2009 Blueberry Wine and Wine Update

It's been three weeks since I started the blueberry wine, and I racked it for the first time today. I also removed it from its oversized demijohn and put in a three gallon carboy, where it will be for a while.

The flavor has changed a great deal in the last three weeks. The last remaining sweetness is gone. The wine is very fruity, very dark in color, strong tannin flavor, light in alcohol, very yeasty, and a little too sour. The color has changed and it is less red. It was more red than my cherry wine for a while.

I checked the pH and it was 3.2 by pH paper, which is about normal. I bought a little handheld pH meter and a set of standards, but I have set it up yet. I decided that regardless of what it was, it was too early to adjust it. I will wait for a few months before doing anything.

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Update on other wines:

It's been five weeks on the 2009 cherry wine -- so far so good.

It's nearing 10 months on the 2008 Merlot. I am going to have to transfer it out of its demijohn soon to make room for this year's grape wine. I am hoping to get petite Syrah grapes. If I do a white, it will be a Riesling.

I have been drinking my 10 month old 2008 White Grenache. After much work, I have gotten it to clarify with a bentonite addition. I like it better now that it is clear. I like it; it is a fruity simple wine -- not so complex.

Racking the 2009 Cherry and Blueberry

2009 Cherry Racking

It has been two weeks since I made the Cherry wine, and the sugar content is low. I can tell by the absence of sweetness -- I did not bother to measure it. I racked the wine a second time and took out about a gallon of lees.

I am worried about it. The sweetened cherry juice was delicious, but it tasted a bit like cherry cough syrup. Now that the sugar has fermented, there still is a distinct cherry cough syrup flavor. The wine seems to be on the strong side since I overshot the sugar at 1.12 rather than 1.08-1.09 like I wanted. I will worry about what to do with that later after the flavor matures. I probably will blend it with a white grape wine.

The cherry wine is very dark - as dark as my 2008 Merlot, and only slightly redder.

2009 Blueberry Wine -- First Racking

I measured the density (specific gravity) of the primary fermenter and got 1.022. This is pretty good, but I would have liked it to be lower after six days. I am concerned about spoilage so I transfered it to an oversized demijohn.

The flavor is pretty good right now, very fruity, but it is also sweet since the fermentation is not done. Hopefully it will keep going in the secondary fermenter.

At right is the partially fermented juice in the primary fermenter prior to racking. The color is redder than my cherry wine.