Citrus Growers Forum

JoeReal · Posted: Mon 21 Jun, 2010 8:25 pm

Lisbon Lemon Wins Best of Show at San Joaquin County Fair Home Wine Competition

Hello Citrus People. I missed all of you for a good reason. I've been busy preparing the restarting of our company when our supplier went bankrupt, and also have been preparing wines for my last entries into the individual winemaker competitions. I won't be qualified for the coming state fair competitions because by the end of this year, we hopefully to obtain our commercial wine license.

Citrus wines are fantastic. Last year, I proved them to win double gold medals, and this year, an unbelievable Best of Show and Best of Class awards.

Shown below are the other awards that I got.

By joereal at 2010-06-21

Skeeter · Posted: Mon 21 Jun, 2010 11:05 pm

Congratulations Joe! Good to hear you are still around.

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Skeet

JoeReal · Posted: Mon 21 Jun, 2010 11:41 pm

Thanks Skeet! Yeah i'm still here from to time dropping by. Been too busy as always and it is bad for my citrus. I now have 2 kids going to college so will just have to work harder. Executive life sux its no wonder they demand big money for it.

Skeeter · Posted: Tue 22 Jun, 2010 11:04 am

Two kids in college is tough--I only had one and that was rough enough! Good news is when they finish, it will be like you all of a sudden became rich!

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Skeet

David. · Posted: Thu 01 Jul, 2010 7:40 pm

Good luck on the new company Joe Looks like your wine is a favorite in alot of the wine drinkers eyes. Looks very promising.

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JoeReal · Posted: Thu 01 Jul, 2010 8:13 pm

Thanks David. I have patent filed on a revolutionary way to make citrus wines. And the process is considered organic because it doesn't use a molecule of sulfite nor other harsh chemicals. And the best side effect of the process, it brings out the full natural exotic flavors of citruses. I was amazed that it brought my citrus wines into the Best of Show Category. I have received many double gold medals and best of class on some of my citrus wines using the proprietary wine making technique. I may have to license it to interested parties should citrus wine become popular and we could not meet demand. For now, it is just a dream, with investors staying away from anything related to wine when the whole world over, many wineries are filing for bankruptcy.

turtleman · Posted: Fri 02 Jul, 2010 1:07 pm

I would be an "interested party"

jasonlotp · Joined: 19 Nov 2009 Posts: 18 Location: Palo Alto, CA

Nice, I'll have to try and make some lemon wine after I try making limoncello.
Any favorite citrus to use for wine making?
How about Grapefruit vs. oranges vs. lemons vs. limes, how would you rank them?
How do these wines compare to grape wines? Are they similar in flavor profile to say, a chardonnay or more akin to a rose?

JoeReal · Posted: Fri 02 Jul, 2010 4:09 pm

jasonlotp wrote:

Nice, I'll have to try and make some lemon wine after I try making limoncello.
Any favorite citrus to use for wine making?
How about Grapefruit vs. oranges vs. lemons vs. limes, how would you rank them?
How do these wines compare to grape wines? Are they similar in flavor profile to say, a chardonnay or more akin to a rose?

For my citrus wines I would rank them:

Calamondins, kumquats
Lemons, Sudachi, Yuzu, Limes
Blood Oranges
Grapefruits
Navels, Mandarins

Take note that the Navels and Mandarins would still be Silver Medals.

Calamondins and the kumquat types can have similar flavor profile to Chardonnay, in fact they would produce excellent blends with white grapes such as chardonnay and riesling.

Lemon, Lime tart types are uniquely tart, with excellent aromas and different than any of the grape wines, they all produce wine similar in color to Chardonnay. they too can be blended with white grapes. The Lemon types need to be mixed with pressed grape juice otherwise the tartness of the pure juice would render them undrinkable, even though they are fermentable.

In some of my lime wines, I make them from almost pure lime juice. The final wine may be undrinkable for many of the people, but I don't make them for drinking as is. During the hot days of the summer, I pop out a chilled corona beer, and I mix 1 part pure lime wine with 4 parts corona beer and you are going to taste the most exciting summer drink ever. One thing nice about the pure lime wine is that once you open them and keep in the fridge, they could last for more than a year without spoiling. Most lime wines that I make have a base of white grapes, and they produce gold medal rated wines. The pure lime wine I don't submit for competitions.

Blood Oranges retain their true red pigmentation in the final wine because they are anthocyanin based. Some blood oranges, depending on where they were grown, can produce blush colored wines, but with an unexpected twist, they taste like oranges when your mind is telling you that they should taste like Zinfandel. The blood orange wine naturally have raspberry tones into them mixed with the citrus scent of orange peels. Sanguinelli and Moro blood oranges produced the darkest colored citrus wines for me, as dark as a generic red grape wine but not as dark as Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon. It is ironic that the blood orange wine and red grape wine doesn't produce complimentary or nice blends, they often seem to contradict each other when blended. But pure blood orange wine is great and fruity, but with overpowering orange peel citrus scent.

My next favorite would be grapefruits and Pummelo. Lycopene pigmented grapefruits such as those from RioStar, Star Ruby, Chandler will all lose their colors as the lycopene are precipitated out when the wine starts to clarify. A large number of people hate the flavor of grapefruits, as some of the judges rated these excellent wine a bronze medal rank. However, if the judges love grapefruits, they sometimes rate this wine as high as gold medal rank. One thing that standout in this wine that is either you love it or hate it, is that the bitterness aftertaste of the original fruit will be imparted in the final wine. I would love to make wine out of Valentine grapefruit, because the pigmentation is based on anthocyanin, and I will produce a true red grapefruit wine. And one thing more, grapefruit wines can be made by mixing it with Coastal white grapes or other white grape juices to dilute the bitterness imparted into the final wine. Gelatin can be another alternative to tone down the bitterness of this wine. But for me, the unique grapefruit bitterness is what I am after and cannot be simply found in other citruses.

On a unique flavor of their own, the navels and mandarins produces excellent wine, and are often rated better than the grapefruits by many wine judges because most would prefer to eat these over grapefruits, especially the younger generation. It is just that I prefer grapefruits over navels and mandarins when it comes to wine.

Based on my experiences, the unique flavor of different types of citruses gets imparted into the wine. And I could speculate that all of their medicinal properties, except the lycopenes, also gets imparted into the final wine. So just like eating various citruses, be aware of possible drug interactions similar to eating the fruits.

All the citrus wines that I make are full-bodied, produces excellent amount of glycerine, responsible for the very nice legs on the walls of the wine glasses. And unmistakably, the unique citrus scent and flavor identifying the particular type of citrus, are all in the wine. You don't imagine the flavors, they're real, and refreshing and enjoyable. Always enjoy them chilled.

JoeReal · Posted: Fri 02 Jul, 2010 4:11 pm

turtleman wrote:

I would be an "interested party"

Come over for some citrus wine tasting and we'll sip more "details" from it.

Millet · Posted: Fri 02 Jul, 2010 4:47 pm

When Joe becomes a billion air wine aficionado, I can proudly say I knew him when. Congratulations Joe. - Millet (927-)

Laaz · Posted: Fri 02 Jul, 2010 7:17 pm

Congrats Joe. Looks like you are doing well.

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Skeeter · Posted: Sun 04 Jul, 2010 9:50 pm

I have to say, I like my lemon wine--actually mine is a hard lemonade--only about 7-8% ABV. When I first tasted my kumquat wine, I hated it and was ready to throw it all out, but it has certainly mellowed out with age and I have learned I like it best over ice and sweetend a little. I will have to try some Moro blood orange wine.

If you are ever in Pensacola, I would love to swap a bottle or two.

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Skeet

jasonlotp · Joined: 19 Nov 2009 Posts: 18 Location: Palo Alto, CA

Wow, Thanks for all of the info. I tend to be a red wine drinker myself so I would probably shy away from those, but the mandarin, orange and grapefruit wines might have a profile that I would like.