03-17-2010, 08:13 AM
Jaboticaba takes years to ripen but there are already a lot of them out there. I put an ad on Craigslist for fruit once and got several replies from Puna and Hilo people that were happy to share. Check out this link http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php...aboticaba/ and read towards the bottom of the page where the guy from a winery in Australia gives advice for a jabo wine. His method changed my winemaking technique. Also I am now using only 1/2 tsp of potassium metabisulfite instead of 10 tsp of sodium metabisulfite to sterilize the fruit. And I leave it for 48 hours before introducing yeast instead of just 24. It has been an improvement. In my latest batch I also added a toasted oak spiral to the wine to give it that oak barrel flavor. Expensive addition but it works. Careful not to leave the skin in the fermenter for more than 3 days max. It can get really tart from all the acid in the skins.