Organic Wine Process

[Sir_Grapes_Alot]

Hello Everyone!

I'm a new member trying to soak up as much knowledge of the beautiful art of wine making, but before I dare take the plunge, I would love to hear from members who have successfully managed to produce organic wine at home, a summarized step by step process would be great,what works and what doesn't! my main reason for wanting to do this is to eliminate or at the very least dramatically reduce any artificial chemicals if possible not because I have any unusually allergies but simply because I don't want to use these chemicals if possible, i have see from other online resources that it is possible but you seem to run the risk of increasing batch failures and this is a risk I am willing to take, but being brand new to this I am open to all help and advise whether this is going to be possible or not.thanks you

 

[Johnd]

Hello Everyone!

I'm a new member trying to soak up as much knowledge of the beautiful art of wine making, but before I dare take the plunge, I would love to hear from members who have successfully managed to produce organic wine at home, a summarized step by step process would be great,what works and what doesn't! my main reason for wanting to do this is to eliminate or at the very least dramatically reduce any artificial chemicals if possible not because I have any unusually allergies but simply because I don't want to use these chemicals if possible, i have see from other online resources that it is possible but you seem to run the risk of increasing batch failures and this is a risk I am willing to take, but being brand new to this I am open to all help and advise whether this is going to be possible or not.thanks you

It is certainly possible to produce wines without adding anything "artificial" to them, and it is as you say, increased risk of failure and the potential for very short aging windows in which to drink your wine. Personally, I do as little to my wines as possible, I do use enzymes to break the fruit down for better extraction, and won't hesitate to adjust the acidity or sugar content if needed (they already have tartaric acid and sugar in them anyway), and use sulfites for both sanitation and as an anti-oxidant / anti-microbial as sparingly as possible based upon the characteristics of the wine.

Additionally, if you're going to go down that path, finding grapes that satisfy your criteria will be excessively difficult, as I assume you'll be looking for organically grown grapes, no chemical fertilizers, no pest controls, etc.. We sometimes have a hard time finding out what vineyards our grapes originated from, much less being able to dictate that they be cultivated and harvested to our liking.

If you're lucky enough to live in or very near a good wine grape growing region, your ability to secure the kind of fruit you are looking for will be enhanced. If you can grow your own, you'll certainly be in a very good place to accomplish your goals, provided the critters, diseases and bugs don't get them first.

 

[Ajmassa]

Sure its possible. And can be quite simple to do actually-
Welcome to WMT btw. Can be as easy as crushing your grapes, letting the natural yeast ferment the juice on its own, press and rack when appropriate, and proceed with standard racking schedule.
Without using sulphites the most important thing is keeping your aging vessels topped up so there’s as little O2 exposure as possible. And for microbial concerns just make sure your equipment (and anything that touches your wine) is properly sanitized. The co2 formed during the ferment helps protect for a while and also the natural acids. (If wine is at a high ph this is much more difficult to do without developing an issue)
It will degas on its own. It will clear on its own (typically) There’s also organic nutrients you can feed the fermentation— FermaidO (organic).
I recently made a batch like this. All I added upfront was some sugar to boost the abv- no yeast, no nutrients, no malolactic, and all went well. (I did recently add sulphites for the aging process however). It might be difficult to find fresh organic grapes to purchase tho. Many fall and all spring harvests ship w/ some form of preservatives- making this hobby possible (even frozen grape musts contain so2 I think)
Some newer hipster organic wines can taste funky- and they say “that’s because its organic and it’s an acquired taste”. That’s bogus IMO. They’re just flawed wines being sold to a niche crowd. You can make perfectly good wine this way. Just remember- the slightest touch of so2 can go a long way!
This forum is awesome so any questions you’ve got just fire away

 

[Scooter68]

IF you are committed to making "Organic Wine" sans chemicals, Your best hope for success is to find someone in your area that will physically assist you in the process. The old expression - "You don't know what you don't know." is very true with wine making. Without an experienced person guiding you along the way, there chance of failure is going to be pretty high.

IF you set the bar so high by refusing to use any 'non-organic' means, chemicals, or supplies, you are handcuffing yourself and odds are you are headed for more failures than success. Even with success you will find that your organic wine will have a substantially different taste because of the lack of aging and chemicals needed to both balance/finish the wine and preserve the wine.

Another point is that you will have to invest in some basic equipment such as a hydrometer, racking cane and several other pieces of basic equipment. If you haven't done some basic reading on the equipment needed that should be your next step.

 

[NorCal]

Some good points by the posters before me. My Viognier (white grape) wine was just that until recently; 100% fermented juice (with yeast and nutrients...are these chemicals?) If I made a smaller batch and knew I would consume it within the next 4-6 months I would feel comfortable skipping any SO2 additions (note: some presence of SO2 in wine is totally natural occurring)

As others pointed out, the typical grape gets sprayed with fungicides, insecticides quite regularly, as the grapes are very susceptible to disease and becoming insect food, without taking other organic farming steps. Finding true organic grapes would be your first and probably most difficult step.