Wondering if anyone has preferred varieties. I could care less if they are good for eating. I want to make wine that people swoon over.
Zone 4 or colder required for me, but in the interest of the group, any variety goes, so long as it can contribute to a K.A. Wine. Kindly give some info about why you think the variety is worthy.
I make 5 gallons of sparkling plum wine every year. The only [known] named varieties I use are Satsuma and Santa Rosa, which probably won’t like your Z4 but are great growers here in CA. I like the flavor of both, and they both have their own processing quirks. I always pit and cut my stone fruit, then freeze/thaw before pressing.
Santa Rosa has the easiest slip skin, I just smash them in my hand and the flesh and juice squish out, but the mushy skin doesn’t press very well because it gums up in the press/bag and retains a lot of juice.
Satsuma is a royal pain to cut up and pit because the flesh so firm and is totally attached to the skin and pit, but because it’s so firm it presses almost as easy as an apple; the flesh retains its form and won’t gum up into the pressing bag or retain much juice. Satsuma has a nice puckering rich flavor to the fresh juice that turns out really tasty.
I have used other random plums as well before, always as a blend with either/both of the above two, and I boost my gravity with honey. My plum wine is always sparkling because it takes the edge off of the sweetness. For the life of me, I can’t get plums or peaches to ferment dry. They just won’t do it, no matter what yeast I use or anything I do. Apricots ferment dry for me no problem though.
Brian, one of the best wines (sweet) I’ve made was from wild/American plums. In our early years here an older local came by one day on his motorbike, introduced himself and headed off into the woods. Awhile later he came back with a coffee can full of wild plums and gave them to us. Very special to young homesteaders who didn’t know many people and had very little growing/producing yet. Probably an added reason the wine turned out so good! It was also one of my earliest wines. After he passed on we looked for that tree on and off for years but never found it.
Here’s my notes: “8/21 Wild Plums 3 qts (4 1/4#) + 5 1/2 TB lemon juice + 7 qts hot water. 6 1/2 cup sugar. 1/8 tsp yeast. Set a week. Strain. Add 5 c sugar. Yield 1 3/4 gallon. Great!”
I’ve tried Sapalta cherryplums a few times without very good results. I like them better as sauce. Can’t wait for my young American plums to fruit so I can see if I can replicate that first wine. Sue
I checked with our conservation district. Prunus Americana is offered for $3 per tree if I buy 5 down to $2 if I buy 25. If others agree that it makes a taste wine, I may be putting in a plum hedge.
I’d still be interested named varieties for the orchard.
I cant speak from experince but ive done some searching online for this awhile back and it sounds like wild american plums produce a pretty solid wine. I planted 50 this spring and hope to give it a try in a cpl years. Im tempted to pick a bucket full at a public hunting spot near by but im guessing the dnr wouldnt be happy with me. Some of those plums are good eating others ok and some spitters. I think the combo would be ideal for brewing.
I’m pretty sure those would be seedlings, if so they’ll be whatever roll of the dice you get from the parent trees. Seedlings might not be very consistent. That said, I’ve never been unhappy with wild plums I’ve ended up with.
This raises a bigger question I’ve pondered, even if not enough to try to find an answer.
The hypothesis:
Cultivars that have been repeatedly chosen for certain qualities seem pretty rare, making me suspect that a fairly unique set of genes have to align between parents to get -the- attribute(s) we want. the result is that a chance seedling from truly unique parents will likely be nothing like them.
Conversely, wild plants that have never been selectively bred/raised are likely to have a complete mish-mash of genetics that will combine with another complete mish-mash of genetics resulting in something that, while different than its parents, the will likely be perceived the same to us.
A wild blueberry has always seemed identically wonderful to all I’ve tried. Maple syrup, black walnuts, ramps, wild mushrooms, etc etc.
Does that seem reasonable?
So, my guess is that if a number of folks have really liked wild plum wine, wine made from 25-50 seedlings will likely hit the spot, provided the wine maker puts some love into it.
My worst case scenario is that I’ll have a nice hedge to fatten up the local rats-with-antlers before the season opens.
Once you have one AmerPlum growing you’ll have a hedge - they are notorious for suckering. Of course, seedlings will likely give you more variety. One way or another you’ll have plenty of rootstocks to graft other varieties on. And AmerPlum is a great pollinator. Sue
Good point, your worst case scenario is you can top work it into something else.
Yep, thats part of my plan. Bring all the deer to my place before season