It tastes good at the moment. I love the juice as well, sort of like apple juice. If you don't like the flavor of the berries, the chances are you won't like the wine, but I enjoy the musty flavor and faint chocolaty aftertaste from the berries so I'm hoping I will enjoy the wine as well. Guess I'll see how it tastes at the end.
*Ah, I see your thread. Well, perhaps the freezing and oxidization affected the flavor with your batch? The color looks very similar to the color of mine now, although mine is a little pink. The dark tea color definitely comes from the berry flesh and is normal. With both batches of wine and every time I make juice, there's the slightly pinkish dark tea color. I knew from juicing that I would need a plethora of berries to bring any body and obvious flavor to the wine. The more berries you use, the less tea-color and more pinkish-color you retain from the skins. Also, I believe that more seeds helps with the body.
As for the astringency difference between yours and Keller's, I would imagine that in some habitats these bushes produce more astringency than with others, just as in some places blackberries can be very sweet and grapey, while in other more sandy or clayish environments they are more sour and mealy. Some people seem to report that these berries are "too astringent" to eat, but I have not encountered such a crop in Florida, anyplace, as of yet. Although, they certainly do have some astringency no matter how you pick it. With wild cultivars such as these, the flavor differences will be remarkable across regions. Some will be better for eating, some for cooking, some for jam and some for wine.
*Also, I imagine that my juice and wine are more diluted with water than yours were, because the beautyberry flavor is way too much on it's own once you've mashed/juiced/processed. Even when making the jam I use sufficient water added to staunch that flavor.
