Tart Blueberry Wine

[wetneck]

Just got off the phone with blueberry lane farm. They are out of tart berries right now but Elliots and Darrows are supposed to be ready in a couple weeks.

To me thats where the flavor is, sweet blueberries are kind of bland in my opinion. Some varieties are way more bland than others though. Seems the bigger they are the less flavor they have. I think it happens to most fruit varieties that are bred toward production size. Think huge strawberries...

Elliots were bred on this farm. I used to work there and there are all kinds varieties with names like E-55 etc. E stands for Elliot and all the E- varieties were very interesting. I think the E-55s were the giant bushes. I always wanted to clone some because was told those E- varieties only existed on that farm. They are experimental hybrids and i think were an essential part of his breeding project to create the Elliot.

Does anyone else know about tart blueberries and how i may expect a wine to turn out from the tart ones?

 

[m_kluch]

Never heard of tart blueberries. I do know that tart cherries make a better wine than black/sweet cherries so perhaps it would be the same with blueberries. The only caveat is that blueberries are highly acidic so if tart blueberries are even more acidic it might be a problem getting fermentation going.

 

[Hazelemere]

blend your tart blueberries with low tartness blueberries so you can back-sweeten less unless you like sweet wines. Blueberries are loaded with citric acid so no yeast or anything else but blending will drop the tartness except low acid blueberries. I'd use 71B yeast to get maximum fruitiness at 6 lbs (50% tart and 50% non-tart (even frozen)) blueberries per Imperial gallon i.e. 6 bottles with 3 lbs sugar. If you want to have a really interesting learning experience do 1) tart blueberries 2) 50/50 tart/non-tart blueberries and 3) non-tart blueberries. One of the ways to become a better winemaker is to experiment in small batches to figure out what works for your palate and those around you. You can even try 4) tart blueberries topped with blueberry liqueur e.g. your own. Type "homemade blueberry liqueur" into google and try it. You can even do 5) tart blueberry port from EC1118 yeast to 18% alcohol topped up with your homemade liqueur to 20% alcohol. If you really want to have a winemaking IMAX experience make all 5.

Good luck with your tart blueberries.

PS. Whatever you try let everyone on this website know how it turned out good or bad in your opinion. If you get stuck ask for advice. There are some really smart amateur and professional winemakers on this site. I've been making wine for 55 years and only discovered 71B yeast from this site which I now use exclusively on berry and wild cherry wines and in combos with RC212 on Regent and Marechal Foch red table wines. This is a really good website because it looks to me that people who post are careful to never ego trip i.e. "my way or the highway" vs "I tried this and it came out perfect IMHO". So have fun with your tart blueberries and then tell everyone here about your blueberry adventure.

 

[hounddawg]

Never heard of tart blueberries. I do know that tart cherries make a better wine than black/sweet cherries so perhaps it would be the same with blueberries. The only caveat is that blueberries are highly acidic so if tart blueberries are even more acidic it might be a problem getting fermentation going.

when slightly younger, i knew tart cherries were the way to go. but i got a wild hair and decided to see what could be done with a sweet cherry, i got the notes some where, man was that a pain in the butt, i adjusted for months, i was surprised it was moderately decent. but such a pain to do. never tried a sweet cherry ever again, seems like i used crab apples and several other things to get it tasty. but you are right tart cherry is the bomb, i never was much on blueberries, butttt, a tart blueberry has gotten my attention. marking this thread.
would love to here how to get a few bushes of tart blueberry,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

Just got off the phone with blueberry lane farm. They are out of tart berries right now but Elliots and Darrows are supposed to be ready in a couple weeks.

To me thats where the flavor is, sweet blueberries are kind of bland in my opinion. Some varieties are way more bland than others though. Seems the bigger they are the less flavor they have. I think it happens to most fruit varieties that are bred toward production size. Think huge strawberries...

Elliots were bred on this farm. I used to work there and there are all kinds varieties with names like E-55 etc. E stands for Elliot and all the E- varieties were very interesting. I think the E-55s were the giant bushes. I always wanted to clone some because was told those E- varieties only existed on that farm. They are experimental hybrids and i think were an essential part of his breeding project to create the Elliot.

Does anyone else know about tart blueberries and how i may expect a wine to turn out from the tart ones?

my money would be on the tart, snivel, gravel , sniff. you happen to figure out how to acquire some, clone some. go commando, lol, hit me up. i'd love to grow some tart blueberries for personal use,
Dawg

 

[Raptor99]

I have never heard of "tart blueberries" as a separate variety, although some varieties are sweeter than others. Blueberries, like most fruits, are tart when harvested before they are completely ripe. I have made blueberry wine with fully ripe blueberries, and it is awesome.

Tart cherries, on the other hand, are a separate variety and make much better wine than sweet cherries.

 

[wood1954]

A blueberry farm I’ve bought berries from saves tart, unripe blueberries for wine makers for half price of ripe blueberries.