We have a grape vine that is producing some great grapes for wine. They suck
to eat, too sweet, like eating grape flavored sugar. The wine is only a few
months old and is already better than many wines that I have bought in the
stores. I feel that the grapes may be a cross breed because after hours and
hours of looking at pictures of leaves, fruit and vines I can not find a
match. I find two that are close in some ways but not quite the same in
others (Isabella and Couderc Noir).

Because I can not find out what type of grape this is, I can not buy more.
This vine only produced enough grapes for 5 gallons of wine and just enough
juice to make 4 gallons of jelly, plus what my dog would eat. I caught him
picking grapes off the vine and eating them. My question is what is the best
way to get more plants from this vine?

Thanks,

Roy

Roy Boy wrote:
My question is what is the best
> way to get more plants from this vine?

Hi..well you could start by reading this
page...http://www.bunchgrapes.com/cuttings.html

........very simply laid out on that site......Andy j.

My experience is that when a wine tastes that good young, it may not age
very well. Nothing wrong with this, just keep it in mind. Drink it while
it is good and do not put to many bottles back for long term storage. It
really sad when you realize that your wine is past prime and you still have
15 bottles to drink. You know it will only get worse.

If you want to make more wine from your own grapes, get a different type of
grape so you can have more than one type of wine. You could also try
planting clippings or learn how to graft your vines onto good root stock.

As far as your dog is concerned, note whether he chases away enough
squirrels and other varmints that would steal fruit to justify loosing some
to him. If not .... The decision is yours.

As far as jelly is concerned, the best grape jelly is made from grapes that
are too acid to make wine or eat either. Wild grapes do the best. Don't
waste your good wine grapes making jelly!

All in my humble opinion! ;o)

Ray

"Roy Boy" > wrote in message
...
> We have a grape vine that is producing some great grapes for wine. They
> suck to eat, too sweet, like eating grape flavored sugar. The wine is only
> a few months old and is already better than many wines that I have bought
> in the stores. I feel that the grapes may be a cross breed because after
> hours and hours of looking at pictures of leaves, fruit and vines I can
> not find a match. I find two that are close in some ways but not quite the
> same in others (Isabella and Couderc Noir).
>
> Because I can not find out what type of grape this is, I can not buy more.
> This vine only produced enough grapes for 5 gallons of wine and just
> enough juice to make 4 gallons of jelly, plus what my dog would eat. I
> caught him picking grapes off the vine and eating them. My question is
> what is the best way to get more plants from this vine?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Roy
>
>
>

Notice also that she sadi that he had a grape vine, not vines.

4 gallons from a single vine?

"Droopy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Notice also that she sadi that he had a grape vine, not vines.
>
> 4 gallons from a single vine?

No, 5+ gallons from a single vine.

Yeah, that is a lot. An average vine will produce around 1 gallon worth
of juice. Maybe you are overcropping it...even then that is excessive.

I also make jelly from wine grapes (zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon),
and no 'wasting' of good wine grapes... cuz I extract the pomace to
get my 'juice' for jelly. This Wine Jelly tastes better than any grape
jelly I've ever tasted.

After pressing, I put the pomace in a double-boiler configuration, 8
quart stainless steel spaghetti cooker (with the insert being a
perforated 'colander'). I put about 1/2 cup of water in the pot, fill
the colander with pomace, put on the lid, bring to a boil, then simmer
on lowest heat for about 1/2 hour to 1 hour. The gentle steam
extraction of the pomace from a 7 gallon fermentation batch yields 4-8
cups of wine-flavor extract. It does such a good job extracting the
flavor that the pomace tastes pretty bland after extraction.

While making the wine grape jelly from this extract, I add lemon juice
to bring up the acid to where I want it.
To maximize the flavor in the jelly, I sweeten less. I use about 2/3
the sugar compared to 'standard' recipe, and I double up the amount of
pectin to get it to jell (there's not enough sugar to get it to jell
without extra pectin). Typically I use a box of Sure-Jell plus a box of
pectin to guarantee that it will jell, but I've also had success using
two boxes of pectin (occasionally I get a 'spread' rather than a 'jelly'
when I only use pectin).

The extract also makes great tasting wine sorbet. And the extract makes
a pretty good syrup to pour on pancakes or ice cream.

Regards,
Gene

Ray Calvert wrote:
<clipped>
>
> As far as jelly is concerned, the best grape jelly is made from grapes that
> are too acid to make wine or eat either. Wild grapes do the best. Don't
> waste your good wine grapes making jelly!
>
> All in my humble opinion! ;o)
>
> Ray
>
<clipped>
>>Because I can not find out what type of grape this is, I can not buy more.
>>This vine only produced enough grapes for 5 gallons of wine and just
>>enough juice to make 4 gallons of jelly, plus what my dog would eat. I
>>caught him picking grapes off the vine and eating them. My question is
>>what is the best way to get more plants from this vine?
>>
>>Thanks,
>>
>>Roy

quote....... plus what my dog would eat

....watch what your dog eats...as I recall,grapes in certain amounts are
highly toxic to dogs.the same as they are poisoned by chocolate and
onions...andy j

quote....... plus what my dog would eat

hi again ....I found this...
FYI

Grape and raisin poisonings in Dogs

Recently, there was a letter in the AVMA Journal from Dr.
Gwaltney-Brant and others at the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
discussing grape and raisin poisoning in dogs. Apparently, grapes and
raisins can be toxic to dogs when ingested in large quantities.

The grapes and raisins came from varied sources, including being eaten
off the vine directly. The dogs exhibited gastrointestinal signs
including vomiting and diarrhea and then signs of kidney failure with
an onset of severe kidney signs starting about 24 hours after ingestion
of the grapes or raisins. The amount of grapes eaten varied between
9oz. and 2 lbs., which worked out to be between 0.41 and 1.1 oz/kg of
body weight. Two dogs died directly from the toxicity, three were
euthanized due to poor response to treatment and five dogs lived. Due
to the severity of the signs and the potential for death, the
veterinarians as the poison control center advocate aggressive
treatment for any dogs suggested of ingesting excessive amounts of
grapes or raisins, including inducing vomiting, stomach lavage (stomach
pumping) and administration of activated charcoal, followed by
intravenous fluid therapy for at least 48 hours or as indicated based
on the results of blood tests for kidney damage.


I have fed my dogs a few grapes every now and then for years, so I
don't think there is a need to panic if a dog eats three or four grapes
but if the whole bunch is missing from the table one day, it would be
good to think about watching for any signs of a toxic reaction.