Eating Berry A and Niagara

On a certain day in September, I stopped by the local greengrocer and, to my surprise, discovered some "Berry A." Furthermore, there was also "Niagara." And it was quite cheap, too.

Berry A is often written as "Muscat Bailey A" or "Muscat Berry A" when referring to wine grapes, but upon investigation, it is the same variety as the one used for wine.
My impression is that many wines made from it are finished as dry to off-dry light-bodied wines.

Niagara is a representative of domestic sweet casual wines. If you are talking about easily accessible "off-dry" white Japanese wines, you could say that almost all of them are either Niagara or Delaware (this is just my personal feeling).

As someone who previously barged into a winery to eat grapes before they were fermented, I had no choice but to try them. So, I bought them.

While I was paying and bagging them, I noticed there were two bunches of Niagara in the pack and felt intimidated. I can't possibly eat all of this.
Could I... make wine with this...? (No illegal home brewing, absolutely not.)
That was a joke; I'll head home right away and check the flavor.

Berry A

First, I try smelling the bunch, but it's a bit green. Rather than refreshing, it's more of a stem-like scent. I feel like there's a faint hint of something like polyphenols, perhaps?

I tried eating it, but it is very difficult to describe. If I had to say, maybe it has some acidity?
It has a clean, light, and sweet-and-sour impression.
It's a black grape, so it's natural to say this, but I can feel a complexity derived from the skin? Something like tannins.

It's delicious as a grape, but I don't feel any unique flavor, and honestly, I wouldn't have the confidence to say it's Berry A if I were eating it blind.

It is said that Muscat Bailey A wine has a scent like so-called "strawberry candy," but I don't feel that nuance at all.

However, even Gewürztraminer doesn't have that scent in the fruit itself, and that scent only emerges at the pressing stage, so perhaps Berry A is the same.

In the case of red wine, the skins are soaked in the juice during production, so if it becomes wine, the complexity and tannins of the skin will likely emerge.

Niagara

Niagara is, well, the moment I smelled the bunch, it was completely Muscat.

When I took a bite, it was exactly like sweet Niagara wine.
The slightly seedy, crisp flavor I always felt when drinking the wine was there just the same.
It's amazing that the flavor of the raw material comes through so directly.

Since it was a hassle to eat while removing the skin and seeds, I put them in a Tupperware container after removing the skin and seeds and ate them at night, but they had become nameless grapes.

The flavor of the skin and the flavor of the seeds express the Niagara-ness, is that it?
I'm learning something.

With the grapes alone, they were quite tart and the sweetness didn't really stand out, so I got the impression that you probably can't achieve that (wine) flavor without using Niagara grapes that have a higher sugar content.

Bonus

I enjoyed the leftover grapes by making them into jam to put in yogurt before they went bad, or by making them intosake cocktails (*caution*).

*Caution*

I don't recommend putting whole Niagara grapes into sake as it doesn't really bring out the flavor. Also, please be aware thatsoaking them in sake until the Niagara flavor comes out is a violation of the Liquor Tax Act.

Furthermore,even with alcohol of 20% or higher, grapes are an ingredient you are not allowed to soak. Thinking it's autumn and deciding to make fruit liquor with grapes instead of plums is a no-go.You'll get arrested, so please be seriously careful.

This article also provides a rough explanation of the Liquor Tax Act for your reference.

Even when making jam, it takes quite a bit of effort to remove the skins and seeds, but in particular,Niagara jam and sake are a perfect match! If you can get your hands on Niagara grapes andhave the time and peace of mind, please give it a try.

Niagara grapes were less than 300 yen for two bunches, so thinking about it that way, it might end up cheaper than buying store-bought jam. Even though it takes effort to remove the seeds.

I learned the greatness of seedless grapes and the amazing ability of Niagara wine to reproduce its raw materials.

That's all!