First batch (WILD)!

[JJack887]

Just made my first batch of wine (1gal) and it's very experimental. I used the fruit of the kousa dogwood tree and a little bit of staghorn sumac. All freshly picked this morning! I'll let you guys know how this progresses.

 

[sablesurfer]

Wow, never even heard of those things, but neat.

 

[ong]

Oh, man, I tried a kousa batch and it was the only wine I've dumped so far. It tasted like poison! I think my mistake was fermenting on the skins and seeds for five or six days.

 

[JJack887]

The batch has been racked! View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1444273926.512658.jpg

(Yes, it's been topped off; just didn't know what to expect when instructions said "Leave space for foam".)

It smells so floral and papaya/mango-ish. I'm excited to see how this develops.

 

[AkTom]

Sounds good. If it smells good, should be good. I too haven't heard of either of those ingredients. Hope it turns out as good as it sounds.

 

[fogdogwine]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446499380.509817.jpg

My attempt at Kousa Dogwood! It is clarifying nicely, high alcohol content ( warm on lips and going down.
Not sure about flavor yet, almost taste more like beer. But I will allow time to see what happens... If nothing else should be a good cooking wine!!

 

[fogdogwine]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446500504.607107.jpg
Kousa Dogwood wine!

 

[bucketnative]

I made ice cream with some of the kousa fruit last year. Interesting flavor. This is a project worth keeping an eye on.

 

[JJack887]

Looking good. My batch is clearing slowly, but clearing. Honestly, I might not try it until around my birthday (May). I'm making meads and beers to make the time go by quicker.

 

[JJack887]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1448225533.473958.jpg Bottled! The left over wine tasted surprisingly mild and it would probably benefit from a little back sweetening next time around. There's nothing harsh about it, really, so I'm stoked. Time to forget about these bottles now.

 

[fogdogwine]

Looks good Jjack! I haven't bottled mine yet...

 

[fogdogwine]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455984885.450640.jpg
Definitely has the Kousa Dogwood smell, very mild, semi dry, similar to an apple flavor (I think).
Definitely would try it again, but also thinking it would be good sweetened with honey!
Ph is 3.6 would have preferred a little closer to 3.2.. About 12-14% alcohol!
But overall I would give it a 7 maybe 8 out of 10.. Not my favorite, but not bad either! Probably leave it in this type of bottle for another 6 months...

 

[JJack887]

That'll be my next use for these fruits – a kousa mead. I feel like this fruit needs to have a lot of parameter-adjusting in order to make a very great drink out of it.