White Grape Cherry blush?

[Unferth]

This was on sale for $2.50 a pop at Costco. I figured I'd give it a shot. Ill probably use Lalvin d47 and some golden raisins for nutrient. I'm hoping for a simple, dinner wine to serve with fish--that will not take up carboy space for a year.

Anybody done anything similar? Suggestions? Thoughts about taste?

 

[Unferth]

Well, I guess I'll give it a go then. The juice has an interesting flavor to it; I'll be interested to see how it ferments out.

I mis-measured sugar amounts, however, and ended up with 1.12 OG.

I'll stay on top of it with stirring and yeast nutrient, but I'm not sure how low D-47 will go starting that high.

 

[Felixio]

D-47 is good for fruity wines. I don't have my records in front of me so I can't tell you if I've ever tried it starting that high, but given that it had a tolerance of 12-14% ABV, you should expect some residual sugars. You may want to consider raising the acidity just a little to balance the sugar. It may end up as better for a different purpose, but it should still come out rather well.

 

[Unferth]

That sounds like a plan. I'll taste it after fermentation stops and maybe add more acid. It has started fermentation and seems to be picking up.

 

[Unferth]

I figured I'd update this since its just got through primary and I saw that they still had plenty on sale at the store.

It's down to 1.005 (around 15% ABV) and still going, but slower now. I will wait a few days before topping up to see how low I can get it.

I'm tasting the sample I took while racking now. It is rather yeasty and somewhat boozy, both as expected, but it definitely has potential. I'm thinking ill add some untasted oak chips at the next racking.

Very fruity, like a white zin, I guess but not really. The taste (but not the texture) reminds me of a cyser with some berry notes to it.

I'm guessing the yeast will poop out at 1.00 and the top ups will just serve to backsweeten a bit. Any thoughts?

 

[ashappard]

I made sparkling cider with this juice. Half white grape cherry and half apple juice and sugar to get abv 12%

Then added more of the the wg cherry after ferment to knock the abv down to around 7%, kegged and carbonated.

It was great and went fast. Good luck on yours