Scuppernongs?

[brasschef]

So, thanks to the former owner of my dad's new house, I now have access to quite a lot of these, which I see falling wasted to the ground every year. I'd love to know where exactly to get started with these, mostly concerning making them into a must. Would I need to avoid crushing the pits? as a white or whitish variety of muscadine, would i be wrong to leave the skins in during fermentation? I see a fair bit on muscadine wines but does handling scuppernongs have to be any different?

 

[Julie]

I don't handle the scuppernongs any different than red muscadines. I ferment on the skins for about a week and the wine comes out very well. Congrats on the great fine. Scuppernong makes a very good wine.

 

[ThePlantGuy978]

Hi,
This is Hans from Grape Vines And More. I specialize in propagating Muscadine Vines and have made several batches of Muscadine wine. There seams to be a great misunderstanding as to what a Scuppernong is. It is simply one type of muscadine. It is the original native Muscadine.
Most people leave the skin on and don’t worry about crushing the seeds. One usually use about 10 lbs. of muscadine per gal. of must. There are a lot of recopies out there. The most important thing about muscadine wine is letting it age for at least a year or more letting it become mellow.
Good luck.

Hans
www.GrapeVinesAndMore.com

 

[brasschef]

Thank you, I was a bit concerned since i saw a fair bit of mention of things like meat grinders and food processors being a bad idea since the seeds will leave a bad taste. I've made jelly from them before and breaking so many thick skins open was quite a pain...would either of these be a bad idea? A book I read through mentioned chopping them and then scalding them with boiling water. any thoughts on how to best get these things from fruit to must?

 

[Julie]

Thank you, I was a bit concerned since i saw a fair bit of mention of things like meat grinders and food processors being a bad idea since the seeds will leave a bad taste. I've made jelly from them before and breaking so many thick skins open was quite a pain...would either of these be a bad idea? A book I read through mentioned chopping them and then scalding them with boiling water. any thoughts on how to best get these things from fruit to must?

This past year, we made a 5 gallon batch of carlos/bonze (two different types of scuppernongs). What my husband and I did was put so much in a bucket, took a 4x4 post pounded them until crushed, repeated this until they were all crushed. At this point, I took an acid reading and diluted with water to bring acid to .85%, added pectic enzyme, nutrient and k-meta, left sit for 24 hours, added Lavlin 1116 yeast, fermented on the skins until sg went from 1.084 to 1.010, pressed and racked to carboy, left it sit for 2 months, racked again, stabilized and backsweeten to 1.018, and tonight we racked again, this should be the final racking before bottling. We won't bottle for at least another month maybe two. This stuff is awesome. It is becoming my favorite muscadine wine. We will leave it age for at least one year. This year's is better than last year's. I looked at my notes and acid last year was .60%, I think the higher acid is better.

 

[brasschef]

From what I can tell, I have old fashioned bronze scuppernongs. what exactly does the wine taste like once finished an properly aged? or look like for that matter? also, does it age well? I'm considering keeping a bottle for a few years if so.

 

[Julie]

Yes, it does age well. Muscadine has it's own unique flavor. Have you ever drank, Noble, it is something like this but crisper. There is a nice grapey, floral, musty taste that finishes slightly spicey. I make it as a sweet wine, the flavors seem to come out better sweet than dry.

 

[brasschef]

That sounds pretty outstanding. I'm kind of curious about separating it into a sweet and a dry variant now, though I feel I'd be more likely to mess something up that way XD. I'd just like to get to taste what differences things like that can make. I'm trying to use this not only as a hobby, but a way to supplement my wine knowledge

 

[garymc]

Go to a grocery store or liquor store and buy a couple of bottles of red or white muscadine wine from a couple of different wineries and try it. You'll find the price ranging from 8 to 18 dollars and the quality of it varying also. And the price doesn't necessarily get you the best wine.

 

[brasschef]

Go to a grocery store or liquor store and buy a couple of bottles of red or white muscadine wine from a couple of different wineries and try it. You'll find the price ranging from 8 to 18 dollars and the quality of it varying also. And the price doesn't necessarily get you the best wine.

I would love too!....if I were of legal age to buy XD. Expanding my wine knowledge is becoming somewhat difficult thanks to that, but thankfully SC has laws allowing me to drink at home as well as make my own wines. I do plan on making a few purchases like that later though - I've been reading the wine bible and it's given me similar advice.

 

[n2tazmania]

This year I made some Nobel and let it ferment dry. Wanted to try muscadine dry to see what it tasted like. Neither my wife nor me liked it dry. In my opinion, muscadine is always better a little sweet. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sammyk]

brasschef There is a winery in Albermarle NC Stony Mountain Rd, not too far from you because you are just across the border from NC. They make some awesome muscadine wine.

They grow grapes but did not have any to sell this past year because of a late frost last spring.
We pick up empty bottles when we are down there. Our daughter does not live too far from them. So when we visit her we go by there and get empty wine bottles but the case.
We are up by Hickory NC.