Brandon M
Winemaking Newbie since 2022
Update, September 2024, for wild-fruit wine I made in October 2022.
Oh. My. God. What a difference two years makes.
So in October 2022 I made some wine from wild frost grapes I collected along the Skyline Drive in Virginia (see my post at the link below). My last note I recorded from December 2022 was "Had a really nasty persimonny tannic astringency when last racked." I mean, I WANTED to like it but it was like drinking a wet sneaker. Ugh.
After letting that rather horrid concoction sit in bulk aging in three one-gallon carboys for nearly two years, really feeling kinda sick about the work expended, but really not wanting to throw it out... I finally decided two weeks ago that I really needed those carboys back for my latest batch of wine from grapes I grow at my house, so I decided I might as well take one last regretful sniff-and-sip before giving up.
WOW.
Not even a HINT of the sneaker flavor was left. And it actually tasted GOOD. Something approaching a Cabernet flavor. Fairly dry, low acidity (I had run a malolactic fermentation in hopes of knocking back the acidity). Lovely moderate red color, too - and perfectly clear after settling for two whole years. So I bottled one of the gallons as a test, reclaimed the carboy, and got busy with life and the newer wine - and completely forgot the one bottle I threw in the fridge (don't judge me, I like even my reds chilled).
Tonight, I absentmindedly poured a glass of red from a bottle in the fridge with a commercial label still on it, and I just enjoyed it with dinner. Hmmm. Nice wine. Good flavor, not too sharp, just pleasant overall experience!
It wasn't until two hours later that it popped into my mind: that was my OWN FREAKING WILD GRAPE WINE that I enjoyed tonight.
So... lesson learned. Don't give up too easily, and (yes, really, I know people on here say it all the time...) patience is your friend in this hobby.
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/wild-grapes-im-going-for-it.78411/post-878936
Oh. My. God. What a difference two years makes.
So in October 2022 I made some wine from wild frost grapes I collected along the Skyline Drive in Virginia (see my post at the link below). My last note I recorded from December 2022 was "Had a really nasty persimonny tannic astringency when last racked." I mean, I WANTED to like it but it was like drinking a wet sneaker. Ugh.
After letting that rather horrid concoction sit in bulk aging in three one-gallon carboys for nearly two years, really feeling kinda sick about the work expended, but really not wanting to throw it out... I finally decided two weeks ago that I really needed those carboys back for my latest batch of wine from grapes I grow at my house, so I decided I might as well take one last regretful sniff-and-sip before giving up.
WOW.
Not even a HINT of the sneaker flavor was left. And it actually tasted GOOD. Something approaching a Cabernet flavor. Fairly dry, low acidity (I had run a malolactic fermentation in hopes of knocking back the acidity). Lovely moderate red color, too - and perfectly clear after settling for two whole years. So I bottled one of the gallons as a test, reclaimed the carboy, and got busy with life and the newer wine - and completely forgot the one bottle I threw in the fridge (don't judge me, I like even my reds chilled).
Tonight, I absentmindedly poured a glass of red from a bottle in the fridge with a commercial label still on it, and I just enjoyed it with dinner. Hmmm. Nice wine. Good flavor, not too sharp, just pleasant overall experience!
It wasn't until two hours later that it popped into my mind: that was my OWN FREAKING WILD GRAPE WINE that I enjoyed tonight.
So... lesson learned. Don't give up too easily, and (yes, really, I know people on here say it all the time...) patience is your friend in this hobby.
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/wild-grapes-im-going-for-it.78411/post-878936
