Ontario Fruit Explorers

["Thomas Giannou" <thomas@tandjenterprises.com>]

Thomas,

As I understand it, the "foxy" flavor is tied to a flavor that reflects that
of grapes.  To me, that's a desirable character imparted by the Labrusca.sp.
Could you describe what you mean by "modifying"?  That could mean remove,
blend, enhance, diminish, etc.

A few years ago, my wife and I took a tour of a vineyard in Canada in the
Okanogan valley very close to Kalowna, B.C.  The owner was interested in
using our mycorrhiza product, but he was really tied to using chemical
fertilizers and would have found it difficult to change to an organic
approach.  We were sampling various grape cultivars as we walked through the
vineyard.  When we came to the Himrod grapes, my wife and I later remarked
to each other that it was a good thing the owner was showing us around
because we could easily stuffed ourselves with those wonderful tasting
grapes to the point of being on the other side of gorging ourselves.  Even
though chemical methods were used, those grapes were instantly addictive to
my wife and I.  Those grapes were scheduled to be blended with non-labruska
varieties.  I thought at the time, why in the world would anyone want to
dilute this most excellent tasting grape?

I've been using BioVam, organic fertilizers, trace minerals, and humus teas
to grow my grapes, raspberries and strawberries.  I have found that those
products have enabled my plants to express very high qualities in size,
flavor, health and vitality and yields.  Even though raspberries and
strawberries are not grapes, we blended raspberries and strawberries
together to make a freezer jam.  That jam was like gold in it's value to
those who tried it.  The blend had a new quality which was better than and
different from the individual qualities of raspberries or strawberries.
What I noticed was a "new flavor" which modified the tartness of the
Raspberry and brought in the starburst sweetness of the strawberry.  We had
not tasted this flavor before because we simply had not tried it.

I grow Reliance and Himrod grapes and both are excellent in their flavors.
An interesting experiment would be to make juice from each grape and simmer
the skins to get all the flavors and colors out and recombine the juice and
colors from the skins back into the juice that was extracted from each
grape.  Then mix together different quantities of juice from each grape and
let them set for an hour or two and then taste each to evaluate the blended
flavors.  I realize that wines may have yet a different flavor from blended
grapes, but this might be a quick way to arrive at what combination of blend
should go into making the wine.

Best Regards,
Thomas Giannou
Spokane, WA  zone 4.5-5
http://www.tandjenterprises.com



----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
To: <labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 10:17 AM
Subject: [LabruscaGrape] Modifying "foxy" flavor


> Hello,
>
> Can anyone discuss the different processes that can be used to modify
> the foxiness of labrusca wine?
>
> Regards,
> Tom
>
> ===
> Canada plant hardiness zone 5b
> Southwest Ontario