Unfortunately I’m in a zone 3 region.

Ground Cherries are an annual although will come back from previous year's seeds sometimes. The more important thing to note is how many warm days you have. Shorter growing season smaller harvest. But for a few dollars for a pack of seeds, might be worth a try.

I'm in zone 5A and we had ground cherries when I was young. Used solely for pies but was a favorite of ours. Since our canning shelves are stocked pretty well still, we plan to buy some seeds and give a ground cherry wine and pie a try. And yes, it was @BigDaveK who grew them.

For more ideas, you might look at a couple of books like "Mary's Recipes" or Jack Keller's book on Country Wines. That would give you many ideas to pick from.
Good luck