I admit it, I'm a newb at homebrewing and wine in general and I've got a question about wine that's probably going to garner a few chuckles.





Being a whiskey drinker I've never really drank wine and every wine I've ever drank I hated. Well unless you call Boone's wine and we go back to when I was young. I recently planted a small orchard, as well as muscadines and blackberries. I thought that hopefully having plenty of fruit in the future I should consider wine making. So I decided to try a Welches to wine recipe that I found online. I used Welches 100% Concord grape juice and to my utter shock, I love the stuff! It's got a kick but it's still sweet and tastes....well like strong juice. It's not dry and doesn't have a weird after taste like most every other wine I've drank.





That all being said, I've got a couple more batches brewing and I'm sure to a real wine drinker this stuff would be rot gut, but I love it. This has opened up my mind to the possibility that there might actually be some wines out there that I would like but I have no idea what to try and I don't want to start buying random bottles of wine to see.





Any suggestions on what kind of wine I should try that will be fairly sweet, not dry and taste something similar to Concord juice? I know it probably sounds ridiculous but I figure it's a good place to start.

No idea, but I'll be interested in the responses.

You should try white zinfandel, chenin blanc, or a riesling varietal wine. They are not normally fermented dry and have some residual sugar left in them. That's the fruitiness and sweetness your tasting in the others that you mentioned you liked.

Thanks! I might take a look next time I'm at the store.

Take a look at some local Texas wineries.  I bet they make some sweet wines.  

Almost all wineries in "non-traditional" locations make sweet wines in addition to the dry ones.  

By "non-traditional" I mean outside California, Washington, Oregon.  

Of course some of the most famous wines in the world (and most expensive) are sweet, like dessert wines such as Sauternes, ice wines, etc.  

But what you are looking for is a bit different.  Sweet reds are not commonplace in traditional wine regions, but are actually easy to find in areas with younger wine industries such as Texas.

Well since you are growing Muscadine grapes, you might as well try a Moscato. It is sweet like a Riesling so it should be right up your alley.

I started out with sweet wines when the wife and I would go to wineries but I transitioned to strong peppery reds pretty quickly.

Reisling.  It's what women like.  I'm a whiskey drinker myself but do a lot of red wine in the winter.  A lot of the stuff from south america is pretty good at 10 bucks a magnum bottle so I don't bother to brew my own.  That's all I got for ya.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the info. Clinteastwood mentioned a woman's drink and also drinking whiskey. I've been the same way my whole life. But when I decided to plant a bunch of muscadines I figured I should consider making wine. Plus I've got an over abundance of pears already and I had a guy swear to me I need to make some pear wine. I figured it would be worth a shot. I do a good bit of farming and gardening and I've always felt like anything you grow or make yourself always tastes better. It's physiological.



I liked the Welches wine, so I figured I might expand my horizons and see what was out there.

Moscato is not made from muscadines.

Moscato is blend of muscat grapes like orange muscat, black muscat, muscat canneli, Muscat Alexandria.

Muscadines are a completely different species of grape.

Mavrodafni

Sugary greek wine



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Awesome thanks guys, I appreciate the help.

I just bottled honey crisp. Its a gourmet apple. Very sweet and 18% abv

Do you have a recipe? I enjoy honey crisp apples, but hadn't thought of making anything with them.

+1

Yes. I am out of town all week for work. I will post it this weekend when I get home.

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