Hi from Eden Valley South Australia

[mjcrow]

G'day, I'm Mick. My wife and I recently (late 2022) purchased 2 acres in the beautiful Eden Valley South Australia. The biggest bonus was half the property is Riesling vines. I have made plenty of home brew beer, but never tackled wine (although I have drunk my fair share of it). So my challenge is to learn as much as I can about making wine (Riesling in particular) and attempt to make some half decent wine.
So far I have a basket press, and not much else, the current plan is to use stainless steel 50L beer kegs to ferment and age the wine, with different trials for each keg, i.e. try one with "natural wine" so natural yeasts and nothing else added, all the way through to adding the appropriate yeast, and different additives. Hopefully some of it will be OK.
The vines have an irrigation system but I have chosen not to irrigate as I personally prefer the local wines that are dry grown, and I really don't have anything to lose (as long as the vines don't die).
I am open to any and all advice, and still trying to get my head around all the lingo and acronyms.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!
You lucky guy!!!! This is a great place to learn. And you'll pick up the lingo in no time.

 

[VinesnBines]

Welcome! I use 50L kegs for wine storage (secondary) as well. You will want access to a crusher/destemmer as well. You can do your primary ferment in the 50L kegs; the only drawback is that you can't see what is going on . You may want some wider mouth vessels for primary fermentation. Some people use food grade trash bins. You will catch on fast. The challenge iand most fun is growing the grapes.

Good choice on the irrigation. Grapes like dry feet and dry weather.

Good luck!

 

[Rice_Guy]

welcome to WMT, ,,, cousin Mick long time no see, when can I visit?

* major points on my learning curve were 1) assume no free SO2 so just .2 grams meta per gallon 2) yeast do better with organic nitrogen than DAP, 3) whites are harder but judicious use of tannin / natural polyphenols improves the shelf life to approach red grapes

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the hobby!

 

[balatonwine]

You will want access to a crusher/destemmer as well.

Absolutely. Good advice.

You may want some wider mouth vessels for primary fermentation. Some people use food grade trash bins.

For an aromatic white wine like Riesling?

I would not. No. Open air container: Too much chance for air contact/oxidation. Large container: Too much chance for too hot fermentation.

 

[balatonwine]

purchased 2 acres....
....
the current plan is to use stainless steel 50L beer kegs to ferment and age the wine

Grapes can yield 4 to 8 tons* per acre.... if well managed. If you are just starting out, I hope you have a lot of kegs or not so productive vines.... Hopes for what works for you.

* 1 ton of grapes will be about 120 gallons, or about 450 liters of wine.**
** Riesling often has lower yields... it depends. But you still may have a lot of must to ferment.

 

[VinesnBines]

Deleted

 

[balatonwine]

**Deleted** (edited by me - balatonwine)

VinesnBines deleted the post I replied to. So in mutual respect, I am editing and thus deleting my reply.

What is in the past should remain in the past.

 

[balatonwine]

whites are harder but judicious use of tannin / natural polyphenols improves the shelf life to approach red grapes

A good Riesling has a naturally long shelf life. Because a good Riesling's self life has a lot to do with its natural acidity. Nothing else needed. A bad Riesling... well that is another issue.

 

[mjcrow]

Thank you all for such a warm welcome and useful advice, I have a lot to learn and I am sure to make many, many mistakes.

 

[meridaen]

Hey mjcrow, looks like you have a cracker of a property. If you're ever looking for help and willing to pay in grapes, send me a DM on here. I'm in Heathcote (Central Vic), and always keen to give someone a hand and try some fruit from somewhere like EV! I've made about 4 whites before, and can safely say that im better with whites than reds, and my own reisling will give its first fruit this year. We'll be harvesting around the same time, don't be shy to ask a few questions.

Shane

 

[mjcrow]

Hey mjcrow, looks like you have a cracker of a property. If you're ever looking for help and willing to pay in grapes, send me a DM on here. I'm in Heathcote (Central Vic), and always keen to give someone a hand and try some fruit from somewhere like EV! I've made about 4 whites before, and can safely say that im better with whites than reds, and my own reisling will give its first fruit this year. We'll be harvesting around the same time, don't be shy to ask a few questions.

Shane

G'day Shane, I will keep you in mind come harvest time. I should really get around to writing up my experience with last years harvest, tough introduction to growing grapes! Had real issues with ripening, just too cool a Summer, most growers nearby had the same issues. Ended up losing most of the grapes to mould and millipedes. Still ended up with 50L of wine (from the non-mouldy grapes), currently bulk aging in a stainless beer keg. Harvesting was an enjoyable experience, but really hard work, hopefully will be worth the effort.

 

[ibglowin]

Welcome to WMT! If you haven't already grab a copy of the MoreWinemaking manual to White Winemaking. It will become your Bible/Primer and guide you along the way to making some great wine. The other manuals are pretty good to!

https://morewinemaking.com/content/winemanuals?ref=5E

 

[meridaen]

G'day Shane, I will keep you in mind come harvest time. I should really get around to writing up my experience with last years harvest, tough introduction to growing grapes! Had real issues with ripening, just too cool a Summer, most growers nearby had the same issues. Ended up losing most of the grapes to mould and millipedes. Still ended up with 50L of wine (from the non-mouldy grapes), currently bulk aging in a stainless beer keg. Harvesting was an enjoyable experience, but really hard work, hopefully will be worth the effort.

You picked a dandy year to start! A lot of the fruit around Heathcote was wiped out, especially the Cab Sav and Grenache, simply couldn't get the machinery into the vineyards until December.

I only planted my vines last year so no fruit was lost TF. How did it taste going into the keg?

 

[mjcrow]

It tasted rough but OK, surprisingly, I plan to bottle it next month, so I shall see how well it has aged.