Suggestions for off season wines?

[chambers]

Hi Folks,

I read a suggestion that it’s great to make wines on a rotational basis so that you usually have wines at different points in the process at the same time. This seemed like a great way to continue to hone this craft. It feels like there’s a problem here, living in the northeast, in that almost all of our fruit wine options ripen around the same time in early fall (peaches, apples, strawberries a little before then). I was thinking of trying a Dandelion wine in the spring.

Do any of you have a cycle you work on, or have suggestions for other fruit that don’t ripen in early fall?

 

[CortneyD]

We (in Wisconsin) freeze most of our fruit at harvest so that we can make that wine whenever it suits us. Obviously that means a lot of freezer space, but it helps us keep a constant cycle going because we can just pull out whatever we feel like making any time of the year.

 

[ChuckD]

Rhubarb is in season by about June. I’m going to mix it with an extra 10 lbs of wild grapes I have in the freezer. Dandelion is a possibility as well.

there is always skeeter pee, kits, and as Courtney said, frozen fruit. I will be freezing more fruit next fall.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

My elderberry bushes start to flower in May, so that's a good time to make elderflower wine. Berries come along in September, so I get 2 harvests and 2 different wines from the same plants, spaced by about 4 months. Of course, the September timeframe overlaps with grapes, so that ends up being a super busy time.

Sour cherries come in for me around the end of June, so that might be another early option. The main challenge there is convincing my wife that we should make wine from them instead of (admittedly delicious) pies...

 

[winemaker81]

Concentrates and commercially frozen fruit are available year round. It's not the same as home grown/picked fruit, but it fills the gaps.

 

[Jim Welch]

Coloma Frozen has many different fruit juice concentrates and 8 or so grape juice concentrates available. I made a couple batches of Zinfandel with their product recently that just went into carboys for bulk aging. I used grape skin packs in these musts.
You can make your own fpac too. There is plenty of fresh fruit coming from the Southern Hemisphere this time of year, but you will probably pay more than local fruit in season.

 

[Raptor99]

I freeze fruit in season and then make the wine when I have time. Of course you need enough freezer space to do that.

 

[Scooter68]

Two options as mentioned - Buy/grow and freeze fruit OR go with High quality concentrate or canned prepared fruit. Just be sure in the latter of the two options that you are getting what you expect. There are at least two sources that blend different varieties of fruit* or even add sugar to their concentrate. personally I prefer to be the one who does any blending and add the sugar amount myself. * (Apple, Pear and White Grape juice are the most common other fruits blended into prepared concentrates. Some even use extracts which can be of natural or artificial sources)

 

[Rice_Guy]

Like @CortneyD almost all fruit makes a trip through the freezer, to the extent that I will look at what should I make now/ March so that there is space for rhubarb in may. A rough cycle is Chilean juice buckets > rhubarb > strawberry > gooseberry, june berry, cherry > raspberry, mulberry, cornelian cherry, elderberry > blueberry, zucchini, > northern grapes/ juice buckets > apple, meads.

This year is adding haskap which should ripen a few weeks before strawberry.

 

[jdixon]

Hi Folks,

I read a suggestion that it’s great to make wines on a rotational basis so that you usually have wines at different points in the process at the same time. This seemed like a great way to continue to hone this craft. It feels like there’s a problem here, living in the northeast, in that almost all of our fruit wine options ripen around the same time in early fall (peaches, apples, strawberries a little before then). I was thinking of trying a Dandelion wine in the spring.

Do any of you have a cycle you work on best wine websites, or have suggestions for other fruit that don’t ripen in early fall?

Hi, Does anyone have any recommendations on good wines (white or red) that can be bought in the local Supermarket? I will be based in Kamares for 4 nights but can access any supermarket as I'll have a car. It's always good to have some recommendations as every sunset in Greece should be celebrated with a bottle of wine

 

[BernardSmith]

Don't forget that you can make mead (wine from honey) any season of the year.

 

[Bmd2k1]

I make a tasty Concorde vino using Welch's FGJC & a few of their 100% GJ Gals.

It's always a fan fav ✌


Cheers!

 

[Sailor323]

I make a tasty Concorde vino using Welch's FGJC & a few of their 100% GJ Gals.

It's always a fan fav ✌


Cheers!

FGJC? GJ Gals?

 

[sour_grapes]

FGJC? GJ Gals?

Frozen grape juice concentrate.
Grape juice gallons.