Grapes - suitable for making wine?
 

A neighbour's grapevine is growing over my back fence. They don't use the
grapes and have said I can help myself. Having made wine from various things
in the past I thought I might try my hand at the 'real' thing but I am
unsure as to the suitability of these grapes. I don't know what variety they
are and also whether they are big enough.

I have posted a couple of pictures at
http://www.thehensons.com/garden/grapes.cfm (about 70KB each). Can anyone
help?

Cheers,
Dave.

--
..

"Dave Henson" wrote:

I am
unsure as to the suitability of these grapes. I don't know what variety they
are and also whether they are big enough.

Size doesn't matter; many "official" wine grapes are quite small.
How is the flavor; is it something you'd like in wine? If they're quite
acid, you might have to "ameliorate" the juice/pulp with water, adding
sugar to make up the difference.
I'm assuming since you make wine from other things that you have a
hydrometer to check sugar content.
I'd give it a go just for fun; you haven't got a lot to lose!


Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic
Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G

In article , Dave Henson
writes
A neighbour's grapevine is growing over my back fence. They don't use the
grapes and have said I can help myself. Having made wine from various things
in the past I thought I might try my hand at the 'real' thing but I am
unsure as to the suitability of these grapes. I don't know what variety they
are and also whether they are big enough.

About 15 lbs. of grapes are needed to give a gallon of unconcentrated
grape juice. Outdoor grapes are likely to be low in sugar, so you may
need to add extra sugar or grape concentrate according to how sweet or
dry you want the wine to finish. Any grapes will make wine, but the
result varies according to type and method of making.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Dave Henson wrote:
:: A neighbour's grapevine is growing over my back fence. They don't
:: use the grapes and have said I can help myself. Having made wine
:: from various things in the past I thought I might try my hand at
:: the 'real' thing but I am unsure as to the suitability of these
:: grapes. I don't know what variety they are and also whether they
:: are big enough.
::
:: I have posted a couple of pictures at
:: http://www.thehensons.com/garden/grapes.cfm (about 70KB each). Can
:: anyone help?
::
:: Cheers,
:: Dave.

If they have stones in them, this can lead to a bitter taste in the wine,
especially if the seeds get crushed.
Personally, I'd make a decent nettle or elderberry and lob a few kilos of
grapes in for substance...you must have bioiled up sultanas loads of times
to add body to a wine? - same thing!

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:17:55 +0100, "Dave Henson"
wrote:

A neighbour's grapevine is growing over my back fence. They don't use the
grapes and have said I can help myself. Having made wine from various things
in the past I thought I might try my hand at the 'real' thing but I am
unsure as to the suitability of these grapes. I don't know what variety they
are and also whether they are big enough.

I picked a few small bunches of small grapes today. I'm going to eat
them. My wine making days are over!
Hard to tell what size yours are, though the photo with the hand makes
them look a reasonable size. However as others have said, size does
not matter for wine.
Mine are only a bit bigger than blackcurrants, and some have pips, but
they are quite sweet. Black Hamburg, so I'm told.
Strange thought; I eat grapes and spit about the pips BUT I go to
health food shop and buy pots of Grape Seed Extract capsules.

Pam in Bristol