Homemade tomato wine: The height of class and sophistication.
One of the coolest things about my husband is his ability to make due with what he has. He isn’t one to sit around pining and whining for more, MORE, MORE or put off projects until he has just the right tool or gadget or raw material. He is the master of making lemonade from lemons. Or in this case, tomato wine from tomatoes.
Last summer, our neighbor Sam unloaded some 30 pounds of tomatoes on us, and Jake, a wannabe vintner, decided to make wine out of it. When he informed me of his plans, I was like, “TOMATO WINE???? WHO in their right mind would drink such backwoods swill?” I had visions of us tippling back mason jars filled with a rotten, cloudy tomato brew, warming oursevles before a turkey fryer on the front porch festooned with Christmas lights and me remarking that my transformation to redneck woman is complete.
As is often the case, he didn’t listen to my precautions or protestations but bought himself a wine making book and set to work making his concoction. It took six months to fully ferment. We made a big to-do of opening the premier bottle last night. And as damning as this may be to my cultured credibility….
IT WASN’T HALF BAD.
Really. I didn’t mind it. I mean, I probably wouldn’t order a case of LE TOMATO WINE at a roadside wine shop, nor would I rush to open bottles during a dinner party. But for the two of us, at home, alone, in the midst of an economic recession where we’re getting by on Walmart Honey Nut Spins cold cereal….. it was better — much better — than I expected. It was wholly and delightfully drinkable….more drinkable than a Yellow Tail reisling, anyway. It was llight and crisp and fruity, and I couldn’t discern any obvious overtones of tomato flavor. I had only one small glass, due to my pregnancy, but Jake ended up polishing off the bottle. We both remarked how much mellower it tasted the longer we left it to breath.
I think we have ourselves a winner.
I think how some other vintners in the making might have waited until they had JUST the right grapes to make wine. Not Jake. Perhaps he’s just three quarters hillbilly, I don’t know. But I admire his spirit. Up next: His homemade peach and rhubarb wines, mead and merlot.
All original content © 2012 by Jessie Knadler
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I read somewhere that the best remedy to having a bad rooster is good Rooster soup.
It goes well with Tomato wine too.
Rooster soup and tomato wine. It’s what’s for dinner.
I’m impressed! can’t quite imagine it, but since I’m happy to imbibe tomatoes if they come with vodka and a celery stick, I say why not. (now I just need to find someone with a whole lot of derring do and 30lbs of tomatoes!)
I am totally surprised and impressed. I would absolutely drink that. (But then again, I drink most alcoholic beverages.)
We don’t have roadside wine shops down here in rural Mississippi…yea, you may have heard of us…always, always in the top ten worst or dead last in any other list.
Still, I find myself this year, what with the recession you mentioned, wanting to get into home brew. I’ve scoured your blog for pictures of Jake’s beer set up and then make myself dizzy trying to decide what equipment I really need.
Would love to know what book he got, what he thought of it and if you are so inclined, Ms. J, specifics about the wine, the mead and any other brewing endeavors Mr. Derring Do undertakes. as in recipes, instructions that might be helpful, etc.
Don’t know about you but going on 15 years out in the country after living in LA and NY city, I’m pretty sure my transformation to redneck is pretty well complete and I find I really don’t mind at all. I don’t have any desire to own a turkey fryer though as a heat source it might be worth considering.
thanks
Fried turkey is amazing. But that’s not the point. I’m extremely curious how this wine tastes. I can’t get bloody mary out of my mind. But you say it is light and crisp. By golly.
How about sharing your recipe?
Hi Samson: I may, but I usually resist posting alcohol recipes because they’re quite involved…there are many steps…it takes 6 months to a year to ferment, so I’m not sure how helpful it would be. I think it’s far better to go check out a book on the subject. JK
Anyway someone can purchase this product? Being from North Carolina and intimate relation through a sister’s relationship w/James Taylor who uses reference to this wine I would truly like to try it. Haven’t the time to spend making it myself but so longingly want a taste of this historic flavor of the South any help would be appreciated. Keep drinking deeply – the South still has much to offer our America!
I have 14 tomatoe bushes this year and intend to do this. I was talking to an old timer and he said he made on1 that included raisens. The result? He said it tasted like port! So I am going to give it a go as soon as my tomatoes are ready. The bonus…the recipe he gave me only took 4-5 days to be ready to drink.
I would like an update on your rhubarb wine. I have about a dozen rubharbs growing. I’m debating between my favorite, rhubarb crisp, or rhubarb wine.
Here’s a link to the tomatoe wine with raisens recipe. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mdmalone/tomato.htm
Sir please send tomato wine making full details.
I’m a home wine maker, and have made a variety of “typical” wines and country wines – various grape varieties, as well as apple, pear, strawberry, all with mostly good results. With a surplus of ‘matas this summer, I decided to try tomato wine. So far so good. Have transferred from primary fermenter to carboy this evening. The fermenting aromas certainly smell like wine
The must fermented nearly dry is not too different from grape must flavor-wise 
which ALWAYS A GOOD THING. With yeast nutrient added, I should have probably racked to the carboy last night or this morning (24 hrs or 36 hrs), but worked late last night, and had to be in at 6 a.m. today. so, by the time I got to the must tonight, it had fermented to about 1.5 brix/S.G. of less than 1.010. Might add my recipe is from Raymond Massaccesi’s “Winemaker’s Recipe Handbook” (1976). It called for a cup of raisins per gallon, and no pectic enzyme. I added 1/4 tsp of the enzyme just to “give a hand” in breaking down the pulp. that’s it for now, fellow/sister wine makers! –Greg
When you racked the first time did you rack all of it….meaning both the clear stuff on top. And the red stuff underneath?
Oh my!
I haven’t laughed so hard in so long!
Thank you for that image of you warming by the Turkey fryer!
Guess what made me laugh so hard, was the fact I was thinking “no way is there a way to make tomato wine”
im on with my fists batch of tomato wine, interested to see how it tastes.
I was directed to your site last night by Paula and Jim Z. I’ll have to thank them. I try to make at least one different wine every year. This year my new one was turnip/beet wine. Some blend, huh? I haven’t tried tomato yet but it’s on my list for next year. I’ve never made a wine from grapes, just garden stuff. Well I did make some from those tiny wild grapes that hang in the trees all over Rockbridge Co.
Looking forward to reading more.