I started with the lemon balm wine and it was not encouraging. I drank one whole glass but I really disliked it! It just left me with this bad after taste. I can't explain it but I dislike sweet tea (a crime in the South!) for the same reason. I just don't like the taste it leave me with. This wine was a bit worse than drinking sweet tea to me. I just didn't like it.
The next one we did was the Welch's grape wine. After the lemon balm wine I was a bit hesitant but I didn't have anything to worry about. It was so good! And it was even better after being sweetened with just a little white grape juice. I was so glad that I had made two gallons of it.
We then bottled the pink lemonade wine. It also was exceptionally good when we sweetened it and tasted it. It may have been even better than the grape wine (hard to tell with just a taste). It was definitely good.
Then came the cherry pomegranate. It was a bit rough on tasting before sweetening and it actually was a bit rough after sweetening but better, just not as good as the grape or pink lemonade.
So out of the 5 we have three really good drinking wines and one that won't be so bad after the first few glasses :) As for the lemon balm. I have bottled it. Maybe it will be good to cook with.
I remember as a child picking chokecherries out in the woods and my mom made chokecherry wine with them. Oh it was awful. Recently I tasted a bottle of a wine flavored with cranberry from a local winery and it was delicious. Sadly I had my bike panniers all filled up already so couldn't bring any home. They only come once a month. So I hope I see them again in October.
ReplyDeleteI always have liked a sweet wine so i guess that it why I like these fruit wines and not the lemon balm wine. I believe I am going to make some apple wine and then make a lot more pink lemonade wine!
DeleteHi Becky! Your bottles of wine look so nice! Sounds like you'll be enjoying wine for awhile! Thanks for sharing! Blessings from Bama!
ReplyDeleteAs much as possible anyway, lol.
DeleteNice work! Definately a good skill to have!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm liking it a lot, lol.
DeleteThat`s a lot of wine wouldn`t last long in my house
ReplyDeleteIt's not going to last long here either, that is why I am planning on starting some more this weekend.
DeleteThey say that if a wine's not good enough to drink, it's not good enough to cook with either, so you'd better be careful with that Lemon Balm wine.
ReplyDeleteJane and I attended a Wine-Tasting event of a different sort on Friday evening, sampling wines from Brazil, New Zealand, Spain and Argentina. All grape-based ones though!
Yeah, well I have never really cooked with wine but I am not thinking it will be all that great even when cooked with. Maybe it will get better with age. I would love to go to a wine tasting. We actually have a winery here in town but I have never gone to it.
DeleteYou don't like sweet tea! You sure you're in the south? That is one of my favorite drinks (not syrup sweet; just slightly sweetened). Wine isn't a bad substitute though...lol.
ReplyDeleteNope, never have liked it and I have been in the South 21 years now :)
DeleteHow exciting! Thanks for the update. As irony would have it, I JUST found a wine making book today at the thrift store. Your adventure is very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteI would love to find a wine making book at the thrift store! Anyway, I can't believe I waited so long to try this, right time-right place, I guess. It is just such an easy process.
DeleteBecky,
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading about your wine making/tasting experiences. Sometimes a country will taste a little harsh when you are preparing to bottle it, but after a few months of aging in the bottle they Sometimes mellow out. But, that's not a given. I've been making Raspberry as well as Rhubarb wine for a few years now, Strangely, Rhubarb usually turns into a nice dry white wine, but the Raspberries usually end up a little tart. Of course I could always sweeten it with some sugar just before bottling. I don't have any wine making books that I'd be willing to part with, but here are some wine recipes on-line you might enjoy
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/recipes.asp
In another post you stated you don't have any wine suppliers nearby. Google up wine supplies and you'll have a large selection to choose from. They all do mail order business. Althouigh there is a wine supply store in Anchorage (Alaska) thats a 120 mile round trip for us, so I order a lot of my supplies through the mail from lower 48 suppliers, the Post office is only 6 miles away. With gas at $4.10 now it makes a big difference.
Regards John
Oh yes, I know Jack Keller's site. Most of my wine making comes from his site. I have ordered all the supplies I need from eBay.
DeleteWow!! Thats quite a stock!!!!!Many merry times ahead Hahaha.
ReplyDeleteYeah for a few weeks anyway :)
DeleteWow! That’s a lot of wines! It seems that you are quite busy making and bottling different flavors of wine! Well, it will not hurt to have some choices, especially now that the holidays are fast approaching. It will be a good gift for friends, and your guest would definitely love to have a sip of your amazing wines.
ReplyDeleteHa, yeah, these aren't going to make it to the holidays, lol.
DeleteUmm, a majority of these aren't making it to next week. Must make larger batches!
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