The Art of Making Red Wine at Home Wine making can be intimidating, but. . . Every wine has its own story, and here is mine. . . Early October 2022.. . At a friend's vineyard in Oregon I got some beautiful pinot noir just before harvest started The other day, I started my first batch of wine. Before I move on, I'd like to stress that I don't typically drink any type of alcohol, including wine. Making this wine was purely out of my love for fermented foods and my desire to do so with one ingredient – grapes! Rinse all the grapes removing the large stems while keeping the small stems intact and crushed.
. . The juice is grayish cloudy. I can check the sugar level now. . . If you want to know the final alcohol level but I won't do that this time, put the crushed grapes in a large glass bowl leaving some space at the top with a clean edge covered with a clean, well-ventilated cloth. . . Be thick enough to prevent fruit flies and leave to ferment at room temperature (it was about 65-68F in my house) Day 1. . . Fermentation has not started yet but I know it works great pushing the floating grapes down once to make sure each grape is under the juice I can see the juice has turned dark red overnight I cover the jars back up and let the fermentation continue day 2.. . The grapes floated and I saw active bubbles and more fruit flies on the fabric. These are signs that fermentation has begun. Pushing the grapes down. The juice smells like vinegar mixed with alcohol. The color is surreal. I should have stopped pushing.
. . But I kept doing it just to see the color from day 3 to day 5.. . The fermentation was at its peak and the smell of alcohol was so strong I had to push the grapes down an average of 3-4 times a day I enjoyed the process very much and didn't mind the work at all Sometimes stopping what I was doing to watch the bubbles makes me slow down and take time to enjoy such a simple thing It's amazing how you watch good bacteria do their work. . . It can give me a lot of peace and joy during day 6-7 The fermentation was slowing down a lot and most of the grapes sank to the bottom by day 8. . . First fermentation is complete No more active bubbles Smells more like wine than vinegar Now it's time to strain it through a strainer and cheesecloth Also bag the nut milk in a bowl Straining out just the juice first This is free wine They scoop the grapes into the bag Strain the free nut milk the rest of the wine without any pressing and turning Wine to a narrow neck glass bottle I use an easy siphon.
. . But I didn't prepare well and instead let gravity work. . . By the halfway point I had to pump it all the way out but it worked fine. Filling the bottle by the handle and capping it tightly with the airlock left it fermenting again at room temperature. . . For another month or so here are two batches of wine I made for a week now it's time to press the grapes this is a very messy process I couldn't squeeze all the juice I wanted with my hands it would be easier with a wine press but I'm fine without one I'm going to use this juice to make grape vinegar in glass jars close the lids Loosely. . . To let some air in and let it ferment at room temperature for at least another 2 weeks after 6 weeks of secondary fermentation there is sediment at the bottom of the bottles time to strain to get rid of the sediment for a clearer wine that smells like good wine now and I am very happy with the taste using the same easy siphon And letting gravity do the work this time I can figure out the alcohol level in this step.
. . If you checked the sugar level at first you stopped before you got to the sediment at the bottom and you ended up with less wine to make up for what you lost, you pumped more into the small bottle. Doing this adds more air to the wine but it was fine. I re-locked the airlock and left it sitting in Room temperature for 3 days. Then I repeated the racking process again after 3 days of racking.
. . My wine is ready for bottling I washed these old bottles that friends provided me with boiling water Lifting the bottles I expected this process to be very messy so I did it in the sink making sure not to add as much air to the bottles as expected. . . I poured it but it went well then I got 5 bottles of one gallon of wine topping each bottle and making sure. . . To leave enough room for the cork and clean each bottle sulphites will be added if you choose to use them at this point, but I prefer not to use them The cork was the hardest part for me because I enjoy making wine so much and plan to make it every year from now on I decided to invest in a corker floor It's a very simple mechanism.
. . I know it will last a long time I didn't bring enough bottles. . . Ended up using a few random bottles at the time I knew the wine was going to be good I personally ordered the labels We will be drinking the random bottles soon and the regular bottles are aged for at least 6 months They should last us until I do it again The taste is amazing and I know exactly how my wine is made I hope You will have enjoyed my wine making story and may it inspire you one day Thank you for being with me until the end I will see you again soon!