Howdy from Sanford, Mi. Just want to say thanks to all who make this
forum possible and keep it working so smoothly. Wonderful info that
I've found invaluable in our new hobby.
We live and work near Mineral Wells, Tx on the Brazos River. My wife is
from Michigan where we're up here visiting family, celebrating
Christmas, and spreading some Christmas Cheer from our first vintage. A
quick picture story will follow if I'm smart enuff to make it work.
Just before we left Texas we bottled our first batch of wine. Mustang
Grapes grow wild and abundant on the "los Brazos de Dios" River, so
named by early Spaniards. My wife thoroughly enjoys cooking,
baking, and in particular enjoys making jellies, jams, and preserves as the local fruits
ripen.
As a result of a lush bumper crop of Mustang grapes on the river I, at
the last minute, decided that if I was ever going to make wine, 2009 had
to be the year. The grapes were as pretty as I've ever seen them and at
their peak were almost sweet enough to eat...as opposed to punishing you for just biting into one in a normal year. We picked about 30 lbs more
than what she wanted for jelly and I started winging it on my own. I
had no idea what I was doing, and that hasn't changed a whole lot but
thanks to the wonderful world of the web I do have a little better
understanding and it's improving daily. Before leaving I started our
first "kit wine" and it's in the secondary doing it's thang while we
vacation in a very pretty and white, "Winter Wonderland".
I think the pictures pretty much tell the story from beginning to end.
Just some of the grapes in early Aug, 2009
So unusual for us to see this many plump grapes in a cluster.
One of the filled buckets of grapes, begging us to make the tastiest wine I could ever imagine being able to make.
Even my feet wouldn't have stood up to this ACID test so I made a stomper on the spur of the moment.
Per an old recipe I located on Jack Keller's site, I racked to secondary after 5 days.
Draining the last raw juice from the must...wish I had known what pectic enzyme was and had used it...lot's of juice left in the must even after dripping for 24 hours.
Started with 8 gal, 1-5 gal and 1-3 gal. After first racking had 7 gal of heavenly smelling wine. A little acidic but very tasty even at that stage.
This was at racking time after K-meta and Sorbate. Yummy!
15 Dec. Racking back to primary in preparation of bottling.
Bottling and corking went without a hitch.
The label my lovely wife designed, printed, and applied.
And here's the mostly finished product. 30 bottles and 10 1/2 bottles.
forum possible and keep it working so smoothly. Wonderful info that
I've found invaluable in our new hobby.
We live and work near Mineral Wells, Tx on the Brazos River. My wife is
from Michigan where we're up here visiting family, celebrating
Christmas, and spreading some Christmas Cheer from our first vintage. A
quick picture story will follow if I'm smart enuff to make it work.
Just before we left Texas we bottled our first batch of wine. Mustang
Grapes grow wild and abundant on the "los Brazos de Dios" River, so
named by early Spaniards. My wife thoroughly enjoys cooking,
baking, and in particular enjoys making jellies, jams, and preserves as the local fruits
ripen.
As a result of a lush bumper crop of Mustang grapes on the river I, at
the last minute, decided that if I was ever going to make wine, 2009 had
to be the year. The grapes were as pretty as I've ever seen them and at
their peak were almost sweet enough to eat...as opposed to punishing you for just biting into one in a normal year. We picked about 30 lbs more
than what she wanted for jelly and I started winging it on my own. I
had no idea what I was doing, and that hasn't changed a whole lot but
thanks to the wonderful world of the web I do have a little better
understanding and it's improving daily. Before leaving I started our
first "kit wine" and it's in the secondary doing it's thang while we
vacation in a very pretty and white, "Winter Wonderland".
I think the pictures pretty much tell the story from beginning to end.
Just some of the grapes in early Aug, 2009
So unusual for us to see this many plump grapes in a cluster.
One of the filled buckets of grapes, begging us to make the tastiest wine I could ever imagine being able to make.
Even my feet wouldn't have stood up to this ACID test so I made a stomper on the spur of the moment.
Per an old recipe I located on Jack Keller's site, I racked to secondary after 5 days.
Draining the last raw juice from the must...wish I had known what pectic enzyme was and had used it...lot's of juice left in the must even after dripping for 24 hours.
Started with 8 gal, 1-5 gal and 1-3 gal. After first racking had 7 gal of heavenly smelling wine. A little acidic but very tasty even at that stage.
This was at racking time after K-meta and Sorbate. Yummy!
15 Dec. Racking back to primary in preparation of bottling.
Bottling and corking went without a hitch.
The label my lovely wife designed, printed, and applied.
And here's the mostly finished product. 30 bottles and 10 1/2 bottles.
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