With the onset of the pandemic a few years ago, sheltering in place drove many to resurrect old hobbies or discover new ones including Aurora residents Tom and Susan Voigt, who elected to partially use the large raspberry crop in their back yard for something besides jam.
Tom Voigt, 83, said the couple’s garden, which today includes tomatoes, beans, eggplant, carrots, Swiss chard, peppers, various herbs and more, began 45 years ago in raised beds that are now in newly-enclosed gardening structures that were completed last year.
But the real story is the mass of raspberry bushes that line the north side of the back yard which sparked an idea two years ago.
“Our son Karl who lives in Chicago suggested we might try making our own wine,” Voigt said. “We didn’t know anything about it. It wasn’t like we had a family member or friend that taught us. We were ‘online wizards’ and followed the directions.”
He adds there was no supplemental information he or his wife sought out from local wine producers and that the couple “wanted to see how it would work out if we followed directions and it worked out very well.”
“We served it to guests. They loved the taste of raspberries and the little buzz of the wine,” he said. “We made six half-liter bottles the first time and we have no plans to increase production. We’re not big on alcohol but we do enjoy some wine.”
He describes the wine “as not sweet, but mildly tart with a raspberry aftertaste” that he says is served exclusively with “cheese and crackers” versus a more involved food pairing.
Susan Voigt, 80, said the project which began in 2021 happened “because we had an overabundance of raspberries and had already made so much jam.”
“We let (the wine) sit for a year and a half so it was ready in time for Christmas which was great because it was a beautiful, red wine and had a nice flavor,” she said. “This was something we did for our enjoyment and that of our guests around holiday time.”
She admits that using her own berries for the “six or seven flavors of jam” she makes trumps using them for wine.
The jam production, she said, dates back to when her kids were young “and we made a lot of grape jellies because of PB&Js.”
“I would say we started doing our own jams again back in 2019,” she said. “As far as the wine goes we were pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. We had no idea it was going to work.”
She said it “was the big shocker that it turned out as well as it did.”
Last year’s raspberry crop, the Voigts say, was poor which put the second batch of wine on hold. This year’s crop is back full bore, though.
The Voigts admit they are DIY people and since the wine worked out well they will do it again.
“We’re harvesting the fruit right now for our second batch which will be ready for Christmas of 2024,” Tom Voigt said. “For those who have never done this the trickiest part is having patience and time to let the wine ferment. You have to do everything according to the rules, and you have to watch it constantly.
“It’s an engaging process. You’re involved in watching the wine and watching the sediment settle and then guessing at the alcohol content. It’s just fun,” he said. “It’s something to do and it exceeded our expectation for taste and for the way it felt of your palate. Also, the alcohol content was enough but it wasn’t crazy.”
Despite their first-time success, the Voigts say they have no intention of increasing wine production.
“We made six bottles the first time and we had a bottle for each of our kids and one for each of us,” Susan Voigt said. “You have to go by what the crop produces. Last year was a terrible year and we only did one round of jam last year. We were really pikers. The year before, we did about seven or eight batches of jelly.”
Despite the effort required on the garden, the Voigts say it’s all worth it.
“Gardens,” Tom Voigt said, “are expensive but they delight my wife and our eldest son. Ergo, they happen.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
