Hello...

M38A1 · Jul 6, 2018

Total newbie here for making wine, so please be gentle.

Here in Central Tejas we have an abundance of Muscadine or Mustang grapes. Maybe 20 years ago I made an attempt following a non-yeast recipe which when done by the grandparents was awesome. A sweet, almost port sweet red. My iteration? Undrinkable following the same recipe. Clearly I can only improve, right?

Fast forward 20 years and I have access to a lot of these grapes again. So last year I started reading how to make wine, gathering vessels, test equipment and 'stuff'. We picked about three 5-gallon buckets of them, de-stemmed/cleaned and pressed. Along the way I figured out this process is a lot of physical work up front followed by some chemistry for a bit, and then the waiting game to see if it paid of. Well, last years batch was drinkable, but still a bit too tart for me instead of sweet. But that's a good thing, right? I have one bottle that has now aged a year and I'll pop that tonight. I had to get that first batch out of the way to learn.

So tomorrow we're headed out to pick Muscadine's for my second attempt, and with my fingers crossed and the experience from the board here I hope to have a better end product. Very much looking forward to my second year as a wine maker! My fallback? I'm building a still next if this year doesn't work.

Trevor7 · Jul 8, 2018

Welcome to the forum! There's a ton of knowledge here, but please be prepared to give some more details. I doubt you'll need to build a still

M38A1 · Jul 10, 2018

Thank-you!

Johnd has taken me on as his 'project' and I can't say enough about he has helped a total stranger. Speaks volumes to me about the forum. (As an aside, I'm an admin on a board myself and we've worked hard to build a community doing exactly what John has done for others) My first 'real' attempt armed with some knowledge and John's guidance can be found HERE

Arne · Jul 10, 2018

Welcome to the forum. Arne.

M38A1 · Jul 11, 2018

Arne said:
Welcome to the forum. Arne.

Thank you!

M38A1 · Jul 12, 2018

So here I am approaching a week into this 2018 adventure. I've got 15gal of wild Muscadine grapes in primary at the moment, and I think I have a problem. I've been to the local wine-making shop three times since last Saturday! In those three trips I've somehow managed to pick up more primaries, carboys, airlocks, assorted chemicals and yeasts, a WineExpert Eclipse CabSav 6gal kit, a one gallon WE Merlot and a one gallon WE Moscatto kit for the lady friend. And IKEA for the intrigue of the Ligonberry experiment in wine.

I also have to give props to those who have helped me to navigate the process, especially Johnd. Even reading, watching video after video after video and reading more, there's just soooooo much to learn initially. What I find interesting is a couple things. First off, this is science pure and simple. I like learning the process of how this works. Secondly, this is a lot like photography in that you need shutter speed, aperture and ISO to make the perfect exposure. What I'm learning with wine is you need the Brix, pH and Total Acid to get the correct 'exposure'. Change any one of the three and you'll get something different. And like photography, that can be either a good thing or a bad thing.

As a newbie, I'll keep adding to my thread on this Muscadine batch so I can reference it later as an 'archive' of sorts as well as hope it can help others who might just be starting out with these wild grapes.

I think I'm going to like trying this.....

Thank you all. Again.