First Post! Plus Question on Mustang Grapes

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bama2112

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Hello all! Just started wine making last week. Been lurking here for some time learning lots of stuff! My first wine is a fresh strawberries one. Should be moving it to my secondary tomorrow. Wish me luck!

I live in the Houston area. Came across what I thought at the time to be wonderfully ripe gobs of muscadines. I grew up in Alabama on wild muscadines, but these were a bit different though. Did some research on the net and I believe them to be wild Mustang grapes. So I picked 6 pounds and just got finished getting them into my primary. They were very ripe. I tried one and there wasn't to much sweetness to them like a muscadine. And they don't smell like a fruit in any way. Strange, but they almost smell like a veggie mashed up in the primary! Very acidic too! My question is, could these be something all together different, and I really shouldn't be making wine out of them? Just trying to be cautious here.

I've included some pics to see if anyone knows about them. They fit the full description posted on the net, so I'm 98% confident they are Mustangs!

MustangGrape3.jpg

MustangGrape1.jpg
 
No responses regarding Mustang Grapes?!! Oh well....

Been 24 hours after Campden tablet. Checked S.G. and Acidity prior to adding yeast.

S.G. = 1.095
Acidity = 0.60% tartaric

The acidity was within the recommended range. I was surprised since these grapes appeared to be very acidic. Went ahead and added the yeast. Here we go!! :ban:
 
Welllll, I've always been told that Mustang and Muscadine grapes are the same, depending on where you're from. I grew up between Houston and Beaumont, and the "Muscadine" grapes there look and grow just like the "Mustang" grapes in the hill country. The difference is the taste and acidity. It seems to me that the more rain we get here (The hill country), the less offensive the taste is. Also, the more rain, the more/thicker bunches on the vines. I've never made wine, but I think I'm going to trellis these and see what I can do. I'm sure there are some Texas Vintners on here that can straighten us out. Luck -

O.K., after more research, This page says they are something different:

www.oldthingsforgotten.com/grapes.htm
 
Primary fermentation appeared to slow down a lot on the Mustang grapes. The Montrachet yeast doesn't get hugely active from my understanding. S.G. was around 1.040 after 6 days. I was worried that the fermentation stalled, so I went ahead and moved it over to my secondary and put it in a slightly warmer closet. Not much bubbling through the air-lock initially, but a few hours later, it's kicking again!

Gave it a taste while I was at it. It's still quite sweet and very tart, but wow, I think this is going to be a good one!!! :drunk:
 
How did your Mustang grape wine turn out? It's been a couple years, thought I would ask?
 

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