Looking for fruit juice concentrate

[Dan Nauman]

Anyone know where to get 100% fruit juice concentrate for making fruit wines? I've looked into fruit wine bases, like Vintner's Best and the like, but I'm not crazy about the other additives they put in. Just want the juice, in gallons preferably. Kinda like what homewinery.com sells. Seeing if there are other options that people use.

Thanks a lot!

 

[cmason1957]

I haven't ever purchased form them, but some fellow winemakers I know have and seemed favorably impressed with the juice they got. Walkers Wine Juice. https://walkerswinejuice.com/

 

[Dan Nauman]

I haven't ever purchased form them, but some fellow winemakers I know have and seemed favorably impressed with the juice they got. Walkers Wine Juice. https://walkerswinejuice.com/

Thanks, that seems to be what I'm looking for. But I can't quite figure it out: the "hot packs" are five gallon buckets of concentrate? Presumably each gallon making five gallons of wine? They're not very clear.

 

[Scooter68]

Vintner's HARVEST(VH) - Different from Vintner's Best (VB) - VH is 100 percent the juice type on the label vs a mix of other juices in VB. Costs More per gallon but then it is what it says it is and nothing added. Some of then VH have some fruit pulp along with the juice, where others are only juice. I've used Plum (Has some pulp) and Black Currant (No pulp) Very happy with the results. A 96 oz can will produce a solid full body wine of 3 gallons. I am waiting for a can of Elderberry wine base to arrive this week.

If you look at the thread on this part of the forum: https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/vintners-best-elderberry-fruit-wine-base.66122/

You can see there the results with VB.
Sorry if this sounds prejudiced but I wanted 100% of the labeled juice variety not a mix.
I have also used the VH smaller cans but was not impressed - but then those are really designed as additives to meads, other wines and not really as a stand alone wine.
Also I have purchased some Tart and Sweet Cherry concentrates from other sources - Just be aware of the different concentrations in 'concentrates' typically if a bottle of the juice concentrate is supposed to make say 1 gallon of juice, I use 4 bottles for 3 gallons to be sure and have a full body wine.

Pardon the info overload.

 

[cmason1957]

Thanks, that seems to be what I'm looking for. But I can't quite figure it out: the "hot packs" are five gallon buckets of concentrate? Presumably each gallon making five gallons of wine? They're not very clear.

No, I believe they are 5 gallons of Juice, no concentrate. They make 5 gallons of wine, unless you water them back some. Which I don't believe is generally recommended. Well, maybe the blackberry and Elderberry. And don't forget, you will be paying shipping to your location.

 

[Dan Nauman]

No, I believe they are 5 gallons of Juice, no concentrate. They make 5 gallons of wine, unless you water them back some. Which I don't believe is generally recommended. Well, maybe the blackberry and Elderberry. And don't forget, you will be paying shipping to your location.

Wow, $60-$90 for enough juice for five gallons of finished wine? Unless I'm missing something, doesn't quite seem worth it.

 

[Dan Nauman]

Vintner's HARVEST(VH) - Different from Vintner's Best (VB) - VH is 100 percent the juice type on the label vs a mix of other juices in VB. Costs More per gallon but then it is what it says it is and nothing added. Some of then VH have some fruit pulp along with the juice, where others are only juice. I've used Plum (Has some pulp) and Black Currant (No pulp) Very happy with the results. A 96 oz can will produce a solid full body wine of 3 gallons. I am waiting for a can of Elderberry wine base to arrive this week.

If you look at the thread on this part of the forum: https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/vintners-best-elderberry-fruit-wine-base.66122/

You can see there the results with VB.
Sorry if this sounds prejudiced but I wanted 100% of the labeled juice variety not a mix.
I have also used the VH smaller cans but was not impressed - but then those are really designed as additives to meads, other wines and not really as a stand alone wine.
Also I have purchased some Tart and Sweet Cherry concentrates from other sources - Just be aware of the different concentrations in 'concentrates' typically if a bottle of the juice concentrate is supposed to make say 1 gallon of juice, I use 4 bottles for 3 gallons to be sure and have a full body wine.

Pardon the info overload.

Thanks Scooter,

I looked at VB before. Good to know the results are nice.

And there's no such thing as info overload. All available info is good.

 

[sour_grapes]

Wow, $60-$90 for enough juice for five gallons of finished wine? Unless I'm missing something, doesn't quite seem worth it.

Ummm, that is $2.5 to $3.5 dollars per bottle. If that is not appealing to you, well, I agree that you should just look elsewhere.

 

[CK55]

Wow, $60-$90 for enough juice for five gallons of finished wine? Unless I'm missing something, doesn't quite seem worth it.

You realize that kits are literally like 40-60$$ more than that and they include nothing more than some added yeast and stuff. So it is very worth it.

I paid $30 for enough sangiovese for a batch that ended up failing. that was $10 per gallon but still.

 

[FTC Wines]

Dan, it’s hard to beat Home Winery’s concentrates. I make a lot of their wine for our “house wines” . But I use 5 pints per 5 gal batch, not the 4 they recommend. Feel it gives you a little more flavor & body. Blueberry, Blackberry & Elderberry are our favorites. I also add Those 3 in different proportions to their Cab Sav concentrate. Right now I have 10 gallons of B B Cab aging, it’s 50% Cab, 25% Blueberry and 25% Blackberry. It’s a very fruity Cab! Roy

 

[Dan Nauman]

Ummm, that is $2.5 to $3.5 dollars per bottle. If that is not appealing to you, well, I agree that you should just look elsewhere.

Eh, perhaps my math was off. Didn't mean to offend.

 

[Dan Nauman]

You realize that kits are literally like 40-60$$ more than that and they include nothing more than some added yeast and stuff. So it is very worth it.

I paid $30 for enough sangiovese for a batch that ended up failing. that was $10 per gallon but still.

Yeah, I've seen the kits, and I know they're more expensive than that. But those are grape varieties, if I'm not mistaken. I'm looking for other fruit juices.

I'm still very new to all this, still feeling my way around the prices of things. Perhaps I'm simply not familiar enough with the costs of ingredients.

 

[Dan Nauman]

Dan, it’s hard to beat Home Winery’s concentrates. I make a lot of their wine for our “house wines” . But I use 5 pints per 5 gal batch, not the 4 they recommend. Feel it gives you a little more flavor & body. Blueberry, Blackberry & Elderberry are our favorites. I also add Those 3 in different proportions to their Cab Sav concentrate. Right now I have 10 gallons of B B Cab aging, it’s 50% Cab, 25% Blueberry and 25% Blackberry. It’s a very fruity Cab! Roy

Thanks Roy,

I'm leaning towards them. Seems like a pretty good deal. And if you say the quality is good, then I'll probably give them a shot.

 

[Scooter68]

Until I see a contents listing for a concentrate of any kind (Exactly What type of juice) I don't purchase. Too many places will call it a "Blueberry Wine Base concentrate" when in reality it's a mix of Apple, White Grape and Blueberry juices in that order of concentration. You pay more for the real thing but you get what you pay for and YOU get to decide if you want to dilute a Blueberry, Elderberry, Cherry, etc juice with Apple Juice and or White Grape juice.
Not saying that these don't produce a good wine but they don't produce a true pure wine matching the label on the bottle.

The Elderberry wine concentrate I ordered will run me about $2.0 (Correction $2.20) per bottle of finished wine. Compare that to what you would pay for a bottle of Real Elderberry wine and by the way good luck finding out what is really in that bottle of wine. It may be 100% Elderberry or it may be a mix. Most web sites don't tell you or show you a list of contents.

For many of us who make our own wine we know that mass produced wines can challenge the cost for us to produce our wine BUT, we KNOW what's in our wine and WE control the aging, the sweetness or dryness etc. Good luck finding elderberry wine in your local liquor store. Just now I found Elderberry wine online for prices ranging from $4.99 a bottle to $16.00 a bottle (Plus Shipping IF they will ship to your location) and still no information on the exact content.

 

[CK55]

Until I see a contents listing for a concentrate of any kind (Exactly What type of juice) I don't purchase. Too many places will call it a "Blueberry Wine Base concentrate" when in reality it's a mix of Apple, White Grape and Blueberry juices in that order of concentration. You pay more for the real thing but you get what you pay for and YOU get to decide if you want to dilute a Blueberry, Elderberry, Cherry, etc juice with Apple Juice and or White Grape juice.
Not saying that these don't produce a good wine but they don't produce a true pure wine matching the label on the bottle.

The Elderberry wine concentrate I ordered will run me about $2.0 per bottle of finished wine. Compare that to what you would pay for a bottle of Real Elderberry wine and by the way good luck finding out what is really in that bottle of wine. It may be 100% Elderberry or it may be a mix. Most web site don't tell you or show you a list of contents.

For many of us who make our own wine we know that mass produced wines can challenge the cost for us to produce our wine BUT, we KNOW what's in our wine and WE control the aging, the sweetness or dryness etc. Good luck finding elderberry wine in your local liquor store. Just now I found Elderberry wine online for prices ranging from $4.99 a bottle to $16.00 a bottle (Plus Shipping IF they will ship to your location) and still no information on the exact content.

Agreed

 

[Scooter68]

Thanks Scooter,

I looked at VB before. Good to know the results are nice.

And there's no such thing as info overload. All available info is good.

From what I can tell the results are good with VB not necessarily great. Sort of like a wine being drinkable or being enjoyable, a Significant difference. I don't have any connection to any vendor - I'm just picky and I don't like misleading labels. One more example - Look at those bottle of Ocean Spray 100% Juice drinks. Most times the leading content is Apple Juice followed by Cranberry or Grape Juice THEN the juice names you see on the label. All about making that profit marging NOT about making the best -truest tasting drink possible.

 

[WinoDave]

I haven't ever purchased form them, but some fellow winemakers I know have and seemed favorably impressed with the juice they got. Walkers Wine Juice. https://walkerswinejuice.com/

I was in my wine supply store yesterday and this is the place the owner suggested to me, Walkers Juice. I was told it was 5 gallons of pure juice. The prices and shipping cost seemed reasonable online.

 

[Scooter68]

From that web site (Walkerwinejuice.com) you can't find out anything about what's in their juice. The price, for blueberry at least is pretty steep - listed at $63.75 per gallon. Checked a few other Fruits and the info just seems very vague and inconsistent. Don't understand why, in the day and age vendors don't realize that their web site pretty important if they want to establish a web presence. Maybe this company can sell everything they make without help from the web, cause their site wouldn't sell me.

 

[CK55]

From that web site (Walkerwinejuice.com) you can't find out anything about what's in their juice. The price, for blueberry at least is pretty steep - listed at $63.75 per gallon. Checked a few other Fruits and the info just seems very vague and inconsistent. Don't understand why, in the day and age vendors don't realize that their web site pretty important if they want to establish a web presence. Maybe this company can sell everything they make without help from the web, cause their site wouldn't sell me.

That's not per gallon that's for 5 gallons. Per gallon is $9.

Also it has no additives. I emailed and asked bunch of questions and support was happy to reply.

 

[WinoDave]

From that web site (Walkerwinejuice.com) you can't find out anything about what's in their juice. The price, for blueberry at least is pretty steep - listed at $63.75 per gallon. Checked a few other Fruits and the info just seems very vague and inconsistent. Don't understand why, in the day and age vendors don't realize that their web site pretty important if they want to establish a web presence. Maybe this company can sell everything they make without help from the web, cause their site wouldn't sell me.

That's not per gallon that's for 5 gallons. Per gallon is $9.

Also it has no additives. I emailed and asked bunch of questions and support was happy to reply.

Walkers seems legit to me. The only negative comment I found online was that if you want to make a Red Wine that the “Hot Pressing” of the grapes they do gives a red wine less body and aroma. I think I’m going to try out their peach bucket and see how it goes.