Leinie Princess's First Attempt

[LeiniePrincess]

Well folks, after months and months of belonging to the forum and a few months of owning the equipment I started my first wine. The winner is the Joe Mattioli's Ancient Orange and Spice Mead recipe.

Ready to rock!

Oranges.

So apparently I was supposed to take the honey OUT of the jug and into the warm water. I think I'll be ok. PWPrincess said it is incredibly difficult to mess this up!

Lots of shaking happened, so much that I was jumping up and down!

Ready for the closet!

 

[NorthernWinos]

"You go Girl"....this is just the begining.....you can't mess it up...You have Wine Making Genes.

 

[Joanie]

I think I need to make some of this too! It already looks delicious!

 

[Wade E]

I have a 3 gallon batch of this going Leinie, I just added warm water on top and stirred as you did and it worked well. Glad to see you have started a batch finally.

 

[rgecaprock]

Little Pwp,


You are going Great. Good choice!! I just put together 6 gallons and the stuff sure is sticky!!!


You will love the end result. Nothing like following in Mom's footsteps!!!!




Ramona

 

[pelican]

What a great idea for the oranges my mom in FL sent for Christmas, Yummy honey wine. I especially like the part about it being hard to mess up. It looks good enough to drink

Now I just need to get serious about that fantasy of keeping honey bees.

 

[LeiniePrincess]

My husband got to appreciate my "shaking" the batch. But those who were not here for the original jumping, have enjoyed my story telling examples. I think everyone's shaking should include jumping up and down!!! Much more fun!

 

[smurfe]

Congrats! It is very easy to make.I have made this recipe as well as a few variations of it with other fruits. It has been fantastic every time.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Princess, there are many ways to do this. Being old school I use Chuck Berry (Twist) , of course you can always use more up to date such as Van Halen (jump) but it should come out great in the end!

You just need to turn it up really loud, in time the neighbors will know what your up to!

 

[montyfox]

The pictures above bring up a question I've been thinking about. The instructions call for regular bread yeast, but it looks as if mead yeast was used in this batch. My question is, what effect does this have on the end result as far as taste goes? Has anyone tried this both ways and does the taste remain the same?

 

[Waldo]

Looking good there "Mini Princess"

 

[PolishWineP]

I'm so proud of my baby girl!I did advise using a wine yeast, not a bread yeast. Royalty tends to not follow all the rules...

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[moto-girl]

Those pictures looked so good that I just ordered a 3 gallon carboy from George to make a bigger batch. Also I was pondering adding a vanilla bean or two; has anyone tried that or other small tweaks?

 

[acesover]

what is mead comparable too? white wine ? it looks good.

 

[NorthernWinos]

The only mead I ever tasted was in a friends winter fishing shanty and the guys were passing around a bottle...I took a little sip and thought it was pretty good...Maybe a little sweet.[I would have taken a larger slug of it but some of those old boys chew a lot of snoose...

]


Is it always a little sweet????

 

[Wade E]

Its not always a sweet mead but most finish it that way as you get a better feel for the honey used. A mead is a more viscous wine with more mouthfeel and has its own taste if made without fruit. With fruit it really enhances all the above.

 

[PolishWineP]

My Joe M Mead lost a lot of it's sweetness as it aged. I would highly recommend aging this mead, no matter what the directions say. And speaking of that, I need to start a new batch!

 

[Joanie]

Ok... I got sucked in! I started three 1 gallon batches yesterday! I would have made it in a three gallon carboy but I'm down to gallon jugs and only have one airlock left! Something must need bottling soon so I can free up some glass!

6 gallons Pinot Grigio
6 gallons fresh peach
6 gallons Chardonnay
5 gallons fresh cranberry
5 gallons fresh juice Amarone
3 gallons fresh strawberry
3 gallons dandelion
3 gallons rhubarb
3 gallons chocolate raspberry port
3 gallons Joe's Ancient Orange

That's a bunch of gallons!!

 

[Bert]

You have a very nice list there Joan.....and with all the friut wines you have put in a lot of work....Very nice job..

 

[NorthernWinos]

Very nice Joan...Lots of wine for someone who claims not to drink much wine..