Historical methods
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Boozehag
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The wine or the fruit Troy? I dont know any other winemakers to share the fruit with but have a long list of people lining up for the wine tasting and a few who will be getting some bottles of wine for thier kindness and just cause I like them of course too!
This is one fun hobby and a great end result!!! Like being the new kid on the block with the only swimming pool!
Collette
This is one fun hobby and a great end result!!! Like being the new kid on the block with the only swimming pool!
Collette
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arcticsid
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Teach em how to fish...
If you teach them how to swim then you will all benefit. Share some of your wine, or your fruit, somehow or another you will all benefit from swimming. I am sure your friends can't wait to benefit from your wine. Encourage, (demand) they chip in on the hobby, because soon, it will be you who does the work and the waiting and everything else, and I guarantee they will be your friends then. It is more fun to share. Learning something by yourself gains you nothing.
Take good care
Troy
If you teach them how to swim then you will all benefit. Share some of your wine, or your fruit, somehow or another you will all benefit from swimming. I am sure your friends can't wait to benefit from your wine. Encourage, (demand) they chip in on the hobby, because soon, it will be you who does the work and the waiting and everything else, and I guarantee they will be your friends then. It is more fun to share. Learning something by yourself gains you nothing.
Take good care
Troy
Boozehag
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Oh of course. its becoming the thing to do here again apparently. Ive invited my friend who I chat with about it...we're not in the same city sadly but I think we will be sharing our wine when its ready!
We are also trying to get our friends into it...still a bit of a phobia of bad home made wine from the 70s feeling out there though...not adventurous some people!
We are also trying to get our friends into it...still a bit of a phobia of bad home made wine from the 70s feeling out there though...not adventurous some people!
Wine and Grapes - History
Funny you should ask that question....
I am interested in historical winemaking and have copied some of my notes below...
The history of wine and grapes is closely intertwined because Grapes are the perfect fruit for winemaking. They will ferment into wine if left in a container. Grapes have a naturally occuring yeast on thier skins, they will naturally contain a workable balance of sugars and acid to make wine that is drinkable. and when they are through ferementing they contain enough natural alchol and sulfides to preserve them, at least for a short time.
Many of the wines made in ancient and medieval time were not treated as we do today and they did not last. The drinkable lifespan was measured in months. They were not as clear and often were watered down and or spiced.
More notes:
The appearance of Vitis vinifera on earth has been dated to between 130 to 200 million years ago. Mankind’s relationship to this plant dates to the Neolithic period. Wild grapes were harvested by foragers and early farmers. For thousands of years, the fruit has been harvested for both medicinal and nutritional value; its history is intimately entwined with the history of wine.
Changes in pip shape (narrower in domesticated forms) and distribution point to domestication occurring about 3500-3000 BC, in southwest Asia or South Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia). Cultivation of the domesticated grape spread to other parts of the Old World in pre-historic or early historic times.
The first written accounts of grapes and wine can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh and ancient Sumarian text from the third millennium BCE. There are also numerous hieroglyphic references from ancient Egypt, according to which wine was reserved exclusively for priests, state functionaries and the pharaoh.
The ancient Greeks introduced grape growing and wine making to Europe in the Minoan age. Hesiod in his Works and Days gives detailed descriptions of grape harvests and wine making techniques, and there are also many references in Homer. Greek colonists then introduced these practices in their colonies, especial in southern Italy (Magna Grecia), which was even known as “Enotria” due to its propitious climate.
The Etruscans improved wine making techniques and developed an export trade even beyond the Mediterranean basin.
The ancient Romans further developed the techniques learnt from the Etruscans, as shown by numerous works of literature containing information that is still valid today: De Agri Cultura by Cato the Elder, De re rustica by Marcus Terentius Varro, the Georgics by Virgil and De re rustica by Columella.
During the third and fourth centuries AD, the long crisis of the Roman Empire generated instability in the countryside which led to a reduction of viticulture in general, and was mainly sustained only close to towns and cities and along coastlines.
Between the fifth and tenth centuries, viticulture was sustained almost exclusively by the different religious orders in monasteries. The Benedictines and others extended the grape growing limit northwards and also planted new vineyards at higher altitudes than was customary before. Apart from ‘ecclesiastical’ viticulture, there also developed, especially in France, a ‘noble’ viticulture, practiced by the aristocracy as a symbol of prestige.
Grape growing was a significant economic activity in the Middle east up to the seventh century, when the expansion of Islam caused it to decline.
Between the Low Middle Ages and the Renaissance, viticulture took off again. Demographic pressure, population concentration in towns and cities and increased spending power of artisans and merchants gave rise to increased investment in viticulture, which became economically feasible once again.
A lot of literature was also written during the Renaissance period on grape growing and wine production, favouring a more scientific approach, and can be considered as the origin of modern ampellography.
Grapes followed European colonies around the world, coming to North America around the 1600s, and to Africa, South America and Australia. In North America it formed hybrids with native species from the Vitis genus; some of these were intentional hybrids created to combat phylloxera, an insect pest which affected the European grapevine to a much greater extent than North American ones and in fact managed to devastate European wine production in a matter of years. Later, North American rootstocks became widely used to graft V. vinifera cultivars so as to withstand the presence of phylloxera.
In the second half of the twentieth century there was a shift attitude in viticulture from traditional techniques to the scientific method based on fields such as microbiology, chemistry and ampellography. This change came about also due to changes in economic and cultural aspects and in the way of life and in the consumption habits of wide sectors of the population starting to demand quality products.
Funny you should ask that question....
I am interested in historical winemaking and have copied some of my notes below...
The history of wine and grapes is closely intertwined because Grapes are the perfect fruit for winemaking. They will ferment into wine if left in a container. Grapes have a naturally occuring yeast on thier skins, they will naturally contain a workable balance of sugars and acid to make wine that is drinkable. and when they are through ferementing they contain enough natural alchol and sulfides to preserve them, at least for a short time.
Many of the wines made in ancient and medieval time were not treated as we do today and they did not last. The drinkable lifespan was measured in months. They were not as clear and often were watered down and or spiced.
More notes:
The appearance of Vitis vinifera on earth has been dated to between 130 to 200 million years ago. Mankind’s relationship to this plant dates to the Neolithic period. Wild grapes were harvested by foragers and early farmers. For thousands of years, the fruit has been harvested for both medicinal and nutritional value; its history is intimately entwined with the history of wine.
Changes in pip shape (narrower in domesticated forms) and distribution point to domestication occurring about 3500-3000 BC, in southwest Asia or South Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia). Cultivation of the domesticated grape spread to other parts of the Old World in pre-historic or early historic times.
The first written accounts of grapes and wine can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh and ancient Sumarian text from the third millennium BCE. There are also numerous hieroglyphic references from ancient Egypt, according to which wine was reserved exclusively for priests, state functionaries and the pharaoh.
The ancient Greeks introduced grape growing and wine making to Europe in the Minoan age. Hesiod in his Works and Days gives detailed descriptions of grape harvests and wine making techniques, and there are also many references in Homer. Greek colonists then introduced these practices in their colonies, especial in southern Italy (Magna Grecia), which was even known as “Enotria” due to its propitious climate.
The Etruscans improved wine making techniques and developed an export trade even beyond the Mediterranean basin.
The ancient Romans further developed the techniques learnt from the Etruscans, as shown by numerous works of literature containing information that is still valid today: De Agri Cultura by Cato the Elder, De re rustica by Marcus Terentius Varro, the Georgics by Virgil and De re rustica by Columella.
During the third and fourth centuries AD, the long crisis of the Roman Empire generated instability in the countryside which led to a reduction of viticulture in general, and was mainly sustained only close to towns and cities and along coastlines.
Between the fifth and tenth centuries, viticulture was sustained almost exclusively by the different religious orders in monasteries. The Benedictines and others extended the grape growing limit northwards and also planted new vineyards at higher altitudes than was customary before. Apart from ‘ecclesiastical’ viticulture, there also developed, especially in France, a ‘noble’ viticulture, practiced by the aristocracy as a symbol of prestige.
Grape growing was a significant economic activity in the Middle east up to the seventh century, when the expansion of Islam caused it to decline.
Between the Low Middle Ages and the Renaissance, viticulture took off again. Demographic pressure, population concentration in towns and cities and increased spending power of artisans and merchants gave rise to increased investment in viticulture, which became economically feasible once again.
A lot of literature was also written during the Renaissance period on grape growing and wine production, favouring a more scientific approach, and can be considered as the origin of modern ampellography.
Grapes followed European colonies around the world, coming to North America around the 1600s, and to Africa, South America and Australia. In North America it formed hybrids with native species from the Vitis genus; some of these were intentional hybrids created to combat phylloxera, an insect pest which affected the European grapevine to a much greater extent than North American ones and in fact managed to devastate European wine production in a matter of years. Later, North American rootstocks became widely used to graft V. vinifera cultivars so as to withstand the presence of phylloxera.
In the second half of the twentieth century there was a shift attitude in viticulture from traditional techniques to the scientific method based on fields such as microbiology, chemistry and ampellography. This change came about also due to changes in economic and cultural aspects and in the way of life and in the consumption habits of wide sectors of the population starting to demand quality products.
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Wine history - Corks
Cork has been used as a closure for wine and other liquids since the Egyptians. However, European use of cork was not wide spread until the 1600s, when a French monk called Dom Pérignon substituted cork for the traditional european closure. Containers holding sparkling wine traditionally had been plugged by wooden stoppers wrapped in olive oil-soaked hemp. Dom Pérignon observed that these stoppers often popped out. He successfully swapped the conical plugs for cork stoppers and cork soon became essential for wine bottling. From the late 1700's, the spread of mass-produced glass bottles with a uniform neck and opening helped to advance the acceptance of cork stoppers, not just for wine but a wide range of liquids.
Cork has been used as a closure for wine and other liquids since the Egyptians. However, European use of cork was not wide spread until the 1600s, when a French monk called Dom Pérignon substituted cork for the traditional european closure. Containers holding sparkling wine traditionally had been plugged by wooden stoppers wrapped in olive oil-soaked hemp. Dom Pérignon observed that these stoppers often popped out. He successfully swapped the conical plugs for cork stoppers and cork soon became essential for wine bottling. From the late 1700's, the spread of mass-produced glass bottles with a uniform neck and opening helped to advance the acceptance of cork stoppers, not just for wine but a wide range of liquids.
fuzzmeister
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Nitasch I see you have some sweet rasberry mead bulk aging would you happen to have the recipie for this and would you mind sharing it thanks
fuzz
fuzz
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