Hallo (Virginia)

[ihatedarkroast]

Hey there. Diving into our first adventures in wine making here. I read some helpful recipes and posts from folks on this forum and decided to say hello and thanks!

About us--My husband and I bought a small farm/homestead in southside Virginia last year. This year, after a bumpercrop of wild blackberries, got a winemaking kit on a whim and decided to try this out for ourselves. My grandpa from Georgia and my father in law from Virginia were both into homemaking wine, but my husband and I as kids never paid much attention. Neither one is alive today to show us how they did things, but I feel like we'll be honoring the family tradition by doing this.

Our growing climate is 7a-right on the border of 6. We have a HUGE wild grapevine in the front yard, loads of blackberries, a peach crop and a pear crop coming in at the parent's house (We missed mulberry season earlier but maybe next year). Lots of opportunity to ferment various things. Yep. I also ordered a couple muscadine vines to plant for the future. We'll see if they survive the deer.

 

[my wine]

Welcome to WMT! Seems you will have lots of wine making adventures.

 

[VinesnBines]

Welcome! Where in Southside or soothside as the locals will say?

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Welcome! Where in Southside or soothside as the locals will say?

We're in Henry County. Where y'all from?

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!
Good luck with your wine making!

 

[Rice_Guy]

Welcome to Wine Making Talk, ,,,, from another of the ferment what ever I can grow people

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome to WMT. If you can ferment it someone here already has.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Thanks, guys! I finally finished picking the 15 pounds of blackberries I needed to get started. Phew. I never thought I'd get enough. x_X;

 

[ChuckD]

Pick and freeze until you get enough! Freezing prior to fermenting is actually a good practice for almost any fruit as it bursts the cels and helps with juice extraction

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome aboard!

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT! You have a bunch of built-in options -- indulge yourselves!

 

[VinesnBines]

We're in Henry County. Where y'all from?

Washington County and Caroline County. Two very different climates.

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Washington County and Caroline County. Two very different climates.

Oh yeah, totally different! I confess, I had to look them to see where they were. I lived in NC growing up and missed the year of Virginia history/county maps. I bet you guys are climate 6 instead of 7. What do you grow/make where you live?

@ChuckD Ok, so we took your advice, froze it and picked more until we got 18+ lbs for the must. It's on day 4 of primary fermentation now. So far has a strong black color and amazing smell and rich taste. I think the berries this year were super intense because our early summer and spring were much drier than normal--almost a drought. I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[VinesnBines]

Oh yeah, totally different! I confess, I had to look them to see where they were. I lived in NC growing up and missed the year of Virginia history/county maps. I bet you guys are climate 6 instead of 7. What do you grow/make where you live?

@ChuckD Ok, so we took your advice, froze it and picked more until we got 18+ lbs for the must. It's on day 4 of primary fermentation now. So far has a strong black color and amazing smell and rich taste. I think the berries this year were super intense because our early summer and spring were much drier than normal--almost a drought. I'm really looking forward to this.

Washington County is zone 6a/6b and Caroline is zone 7. I have a several varieties in Washington County, mostly hybrids. I'm concentrating on Chambourcin, Chelios, Baco Noir for the reds with a smattering of others including Marquette and Foch. For the whites I have Cayuga, Vidal, Traminette and some Chardonel. In Caroline County I have Barbera and Alvarinho.

I struggle in zone 6 to get the vinifera to produce well. The hybrids are looking quite good but the wildlife is already scoping out and eating the few Marquette that have started turning. I'm expecting the electric fence netting by Wednesday. Otherwise I'm going racoon hunting.

​

 

[ihatedarkroast]

Washington County is zone 6a/6b and Caroline is zone 7. I have a several varieties in Washington County, mostly hybrids. I'm concentrating on Chambourcin, Chelios, Baco Noir for the reds with a smattering of others including Marquette and Foch. For the whites I have Cayuga, Vidal, Traminette and some Chardonel. In Caroline County I have Barbera and Alvarinho.

I struggle in zone 6 to get the vinifera to produce well. The hybrids are looking quite good but the wildlife is already scoping out and eating the few Marquette that have started turning. I'm expecting the electric fence netting by Wednesday. Otherwise I'm going racoon hunting.

​

Oh my, that sounds like a lovely selection. I have not heard of a few of those before, I'll have to look them up.
Oh no, not the furry bandits! They are a menace for sure.

 

[TechAdmin]

Welcome to WMT. Enjoy the forums and your winemaking.

 

[silverbullet07]

Welcome. I’m north of you, just outside Roanoke. Started wine making 2020 after working from home all year. I started due to a pear tree we have and ventured into doing other various fruits I like. I have now started some different wine kits this year of wine that are harder to find local.

 

[Earldw]

Oh yeah, totally different! I confess, I had to look them to see where they were. I lived in NC growing up and missed the year of Virginia history/county maps. I bet you guys are climate 6 instead of 7. What do you grow/make where you live?

@ChuckD Ok, so we took your advice, froze it and picked more until we got 18+ lbs for the must. It's on day 4 of primary fermentation now. So far has a strong black color and amazing smell and rich taste. I think the berries this year were super intense because our early summer and spring were much drier than normal--almost a drought. I'm really looking forward to this.

I’m very interested in how your blackberry wine is going. How much wine did you get out of 18 pounds? I have 12 pounds in the freezer plus another two or three pounds to pick tomorrow so my question isn’t rhetorical.