#15 – Mr. Jones’ Mystery Plum

Bottled (16) 325ml and (7) 750ml (from 3 gallons) at 19% ABV on 11 February 2012.

Whilst I was in the midst of making wine from the post-Burning Man 2011 fruit purchases, a coworker (Mr. Jones) suggested I harvest his plum tree and make some plum wine…  Why not?  I went over with a couple of buckets and somehow managed not to seriously injure myself plucking ripe plums hiding among the twisty dense branches of the tree.  But I had no idea what kind of plum these were — and neither did Mr. Jones…  Despite researching leaf and fruit characteristics over the coming months, Mr. Jones determined there was no good match that could be found, and declared them “mystery plums”.

Revisited the 2013 Reserve bottle on 14 January 2014…  This wine doesn’t (and never did) have that thick sweet flavor that seems to be the norm to be served in Asian restaurants… After nearly 2 years, this wine has mellowed somewhat and changed from being mostly opaque to nearly (but not quite) clear (there’s quite a bit of sediment at the bottom).  The plum flavor comes through quite nicely and is just sweet enough to counter the bite of the alcohol.