Vintner's Harvest canned fruit

[Scooter68]

Where would you rate this batch with 2 96 oz cans in a 5gallon batch on flavor intensity? Bold, medium, light. I have made from fresh blackberries before but never used the canned juice before.

Medium to bold but keep in mind that my comparison is to Wild Blackberries not store bought/domesticated. Wild berries tend to be smaller and more intense flavored so their juice is pretty stout stuff. Same with Wild Black Raspberries which to my mind make the strongest flavored berry wine I've had.

 

[Darkroom]

Medium to bold but keep in mind that my comparison is to Wild Blackberries not store bought/domesticated. Wild berries tend to be smaller and more intense flavored so their juice is pretty stout stuff. Same with Wild Black Raspberries which to my mind make the strongest flavored berry wine I've had.

Thanks., I like mine more fruit forward. I have 7 cans. looking at 5 gallons of Port, 5 gallons to blend with Cabernet, and 6 gallons of blackberry. Seems like I would have enough. In the past I used my homegrown but haven't had them recently.

 

[Snafflebit]

I am finally starting a double batch of the "fuller fruit flavor" blackberry wine.

The juice by itself has a 3.38pH
Now I wonder if adding the acid blend in the beginning is a good idea. Opinions?

 

[Jim Welch]

I've made this wine several times using the black currant, it makes a decent wine with the 3 gallon recipe. I double the recipe using 2 cans for 6 gallons plus a can of black berry puree and one Mondiale grape pack in primary. I use it primarily as a top up wine when I put my reds into a 23L carboy for bulk aging, use on average 1 1/2 bottles to top off then drink the 1/2 bottle left over but do occasionally drink a whole bottle. I fermented it dry as a bone and did not back sweeten it though.

 

[Snafflebit]

@Jim Welch good to know that tweaking the recipe works because I had to make “emergency” adjustments. Two cans of Vinter’s Harvest went in the mesh bag and then two gallons of water, and then I realized that my fermenter is too small! Total rookie mistake. So, I adjusted the recipe to 3.7 gallons of water and 10 lbs of sugar (because then I only have to open one 10 lb bag) and it is 2” from the rim. I am waiting for the sugar to dissolve then measure SG. I think everything is fine, but this wine will have extra super blackberry flavor. Maybe I will add sparkles before bottling.

 

[Rice_Guy]

must corrections are to help the meta ionize in an acidic environment, ,,, the pH is good
bottling time is for tweaking the flavor, if the TA is 0.5 to 0.7% you will be in normal, with the low side not needing to be back sweetened and the high side tasting better with some sugar, (and if you put the TA at 1.0% like me you back sweeten to 1.015)

" blackberry wine. . . The juice by itself has a 3.38pH ,,, Now I wonder if adding the acid blend in the beginning is a good idea. Opinions?

 

[Snafflebit]

must corrections are to help the meta ionize in an acidic environment, ,,, the pH is good
bottling time is for tweaking the flavor, if the TA is 0.5 to 0.7% you will be in normal, with the low side not needing to be back sweetened and the high side tasting better with some sugar, (and if you put the TA at 1.0% like me you back sweeten to 1.015)

Thanks, that is very helpful info. This is my first country wine. I have this idea that acid blend improves the flavor of fruit wine, but it seems that acid blend is like using tartaric acid to adjust TA in grape wine.

 

[Scooter68]

I think the "Acid Blends" are just an easy way out for the sellers. The actual percentages of acid varieities varies from on seller to another. One option is to make your own - purchase each of the acid types you want and blend for each batch of wine or create your own bulk blend based on what you normally make.

 

[Snafflebit]

I am finally starting a double batch of the "fuller fruit flavor" blackberry wine.

The juice by itself has a 3.38pH
Now I wonder if adding the acid blend in the beginning is a good idea. Opinions?

FYI followup, SG measured at 1.080 for a final alcohol of 10.5%. That seems light but I assume fruit wine should be light. I hear so much about the "rocket fuel" type of fruit wine. Pitching yeast tonight! EC-1118

 

[Scooter68]

I would agree that a fruit wine is better with either a lower ABV and then you keep it dry or semi-dry if you prefer.

OR

For the bolder flavored fruits you can go high on the ABV and sweeten it up into a dessert wine. The sweetness and full flavor will make that wine very acceptable and most likely you'll serve less at a time as dessert wine. (Wines I like at higher ABV are Blackberry, Tart Cherry, and Black Currant. All 3 of those I normally make with very strong flavor profiles so with the added sweetness too, the Higher ABV [Over 15%} is quite accepable)

 

[Snafflebit]

My blackberry wine has reached SG 1.000 The ferment was slowing down to almost nothing at SG=1.030, so I added 1 tsp of "yeast energizer", a mix of yeast hullls DAP and B-vitamin, and the ferment picked back up. I like the sweetness level at 1.000, but I am sure that it will ferment to dry at this point. This "extra blackberry" wine tastes great and no acid blend is needed IMO.

 

[Snafflebit]

The blackberry wine has completed secondary fermentation in the carboy. Just last night I got around to tasting the wine.
Well, it does seem to have a lighter flavor than what I was expecting. I am not detecting a particular blackberry flavor. It seems just like a general fruit flavor. I have not tried backsweetening yet. I plan on racking very soon.

And, I have the dreaded somewhat rotten egg smell at first whiff. Do I use the splash rack technique to knock this down?

 

[winemaker81]

And, I have the dreaded somewhat rotten egg smell at first whiff. Do I use the splash rack technique to knock this down?

Splash rack, stir vigorously, and double-dose with K-meta.

 

[Snafflebit]

I splashed the carboy of blackberry wine into a bucket then I splash racked the wine through a filtered funnel into a carboy with 1/2 tsp. k-meta and stirred with a carboy spoon for about 5 minutes. The rotten egg smell is oh 90% gone now. I feel better about that, but I wonder if I am out of the woods.

I measured the wine 3.04pH Wow that was a surprise. I decided this would be a good time to test backsweetening and I came up with 1 tsp. granulated sugar per 1/4 C. wine (just what I had handy in the kitchen.)

I have only made grape wines, so I do not know what to expect from this wine in terms of body and aroma. It seems thin to me, and alcohol is obvious, kind of like when tasting vodka in a drink, but the sugar brings out the blackberry and tames the alcohol. But after the backsweetening, the wine tastes to me a bit like a wine cooler or purple passion from my younger daze. Maybe this is simply not the type of wine for me? I have not tested the wine on friends yet. I wonder, will this flavor change over time? And I will add to my list of complaints that the acid blend really lingers on the tongue after drinking this wine. I have to rethink the amount to add, if any.

I have a few more cans of Vintner's Harvest and I can really go heavy on the puree next time.

 

[Rice_Guy]

I will be curious about how the flavor holds up. Making some black raspberry wine I find astringent flavors show up at a year to 18 months.

I do not know what to expect from this wine in terms of body and aroma. It seems thin to me

 

[Snafflebit]

So, here we are almost 2 years later and I am finally experimenting with the blackberry wine. Final racking was in 9/2021. I have sampled the wine a couple times a year but I have to be honest, I was not impressed. It seems so light bodied compared to my Cab and Merlot wines. The blackberry wine is fermented to dry. I tasted it today and, yes, it tastes like blackberry but also had bitter tannins as well. I assume this is due to the many seeds that are impossible to remove from the puree.

But, I have some unopened wine conditioner from last year. I decided to try an addition, one drop at a time in a small glass of blackberry wine. First drop, better but it still tastes similar. Two drops, better still. Three drops, the bitterness is practically gone. My partner in crime tasted the glass and pronounced it "nice" and did not even realize that the wine had been backsweetened. The wine conditioner recommends 1 1/2 tsp per liter. I have a feeling that I went a little beyond that.

I plan to bottle 2021 wines soon and will go ahead and bottle this blackberry after backsweetening.

 

[Rice_Guy]

The chemistry of tannin is that the molecule combines into larger units going from flavorless to bitter to astringent to flavorless. Proteins are used to react with tannin and pull them out of solution/ make them flavorless. I would look at gelatin from LD Carlson, it is a soluble clean grade.

Sugar will mask/ balance tannin flavor. The tannin molecule however still will be reacting toward flavorless molecules at which point the balance will be off. ,,,, Your dry blackberry will taste less bitter in a year/ more astringent similar to the rough notes in young red grape versus aged.

 

[Snafflebit]

Once it is in bottle, I think it will be drank sooner than one year.

Fortunately, the vodka vibe I got from the wine is gone, but I still get the acid blend lingering on my tongue long after the glass of wine is finished. It's a bit like the aftertaste of sucking on a Jolly Rancher. Not unappealing, just lasts longer than I want.

 

[Snafflebit]

I reviewed my recipe. Nowhere did I add acid blend. What I am tasting had to come from the blackberries themselves.

 

[Rice_Guy]

, , , but I still get the acid blend lingering on my tongue long after the glass of wine is finished. It's a bit like the aftertaste of sucking on a Jolly Rancher.

astringent flavor will complement/ build acid notes. An acid should be sensed right after sweet, say 15 seconds and be pretty well washed out in 45 to 60 seconds unless you have a TA over 2%.

A test to isolate what you are tasting is to neutralize the sample with reagent grade 0.2N sodium hydroxide then taste looking for the long 120 second flavor notes. ,,, In practice when I do this I save time and use a sample at 8.2 pH.