Got Sour Grapes? Try Fruit and Vegetable Wines

There is a mistaken belief that wines are made only from grapes. Of course, grapes do make a terrific wine and are an ideal fruit to ferment into a beverage that can age for years and improve its taste and aroma over time.  Even young wine made from grapes is enjoyed by many with its fruity flavors.

Although not all consider it a wine, technically speaking because it is fermented with yeast, mead is also a wine. Mead, which is made from honey, has been enjoyed for centuries, and some even claim that the origin of the word "honeymoon" has its roots in the mead beverage. It is said that when a couple were married, they were sent away to get to to know each other for a month along with many intoxicating bottles of mead.

Indeed, wine can be made from just about any organic material as long as it is not poisonous. Do you keep a garden and sometimes have far too many crops to store in the freezer?  Why not experiment with making wine out of that extra fruit or vegetables.

"Vegetables?" you ask.  Yes! In her book, "Making Wild Wines & Meads," Pattie Vargas writes about a parsnip wine she entered in a competition: "The restaurant owner poured some parsnip wine, swirled it in his glass, held it in front of the candle to judge its clarity, held it beneath his nose, and looked once again before taking a timid sip. Then he turned to Pattie, tried a second sip, and said, 'I think I'm in love.'"

Although non-grape wines will not usually taste anything at all like wines made from the juice of grapes, you can be pleasantly surprised with the results of wines from vegetables and other fruit. Did you have a massive potato crop this year?  Try some potato wine! Too many peaches in the tree?  Peach wine has delighted many a home winemaker and their guests.

If you do decide to try some wine from things growing in your own yard, be sure to keep in mind some cautions:

• Refrain from using vegetation that has had a lot of chemicals like insecticide sprayed on.
• Use professional wine yeast (it's inexpensive - enough to make five gallons cost a dollar a packet) instead of just hoping the wild native yeast in your backyard will ferment your juice.
• Sanitize your equipment and use food grade plastic or glass to ferment and age your wine.
• Become familiar with some wine making basics to increase your chances of creating a wine that will delight yourself - and your guests

If you're a bit hesitant about how a wine might turn out, you can always make several small one gallon batches instead of the larger five gallon size that most home winemakers that are using commercial kits, make.

You can find recipes for wines that have interesting ingredients such as parsnip, ginger, honey, blackcurrants and other fruit at this home winemaking site