Grapeless WOW!

[Hellz Bellz]

This is not a question but just a narrative for those who wish to read it. I thought this might help a few people out.

I have been making WOW for a while now with great results. I would happily say that it tastes like a decent wine. However, we all know about the wgj shortage in our shops (I have used rgj in the past with great results too) so I decided to experiment with apple as the base. I currently have made the following:

apple 1.5l, pomegranate and raspberry 1l.

apple 1.5l, blueberry and cranberry 1l.

apple 1.5l, grapefruit 1l.

I am really happy with the first two. They have just finished and taste decent. I imagine they will improve further with age. The grapefruit is a bit sharp at the mo but should settle.

I suppose the question is. Do we need grape juice? I know about "vinosity" and "it isn't wine without grapes." It tastes good though.

Cheers

 

[Chippy_Tea]

The great thing about the supermarket juice wines is they are cheap to make and there is a huge amount of different ones you can experiment with i like the look of the apple 1.5l, pomegranate and raspberry 1l and may just give it a try as a change from our usual which is 1 litre RGJ and 1.5 litre Apple juice.

.

 

[Hellz Bellz]

Spot on Chippy. I just tasted it tonight again. I don't think I'm going to bother bottling it at this rate as I can't help having a wee glass!

My thing is to keep it simple, small scale and as cheap as possible. I looked to source wgj on the internet but the price was inhibitive. My WOW tastes as good as a decent shop bought wine and works out about 80p ish a bottle.

 

[Boatbrewer]

I think that supermarket grape juice is so far removed from wine making grape, that you might as well use anything.

 

[tonyhibbett]

There is 1 exception: Waitrose merlot grape juice.

 

[Tau]

There is 1 exception: Waitrose merlot grape juice.

You think it's worth the extra pennies? Others have mentioned that they though that is wasn't a good juice for wine.

 

[Hellz Bellz]

I think that supermarket grape juice is so far removed from wine making grape, that you might as well use anything.

Agreed. I think this is a key point. So is grape necessary?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I suppose the question is. Do we need grape juice?

If you are trying to mimic wine then I would say yes, you could make alcohol by using water, sugar and yeast and flavour it with whatever juice you like once fermented (alcopop) but for me that is not wine making.

.

 

[Boatbrewer]

If you are trying to mimic wine then I would say yes, you could make alcohol by using water, sugar and yeast and flavour it with whatever juice you like once fermented (alcopop) but for me that is not wine making..

Maybe, but where does that leave my blackberry fermented beverage? Is it an alcopop? :lol:

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Fruit wine for me is proper wine and something I have never tried due to the length of time it takes to matur that's why I took the WOW shortcut all those years ago. :wink:

 

[tonyhibbett]

It stands to reason that merlot grape juice makes merlot wine. I've tried it and it does. I did cheat a bit by bulking it up with Vitafit red grape juice from Lidl, but most wine kits do the same thing to keep the price down.

 

[Hellz Bellz]

If you are trying to mimic wine then I would say yes, you could make alcohol by using water, sugar and yeast and flavour it with whatever juice you like once fermented (alcopop) but for me that is not wine making.

.

I have just found some 100% concentrate grape juice. I am going to make a batch and do a test on some wine boffs.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Most people are strongly influenced by the wine label. At a party, someone was highly dismissive of my wine. When I presented the same wine in a commercial bottle, she flatly refused to believe it was the same wine!

 

[Hellz Bellz]

I've had the same reaction tonyhibbert. I gave my wine to a colleague (who was very snooty about homebrew) in a fancy Malborough bottle. He drank it happy commenting on its merits. It didn't even have any grape in it!

 

[Roddy]

I've had the same reaction tonyhibbert. I gave my wine to a colleague (who was very snooty about homebrew) in a fancy Malborough bottle. He drank it happy commenting on its merits. It didn't even have any grape in it!

Haha like it

I get the same reaction too with my stuff

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Tau]

It stands to reason that merlot grape juice makes merlot wine. I've tried it and it does. I did cheat a bit by bulking it up with Vitafit red grape juice from Lidl, but most wine kits do the same thing to keep the price down.

Was any sugar added to the merlot juice and is the final wine any good as a merlot?

 

[Taff]

It tastes good though.

The only criteria worth bothering with.

 

[tonyhibbett]

I added enough sugar to raise the og to 1090 to produce 12% abv, I made 5 gallons, which was was matured in oak for several months before transferring to a polypin. The juice was on offer at the time so I bought all of the 7 litres on the shelf. I topped this up with 4 litres of Lidl Vitafut red grape juice, water and sugar. Obviously if I had been able to buy 22 litres of the merlot juice I would have got a better result, but I was nonetheless very pleased with the wine.
I just checked availability and specs. It's now 24% sugar content! £1.60 per litre but £3 for an extra 2, so if you ordered 20 litres, that would cost £30. No sugar required.

 

[tonyhibbett]

I misread the data. The sugar content is actually 16%, so sugar would need to be added.

 

[Hellz Bellz]

Well I've bottled my grape less wow and it tastes great. I'm very impressed with the apple and grapefruit and so is SWMBO. At first it was very sour but has mellowed. Only problem I had was with my Novatwists not sealing properly.