This is a company that purchases bulk grapes and makes them into ‘varietal’ concentrates. My guess is that these are used by more wineries that you may realize - a little sweetness here or there really pops the ‘fruitiness’ of a wine, and can certainly help cover up bitterness or alcohol. A winery I used to work for used some once on a bulk wine that was purchased and ‘repackaged’ to export.
This falls into the Flavor and Fragrance area which I was a part of for my entire career. But why stop with Mega Purple. Why not just go to a Juice Concentrate producer and decide where you want to go. Grape to bolster up that Cab, Blackberry or Blueberry to add some complexity, Dark Sweet Cherry to fatten up that Pinot Noir, Red Sour Cherry, Pomegranate and Cranberry to make that bland Pinot Noir more like a good Sonoma Coast Pinot. Finally, do you want an exotic dark fruit note there is Elderberry and for a bit of aged note there is always Fig Concentrate.
Of course I say all this in jest but really there are many more products available for adding to wines (and a host of other beverages) than Mega Purple. A company that was part of our corporation until they were divested was Kerr Concentrates. Just about any concentrate you can think of. One of the most reputable Juice Concentrate Companies. Here is their portfolio.
More than we realize, I’m sure. And it wouldn’t surprise me if it was “far more”. That’s not knocking the producers we love. It’s acknowledging that as pure in intention as our favorite producers may be, at the end of the day, the production of wine is a business. And they sometimes have to make business decisions.
You may want to check out the link I provided - these are products made specifically for the wine biz. And they are all grape based - and the types of products that are regularly purchased for use in the wines.
Those are fascinating! (They don’t sell them in small enough quantities to make playing with them feasible, but I will continue to look.) These really make me wonder what secrets their client list might reveal!
I finally found a small size mega Purple, and also got some glycerol, tannin powder, some “white wine concentrator,” and a thing called Fermfast Dual Smooth, containing “Sinatin 17.”
I am going to rewatch that famous episode of Northern Exposure and see what I can create with these new things, some other household items, and Two Buck Chuck.
The Scatofine 2000 additive simulates barnyard. No, you do not want to know, but your Rhone Ranger blend suddenly resembles an old school Chateauneuf du Pape.
What an entertaining idea! Although if you’re looking for a neutral base to start with, Two Buck Chuck might already be ‘worked’ in some way. Not that I have any better ideas
I thought about that, then figured that these additives are so pricey (relatively) that Two Buck Chuck would have to charge MORE if they Mega Purpled too much.
I am totally open to suggestions for the base wines!
I think if I start with water and add Everclear, liquid smoke “oak,” citric acid, and Schilling Butter Extract (water soluble), Wine Advocate might call it a 90 point chard.