Whipped up my first batch of natural wine since leaving the industry back in October. Aronia berries from our bushes in an 8 gallon fermenter. Added the juice of 2 lemons and some strawberries from our spring harvest along with 4 pounds of honey from our fall harvest last year. Froze half of the berries to help break them down, the rest got a light crushing with a potato masher. 7 days fermenting on skins, which started right up, now into secondary till dry. I enjoy making vinegar so half will be used for that and the remainder will get bottled to enjoy down the road. Tasting great so far but certainly has some sugar left to chew up. First time making an Aronia berry wine and I’m surprised by the lack of astringency considering how tart the berries are raw. Granted the juice we make yearly is never bad in that department either.
Also yes I know too much headspace. I over estimated how much juice I’d get so racked this into a smaller carboy with significantly less head space
by bj4web