Oklahoma Winemaking

[sdi]

A couple years ago, when I left New York, I laid out what wines I had tried to make there, what worked, and what didn't.

I've lived simply here in Oklahoma, only taking up my old hobby again on a very small scale. A few farms out here have you-pick blackberries, and I've made our harvest into a couple batches of blackberry wine following John Wright's recipe. The verdict is a solid "A:" every bit as good as grape wine and probably second only to elderflower champagne in my book.

Wherever I end up, elder bushes and blackberry brambles are the first things going in the ground.

Comments

[emmanuelg]

Hi SDI,
If you end up moving North, you may want to investigate Haskap bushes-- These produce a fruit that looks like an elongated blueberry, but tastes like a blueberry/raspberry combination, and are unrelated to the blueberry family. They are very hardy plants that clone easily. Found in many parts of Siberia, they grow well in my part of Canada (Zone 6a or 6b), also Minnesota and even Colorado. Mine make great jam too, but never tried making wine with them--yet! Here's a link:
https://nutraceuticalsgroup.com/uk/blog/haskap-berries/

[sdi]

Huh, neat! I'm not familiar with them, but my wife (who went to school for botany) says that they had some growing at her school back in the day. Would be fun to experiment with!