After much delay I finally racked my two batches of blackberry wine, and combined them into one 5 gallon batch so it would only use up one carboy. It seems to be a very nice ruby red color, except when the yeast is still in suspension, at which point it looks a lot like tinted primer.
I also started another batch going (about 2 1/2 gallons) with the last of this year’s blackberries. They’ve spent more time in the fridge than they really should, though, so I’m not sure how tasty it will turn out. In fact, I saw some bubbling while the berries were soaking (before I added the yeast), which could mean some wild yeasts got a head start. But since the only real costs were a packet of yeast and a bag of sugar (and a lot of holes in my hands), it’s no big loss if it’s gone bad – we’ll just have a lot of blackberry vinegar to bottle.