How good are frozen juice concentrate wines?

I would like to know what I can expect. Can they be close to the quality of Blackstone Merlot? Should I go straight to the kits at the homebrew store? Some people have stated Welch's Concord Grape frozen grape juice wine tastes like cool aid with vodka added to it.

What are your opinions?

Almost all of the wine kits I've seen use slightly concentrated liquid juice. I think you'd have trouble finding frozen Merlot concentrate.

I've only had a few Concord wines, but they need a couple years of aging. I doubt the average person using Welch's has that kind of patience, so the results aren't all that good.

I'd love to find Zinfandel frozen concentrate, just to drink for breakfast.

I think you will get better quality from kits rather than using mediocre fruit juice. If you can find a vineyard that will sell you the juice, you can probably make some really nice wine if you know what you are doing.

I love making the wine kits but you get what you pay for with them. As you may have found out, they range from $70 to $250. I usually get the lower to mid range kits so I can't speak for the really expensive ones but I have not been the least bit unhappy with what I've made. My friends are constantly amazed that I produce wine that's "just like what they buy in the store".

I just tried a bottle of tree top brand grape juice wine I made. I followed a recipe on another forum, which included some acid blend to balance things out.

Its only been bottled two weeks, but it wasn't that harsh. Not like you'd expect it to be.

Now, its nothing fancy by any means, but its drinkable and you could cook with it.

I make 10 gallons of concord grape every year(2 batches). I use juice I get at Costco (Newman's). I have several friends that love it. All I add is 2 tbl Bentonite,3 tsp yeast nutrient, add sugar until the SG is at 1.8. I use 1 PKG Red Star Premier Cruvee. move from Primary to secondary at 1.2 SG. stabilize at .0994 to .0990. I add 1 can Welches at end to back sweeten because at .0990 it is a little rocket fuely

mmadmikes1 said:

...add sugar until the SG is at 1.8. I use 1 PKG Red Star Premier Cruvee. move from Primary to secondary at 1.2 SG. stabilize at .0994 to .0990....

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Don't want to hijack a thread but are these number right?

Even correcting the FG to .994 the ABV calculates out to about 106%

Again sorry about the hijack

D

I believe he meant 1.08 as the starting gravity, which would result in a final ABV of 11.3% of the final gravity is 0.994 or thereabouts.

thank you for the correction, proof reading isnt my strong suit

wine kits from Costco are actually cheaper than Welch's concentrate, cause you going to need like 25 packs of Welch for one 6 gal batch

It's good for topping up other kits.

Kits will taste like commercial wine, Welches wine tastes like an alcoholic jelly donut.

nurmey said:

i think you will get better quality from kits rather than using mediocre fruit juice. If you can find a vineyard that will sell you the juice, you can probably make some really nice wine if you know what you are doing.

I love making the wine kits but you get what you pay for with them. As you may have found out, they range from $70 to $250. I usually get the lower to mid range kits so i can't speak for the really expensive ones but i have not been the least bit unhappy with what i've made. My friends are constantly amazed that i produce wine that's "just like what they buy in the store".

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*+1*

I've switched to real-fruit whenever I can get it and concentrate whenever else. I have a general-concentrate wine recipe that works with pretty much anything that doesn't have crazy additives in it. You can even amend it to using cans of ready-made pie filling. Click recipes under my name over on the left if you're interested.

DoctorCAD said:

Kits will taste like commercial wine, Welches wine tastes like an alcoholic jelly donut.

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With the youtube add moar sugar method, yes.
With a good process, enough concentrate, checking/adusting acid, good racking schedule and time you can make a nice product.

If you're using it to balance out a short-ish fruit wine (like me - say you had 8 lbs of elderberries, and needed 12...) you'll probably be fine.

On the other hand, if it smells like grape freshie out of the can... it'll likely smell like that post-ferment.

To give you an idea, I got a recipe for elderberry wine from a family member in England (we have an elderberry in the yard and the yield is insane... too much jam, not enough vino!). His recipe was 12 lbs elderberries, 10 lbs sugar, pectice enzyme and blablabla... well. If you've never tasted an elderberry they're bitter and tannic as all get out. Sooooo... I dropped 2 cans Welch's grape and 2 cans Welch's white grape concentrate in the primary before making up my SG with sugar to about 1.095. It's bubbling away as I write this.

Will it be good? Who knows? It's my first crack at fruit wine of any kind! I'll bulk age it 3 months, bottle it around xmas, try one around Jan. 1, and then try one every 3 months until they're tasting decent.

I only ever learned one thing about beer or wine making: Not quite right? WAIT.

amandabab said:

With the youtube add moar sugar method, yes.
With a good process, enough concentrate, checking/adusting acid, good racking schedule and time you can make a nice product.

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Still wont taste like real wine, no matter what you do to it.

I totally agree that you get what you pay for frozen, concentrated or otherwise. Top notch kits may cost up to $125 while mediocre ones are at $60 but the difference in taste makes the extra $ worth it. You end up paying $4 instead of $2 a bottle. You put in the same amount of time. If you want $2 wine you can always get "Two Buck Chuck" if you live near a Trader Joe's. It is better than you can make for $2 a bottle.

I have some blueberry pomegranate made from jugged juice from the store. It is as good as any I have ever tasted. Cost me about Five dollars a gallon. Mike

Just racked my from concentrate apple wine. It isn't finished, but at this stage I feel it will be as good as any dry white wine I've had from kit or store. About 1.50 a bottle too. Eat your heart out overtaxed Canadian booze!!!!

Unferth said:

Just racked my from concentrate apple wine. It isn't finished, but at this stage I feel it will be as good as any dry white wine I've had from kit or store. About 1.50 a bottle too. Eat your heart out overtaxed Canadian booze!!!!

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haha or alternatively over taxed and over regulated american booze.

DoctorCAD said:

It's good for topping up other kits.

Kits will taste like commercial wine, Welches wine tastes like an alcoholic jelly donut.

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MMMMMM! Donuts!

Unferth said:

Just racked my from concentrate apple wine. It isn't finished, but at this stage I feel it will be as good as any dry white wine I've had from kit or store. About 1.50 a bottle too. Eat your heart out overtaxed Canadian booze!!!!

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On the other hand I just got about $100,000 worth of medical services for $350.

Canada: Where cigarettes are $10 a pack and a lung transplant is free...

id rather just go buy a 3 dollar bottle, save my time and money instead of buying a 100 dollar kit. I make wine from concentrates because it is a cheap and can actually be pretty good. If you wanna make good wine and learn a lot doing it, start using fresh fruit, a kit is just gonna tell you exactly what to do, I like experimentation more then just doing what someone else says,I dont have access to affordable fresh fruit, my vines are too young yet so I just use concentrates. If you enjoy doing kits no problem, everyone has thier likes and dislikes.

I agree. I wish I had more chances to 'start from scratch'. Having said that, its special to me to use juices (or kits) from different regions of the world. Local is good, but a true German white wine comes from grapes GROWN there. I just didn't pick them myself!

WilliamSlayer said:

I agree. I wish I had more chances to 'start from scratch'. Having said that, its special to me to use juices (or kits) from different regions of the world. Local is good, but a true German white wine comes from grapes GROWN there. I just didn't pick them myself!

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Terroir is real!~

RobertRGeorge said:

Terroir is real!~

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Yes! Just don't try to have me pronounce it correctly!

Being a Reisling drinker, I can with absolute certainty say that 'Terroir' is a real thing. Just try a Washington State vs. a Finger Lakes vs. a Mosel Valley. The same wine... with three distinct tastes. Amazing!

I absolutely love using Kroger brand Concord grape frozen concentrate. I use about 4-5 cans for a gallon and 16-19 for a 5 gallon batch. The. I backsweeten with it as well best red wine I ever had. It’s all up to personal taste too. I have never used a kit either so maybe I never will. I’m perfectly happy with my frozen juice wine.
I have one of my original bottles aging still. Been about 6-7 months now. Gunna leave it for along time. Might open it on like my 5-10 year mark and celebrate.

I also enjoy a 100% concorde vino I make -- combo frozen grape juice concentrate and 100% Concorde grape juice. I use D47 and typically get a low 13% ABV uber tasty vino. My typical batch is 15cans frozen + 3gals 100%.

Cheers!