Battle Gourd
At the end of the 2019 harvest season, we wound up with several large cinderella pumpkins. These aren't your usual carving pumpkins and are used for all sorts of actual human foods (as opposed to critter bait once your jacky-o's go bad). Could I make a pumpkin wine, too? It wouldn't hurt to try!
I attacked the pumpkin with all I had, trying out several options for rending the flesh into something useable. Shredded? Check. Chunked? Check. Roasted? Check. A whole twenty pound pumpkin was soon bubbling away with the help of some sugar and hungry yeast.
In the end, the pumpkin completely disintegrated and made for the thickest lees ever. Fortunately it cleared up quickly and I soon minted 16 bottles for long-term storage in June 2020. It needs a long, LONG time to age but promises a complex flavor unlike anything else I've made so far. 12.5% ABV.
Fall 2021 update: I tried out a test bottle of this rare breed. Let's just say there's probably a good reason you don't see many wines made with squash. Almost universally this wine was deemed "interesting," which in Midwest slang really means "WTF, this is the most disgusting alcohol I've ever had." I'm not going to call it quits on this wine just yet and am ready to wait a few more years to see how things develop. 2025, here we come!
At least my label is cool...