Who knows Wine?

Alcoholic beverages which are not classified as spirits.

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Swedish Pride
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Who knows Wine?

Post by Swedish Pride »

I've been trying to make likker she likes but she just says why don't you just make me some wine?

I've done a few wine kits, the missus have drunk em up without being to impressed with the results, her preference is Dry white wines preferably with a hint of gooseberry finish in there.
I've done some reading and it leads me to believe that a pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc is the right path to go down, but how to get the gooseberry finish?
Is it in the grape or from the yeast used?

Any recommendations on kits would be appreciated.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by thecroweater »

you cant get grapes? wine kits dont sound like a likely way to impress anyone that doesn't sleep in a cardbaord box
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Cu29er »

Getting grapes is the key. Good choice with Pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc. The big popular white is Chardonnay and may be a lot easier to source, or hybrids like 'Chardonnell'. If possible search your state for 'u-pick' farms. The other is farmer's markets this time of year may have a shipment of wine grapes in refrigerated insulated trays that some use but depending on how far from California you are those can be good or problematic. You can also buy vines and put them in the ground to grow your own, but raccoons, birds, and woodchucks love 'em just before they reach full sugar.

Then to make the wine it's a whole additional skill set where only a few beer tricks transfer.

https://www.amazon.com/Vines-Wines-Comp ... 1580171052" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Pikey »

"pick some grapes ? " ...... :shock:

Have you seen wherethe lad lives ? We used t have a large Italian community around us and every year they organised lorry loads to come over from Italy so they couls make wine. Their kids are now around 40 -50 and wouldn't know how to do it !

Best "Grape" wine I ever made was from green gooseberries ! 3 lb plus sugar in a gallon of water - came out like a real good hock ! - I was newly divorced for the first time and took it to parties in pukker hock bottles with shrink wraps over the corks - the girls used to ask "Which one did you bring - we know you're always godd for a decent bottle !"
Second best was from sour grapes which never ripened and I treated them just like the gooseberries, with added sugar.

For a gentle "Suppin'wine" you can use grape juice - 1 red, 1 white, 1 apple juice + 1 kg sugar made up to 5 litres with water - and DON'T forget the tea-bag (whatever wine you make chuck a teabag in at the ferment). Might come over slightly "Medium" owing to the residual sugars and watch for sweetners in the ingredients.

Give that one a try Swedish, I know you have Lidl's over there and ask her how she'd like it adjusted for the next batch.

For dry wine use 2.25 lb sugar (say 1kg) in 1 Imperial gallon of liquid. [Edit - do not exceed this if you want a proper "Dry" wine 2.5 lb will make "Medium" 3lb will make "Sweet" ]
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by thecroweater »

Don't be scared to use a red grape like Shiraz or merlot too. Separate the juice from the skin, let it settle habit and rack it off and you will get a white wine, I've made white wine from Shiraz and grenach no problems. Even sweet grapes like palamino, traviano, saltana's etc don't need to be a sweet wine. See what grapes you can get in your area and report back, I'm sure plenty here can give ya hints on how to get a desired result.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Swedish Pride »

Cheers for the input

yeah grapes are a no go here, not the right climate for it.
We have green and red grapes in the shops but would cost a fair penny to get enough to make a few bottles of wine, so I'm stuck with the kits or hedgerow wine.

Teabag? you nutter:lol:
I might give the Lidls juice wine a lash would be a cheap and easy one to knock up
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Pikey »

Yeah the lidl juice wine is ok, cheap easy and convenient - makes ok brandy(ish) too. When you get the first tasting, she can tell you what she thinks and you can adapt it to compensate. I never had a lot of success with "kits" - Yeah they make "something" but it always tasted a bit sad and "Cooked" to me. Plus they are dear for what they are.

Teabag is real ! wine needs tannin. a lot of ingredients don't have any and the teabag puts it in. If the ingredient has tannin (grapes do - that's what makes some red wine "Bitter") the little extra from the teabag is not noticeable. Tannin does not carry over in the distillation - so we have "oak" :wink:

[Edit - ps you can plant your own grapevines if you want. They will produce grapes but may not ripen. that's ok - as I said above you caan make good wine from sour grapes if you just add sugar. In fact i think it gives better wine when mine don't ripen than when they do :lol: ]
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by thecroweater »

Maybe Google this, there has been a lot of planting and wineries opening up there in the last 15 or so years. I read a concentration of them in county Cork but also county Dublin and Limerick. If these are machine picked I'm sure they would let you clean up missed bunches and end rows for nix or not much, can only but ring around.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Jimy Dee »

Croweater
The google result is f*&ked - Alot of wineries opening up in Dublin and Cork ! Not in Ireland, maybe some places called Dublin and Cork in other parts of the world, but not here. Our weather here in Ireland is generally shite - always wet and rarely very warm. Why do you think Paddy historically excelled at making whiskey ? Answer - there was nothing else to make likker from.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by zapata »

My wine pallette is nowhere near as developed as my spirits or beer pallette. But I've had great luck with kits. Cheap kits, and I cant tell much difference between it and any random <$10 bottle. Premium kits and I cant tell a difference to random $<20 bottles. Cant really say more than that because I rarely buy >$20 bottles. So far as friends go, nobody has ever dumped out a glass of the cheap kits, and most everyone compliments the premium ones. Maybe I need classier friends?
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Pikey »

zapata wrote:
......... So far as friends go, nobody has ever dumped out a glass of the cheap kits, and most everyone compliments the premium ones. Maybe I need classier friends?
Dunno zap - it's gotta be 20 years since I tasted kit wine. - What sort of price / bottle (70 cl) do they run at nowadays ?
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by zapata »

About $2-$6 USD per bottle. The $150-$200 kits (for 6 gallons) are a big investment to me as I dont drink much wine, but love showing it off. So I like to split a kit with a friend when I can, and end up with about 15 bottles for $80 or so.
I'll pickup cheap kits from random places on sale, even amazon. In the $60 price range ($2/bottle) they at LEAST beat carlo rossi (which I honestly buy for the jug as much as the wine!) I also dont feel bad about cracking a $2 bottle, having 1 glass by myself and not finishing the bottle. Of course the leftovers get thrown in reused rossi jugs and are later distilled, which is why I really dont feel bad about!
If you habe access to amd can process grapes, Im sure thats the best. But modern high end kits are hardly concentrated at all, have regional or even estate specific juice, and even come with the skins from the grapes. Ive had good luck with cellar craft and wine expert limited editions.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Pikey »

:D Well I don't suppose a Lidls juice and sugar wine is going to taste better than a $200 kit zap - but I do call it "Suppin' wine" rather than "Showin'off wine" and at around 60 Pence a bottle you don't really care after the first bottle or so :lol:
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

zapata wrote:...they at LEAST beat carlo rossi (which I honestly buy for the jug as much as the wine!)...
As long as you aren't using them for distilled products! :lol: I might consider low wines or fients, but never the good stuff!

http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 33&t=43151

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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by zapata »

Pikey, no worries mate, I actually threw out my kit opinions not in response to your lidl juice but in response to the op and, croweater, and the following sentiment that grapes were needed to make good wine. I've also made welches wine, walmart juice wine, heck I've even gotten boxes of fruit out of dumpsters so Im certainly no wine snob!

And SCD, yeah, I use the Rossi jugs more as utility containers than spirit storage. Leftover wine, racking, proofing, blending, yeast starters etc. My aging is done mostly in stainless, finished spirits in recycled liquor bottles.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by ShineonCrazyDiamond »

:thumbup:
"Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond."
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Pikey »

No problem zap - no contest - I just was interested in how much a kit was these days - I think I've seen them around £25 - but hell I can have 5 imperial gallons of Bacardi(ish) or "Scotch(ish)" for that money !

:thumbup:
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by HDNB »

i put the word out for a vino making friend, this is what i got back:

"Gooseberry would be an added flavor just before you bottle the wine...pinot grigio is probably the best wine for this finish!"
I finally quit drinking for good.

now i drink for evil.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by NZChris »

Sauvignon Blanc will provide the gooseberry without any cheeky additions from the berry garden. You might have to build a glasshouse if you can't buy some. I've done a couple of large batches of wine by ringing up vineyards and getting a deal to pick our own and pay by the kg. It is a nice day out with the kids and should get you some nice photo opportunities.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Swedish Pride »

cheers for the input fellas, adding to the finished wine sounds more like up my street than building a glasshouse and grow my own grapes.
I'm after all a lazy man, I would like to make a drop herself likes but I only have room for one booze based hobby.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by NZChris »

Try squeezing some gooseberries into store bought apple juice and making cider. I haven't tried it as my plants died without producing, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I can churn out a yummy sparkling 5% cider in about two weeks. Keeps mine happy.
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by The Baker »

Pikey I wondered where you live but I think that 'lorry loads' gave you away.

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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by Pikey »

The Baker wrote:Pikey I wondered where you live but I think that 'lorry loads' gave you away.

Geoff
:lol:

Lorries they are mate ! I'll have no truck with any other nomenclature :roll: :wink:
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Re: Who knows Wine?

Post by The Baker »

Pikey wrote, 'Lorries they are mate ! I'll have no truck with any other nomenclature :roll: :wink: '.

Okay. I can't even match that.

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