Its Wine o'clock!

[9CourseWineMusician]

Maestro (JohnT),

Absolutely AWESOME! This was very easy to follow - easy for me to budget now, and I have a place to start! Thank you so very much for all of this helpful information! Now, and I don't mean to get to technical my 'first day on the job', are there considerations for temperatures and even lighting conditions before I begin?

Thanks!

 

[JohnT]

Maestro (JohnT),

Absolutely AWESOME! This was very easy to follow - easy for me to budget now, and I have a place to start! Thank you so very much for all of this helpful information! Now, and I don't mean to get to technical my 'first day on the job', are there considerations for temperatures and even lighting conditions before I begin?

Thanks!

Control of temperature can be important. Whereever you plan to ferment your wine, you need to have it from 65 to 75 degrees. For storing wine, you want to choose a location that is cool where the temperature does not make wild swings (anywhere from 55 to 70 degrees is fine.

My advice at this point is to surf the net for "free home wine making videos. They can be a wealth of information and a picture is worth 1000 words.

BTW, I LIKE being called "Maestro", but many others here have plenty of winemaking knowledge and experience also.

 

[grapeman]

Welcome to the forum.
Making wine from grapes is very satisfying, but you need to do it when the grapes are in season. Right now they will be hard to source. You could begin by buying juice in a pail that has been frozen or is juice from concentrate that has been rehydrated. That will be a lot easier this time of year and avoids you needing to buy more expensive equipment to start. You can still make a very nice wine with juice and often it has been balanced for sugar and acid already, avoiding the necessity for expensive test equipment. The basic process is the same as for grapes but a lot of the work and expense is already done. If you begin it this way you avoid that expense and can buy a good quality juice to make a nice wine.

Either way you do it will be a fun learning curve and experience.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Maestro! Well, its only a compliment, for 'jumping in with both feet' to help a very inexperienced novice and in the world of music its the highest honor you can bestow on a mentor. Like 'Chef' in the food world. Its my way of saying thanks for helping!

GrapeMan - That is some very good advice, and makes perfectly logical sense, considering the timing. I will definitely look into that as well - just to get the science of fermenting started so that I don't waste my live grapes! Thank you!

 

[Pumpkinman]

M&M still has Juice buckets and frozen crushed grape pails as well.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Ok, this all sounds awesome! Again, I feel I want to get 'started' as soon as I can, and perhaps what I mean by 'starting small' is to take the PROCESS a chunk/step at a time. Its all so very exciting (a little overwhelming) but luckily I have JohnT (Maestro) and the rest of you great people to break it down to 'Duck Hunt and Double Dribble' for me, and I really appreciate it!

 

[JohnT]

Starting with a juice bucket or two might be a good place to start, but be advised...

Reds made from bucket juice tend to be lighter in color and shorter on taste and body. This is because you do not have the option of soaking the juice on the skins of grapes. This process (maceration) is how a winemaker controls the color, body, flavor, and Tannic structure of the wine. I am not saying that the wine will be horrible. I am just saying that the wine might taste a little flat, but will still be very drinkable.

Additionally, most juice buckets have been pre-treated and adjusted for PH and Free run SO2. This is not to say that this is a bad thing, but you will probably not need to do any of the adjustments that you would normally need to do when dealing with grapes.

Starting with bucket juice is a very good place to start. You can gain a foothold on fermentation prior to this fall's grape season.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Maestro,

Simply a curiosity question: Is it possible to use grapes with bucket juice solely for the purpose of skin nutrients? Or is that a season thing?

And thank you for that nugget on control of body, color...ect I didn't know that! Amazing!

*sorry if I sound giddy, this is all so very exciting to me!*

 

[JohnT]

Maestro,

Simply a curiosity question: Is it possible to use grapes with bucket juice solely for the purpose of skin nutrients? Or is that a season thing?

And thank you for that nugget on control of body, color...ect I didn't know that! Amazing!

*sorry if I sound giddy, this is all so very exciting to me!*

In short, yes you can. I would add that you can not just simply use any old grape. You need to use proper wine grapes. I have heard of folks also using dehydrated grape skins, but this is a step that you would not be doing if you were to begin with fresh grapes.

Maceration (or letting juice ferment on the skins) is how red wine gets it's color and flavor. As an exercise in what I am talking about, go get a bottle of white Zinfandel and also a bottle of red zinfandel, then taste both. These wines were made from the same grape, but were made using two different processes. The white Zinfandel was crushed and then press immediately to produce a rose. For the red zin, the wine and the juice were allowed to ferment together to produce a dark robust red wine.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Maestro,

See, I am learning about stuff I'm learning! LOL! Is red zin (or most, anyway) made from other fruits such as strawberries like some white zin's are, as well? Just, as you say, the process of fermentation is different (same ingredients - different procedure)? ...sound about right?

*these convos would be SO much better over a bottle (or 10) of wine!*

 

[sour_grapes]

I'm not, uhhh, Maestro, but I can answer that red Zinfandels are made only from Zinfandel grapes. (Of course, you may blend up to a certain percentage with other grapes, and still call it a Zinfandel.) The US law is that a wine bearing the name of a grape varietal (such as Zinfandel) must contain 75% by volume of juice from that grape. Some states/locales/AVAs have stricter rules.

 

[cimbaliw]

Welcome 9CWM, obviously a good group here.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Sour Grapes,

There is actual legislation about the CONTENT of wine? Really!? Wow, my how far we've fallen. That is neither here nor there. Not sure if I agree with that or not, by the same token, I probably don't know enough about wine to determine whether I agree or not. LOL! Either way, I didn't know THAT and its kind of interesting.

Other than normal alcohol rules and regs, I didn't know there was actual legislation governing nomenclature. Again, interesting!

Thanks!

 

[grapeman]

Maestro,

See, I am learning about stuff I'm learning! LOL! Is red zin (or most, anyway) made from other fruits such as strawberries like some white zin's are, as well? Just, as you say, the process of fermentation is different (same ingredients - different procedure)? ...sound about right?

*these convos would be SO much better over a bottle (or 10) of wine!*

Like Sour_grapes said, Zin needs to be 75% zin. When people sense a strawberry note, it is not from strawberries. You can get all sorts of tastes and smells from the wine and generally it is all from the grapes. How strong the perceived taste or smell is is dependant on the way the wine was made and from the specifice location the grapes were grown and even influenced by the weather from the growing season. And yes, commercially there are laws governing the contents of the wine.

 

[GreginND]

The labeling and content laws are there to protect the consumer and ensure they are getting what they think they are getting when they buy a bottle of wine.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

That makes sense.

 

[sour_grapes]

I know the point has been ably made and accepted already, but let me ask this question: How would you feel if you bought a bottle of "Cabernet Sauvignon" and later found that it was 97% Grenache, and 3% Cabernet Sauvignon?

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Sour Grapes:

A good question, however, I am afraid that I am such a novice in this 'hobby' that I doubt I would even know the difference - to be perfectly honest. However your point is not lost on me. I do understand what it is you are saying. :-D Thank you for clarifying!

 

[sour_grapes]

That having been said, this is really a restriction on labeling. As far as I know, you can make a wine out of (nearly) anything and sell it, that is, there is (nearly) no restriction on content. You just have to call it what it is. And if you call it something like "Red Wine," you don't even have to tell us exactly what is in it.

 

[9CourseWineMusician]

Sour Grapes,

I see what you mean - the word 'content' was the wrong usage. LOL! But I do understand what you mean.