A lot of people consider winemaking a hobby which has its fair share of pleasant results. These people enjoy the making of wine and the fact that they serve it to their family and friends. Some of them even get the chance to brag a bit because the wine that they make comes with a pleasant taste to it. It is all usually a part time effort which most of these people during their spare time, at weekends or in the evenings. These people may have researched some basic and essential facts about the process, spoken with some other winemakers, purchased some literature or surfed the net. However their interests usually end here and once their wine has been made they take some time out to wait until the next year before they start once more.
For certain other people winemaking is a career and the dreams that they have, have led them into the process of winemaking. These people want to start their careers as winemakers and work for the wineries. They also want to grow grapes, tend to vineyards and nurture these grapes until they become big and healthy. Certain choices also have to be made and they have to ensure that they receive the right education so that they get the necessary degrees in studies such as Enology and Viniculture.
If you want to study winemaking in the United States, some of the best options are UC Davis and Fresno State which are all in the west. Both of these schools are excellent establishments and they have courses which cater to those who want to know about growing grapes in the warmer climates of the west. If you want to learn about winemaking in the east, you can usually opt to enroll in institutions such as Washington State and Cal Poly, both have programs which are new and still untested but over the years the quality of their programs should become clearly evident. Fresno State and UC Davis are in a constant undeclared battle for the educational market in winemaking. While the UC Davis department is more than a century old, Fresno has a younger department which started some time in the 1950’s.
At UC Davis some effort is going into the setting up of a vineyard. Due to the amount of incoming millions in terms of donations, the winery should be fully operational in the year 2008 and after this period their students will be able to get more hands on experience. From then on they will be able to get involved in different stages in the winemaking process, they will learn about fermentation areas, bottling rooms, a barrel room and an area for storing the bottles as they age. This will work by improving the chances that the students have of working in a winery based on their hands on experience.
Fresno’s faculty is doing rather well too. At least eighteen to twenty five thousand cases of wine are made annually and gobbled up by the market. They started their winery in the year 1997 and they were the first to have a winery as part of their program. Regardless of the school that you choose to graduate from you’ll have the opportunity to stick to your dreams and make the wine that you want to.
pedroTV is embarking on documenting backyard winemaking in Marrickville,Sydney.People will be interviewed,lessons learnt and grapes harvested to make wine in the urban area of Marrickville….2010-2011 www.pedro-tv.com
Sometimes the waiting is the hardest part – but it’s necessary…
In this world where many struggle to make ends meet, enjoying life is more important than ever. The problem gets compounded when you find yourself craving for a few small pleasures that have now moved out of your reach – such as a good glass of wine occasionally.
People get frustrated when they are unable to have a little enjoyment every once in a while. And when they do, their productivity goes down; their interaction quality gets down, and so on which can catapult a person into depression. It is better to find ways of indulging yourself every now and then, to prevent the possibility of depression. Many times, just a good glass of wine with a good hot meal can do wonders.
Wine can be expensive, true. However, there are many ways in which anyone can make quite good wine right at home with ingredients that are already there on the kitchen shelf. In fact, don’t miss out on this article. This means, you can make good wine at little expense to you, no need fancy tools, etc.
The basic tools you will need to make wine at home are simple too. You will need a container where you could measure a gallon of liquid. Then, you will need a normal cup to measure sugar. You will need a container with cover where you will have to agitate the mixture to mix it well. It has to be covered or you will not be able to shake it vigorously and hence the quality of your home-made wine will suffer.
You will need a water heater, where you will warm a bit of water to dissolve the yeast (or hydrate it). This could be done in a cup also.
Next you will a few balloons – actually you will need only one, but sometimes the balloon bursts and you will need to replace it fast, so it is always good to have 2-3 extra ones on hand. Since the balloon will need to be fixed very tightly to the mount of the container, it is good if you also have some twine or a good rubber band to fix it. It so happens that the fermentation will push the balloon off the container sometimes.
Once the wine is done (you will know the process is over when the balloon that was tied at the mouth of the container deflates) you will need to filter the wine through a strainer into another container. The strainer should be extra-extra fine since anything else will allow the residue pass through, giving you a murky wine. The wine should be totally crystal clear and a great tool is a clean piece of cheese cloth.
Once the wine has been strained thoroughly and has absolutely no dregs in it, your wine is ready for consumption. Before doing so, you would need to store in appropriate containers. Hence, you will need some nice bottles (there are a lot of fancy bottles available at very competitive prices) to pour it in. These bottles should be sealed ideally with a cork. So, for each bottle you should have an appropriately sized cork to the bottle can be sealed for storage.
Storage, brings us to the next step of tool requirement. You can store wine in the fridge – this would be for immediate use – and on a specifically designed for this purpose, wine rack. A wine rack makes it possible to keep the wine bottle in a reclined position, which is the best way to store it. The longer it stays this way, the better the wine becomes. So, the quality of the wine stack should be such that it can be used for a long time.
All in all – these are some basic steps you will need to make your own wine at home.
Of all the areas of winemaking that must be studied, one of the most essential is the area of racking. The racking process is what is done in order to have a clear wine that can be bottled. Bits which are left floating about are usually called the lees. These bits must usually be removed in order to allow the wine taste and look better. Nobody (and this especially refers to people who are buying wine) wants to drink wine which has different unknown elements floating in it. Lees or bits may be anything from dead yeast to other things such as dirt and pieces of skin and stems which get into the wine in the process of winemaking.
Racking can be done by taking wine from one bottle and placing it in another one without taking the sediments along with it. Several techniques can be employed in this process; one of these techniques is where wine is siphoned from one bottle to the other. You should then stop the bits as they come closer to the neck of the bottle. After this you should do it again when some months have passed and some time before you bottle the wine as well.
You should repeat this process for the number of times that it will take to clear out the wine. If you still have the sediments after a couple of months, you should repeat the process again and do some waiting before the last bottling process. However you should ensure that you don’t do it that often. You should make sure that it isn’t done more than once every three weeks or so.
Bits may be left to sit for three months if you feel that this suits you best. What you should ensure is that you do not bottle your wine with lees remaining at the bottom. Whatever these sediments are, they may be rotting in your wine and this can affect the flavor of your wine in a way that is very detrimental to everything else. Your wine may be smell and taste bad due to these lees. If you’re the sort that prefers to leave the lees alone for a while, make sure you stir it weekly. This won’t affect the flavor but it will enhance it just as long as it is stirred often. You can also rack your wine if you feel that you have received enough advantages from the lees. When the wine is being racked you should be careful and reduce the contact that it has with the air.
When you have purchased your winemaking equipment you will notice that other than the kit that can be purchased, a lot of other pieces exist which can do a number of other things. You can purchase a number of items which will help you along with the racking process but then again you may not want to do this if this is your first time of making wine. This is because you may not be sure if you want to repeat the winemaking process again. It may just be a one time thing.
One of the great advantages of making your own wine is that you are able to take control of as much of the process as you want. If you want to grow and harvest your own grapes or any other kind of fruit and produce wine you can control every aspect of the process. If, on the other hand, you choose to purchase grape concentrate, you can begin making your wine from that point on. Making wine is largely about making a number of different decisions and taking various factors into consideration. Each factor and each decision will have an impact on your final wine.
One of the first choices you will need to make if you elect to make grape wine and use fruit in order to do it instead of concentrate is whether you want to de-stem the grapes or use the entire cluster. When making this decision it is important to keep in mind that it really does make a difference. If you decide to use the whole cluster then you will find that your wine has a certain flavor and even nuance that is not present if you de-stem the grapes first. This flavor may or may not be appealing to you. Some people describe it as somewhat ‘green.’ If you like that sort of flavor, then using a whole cluster is an excellent choice. A number of very good, award winning wines are produced using the entire cluster. If; however, you do not think you would like that flavor, then it is best to go ahead and de-stem the grapes before you use them for your wine.
Another choice you will have to make is how you want to ferment the must. Yes, there are choices to make here as well. You have two basic choices. You can either ferment in a barrel or a tank. Most winemakers prefer to ferment using a tank. This gives you greater control over the process because the sleeves on the tank give you the option to either heat or cool the must. For example, in the beginning of the fermentation process you may wish to ensure the tanks are cool in order to extract the color from the grape skins. This can also help to stabilize the wine. Of course, you can also choose to ferment your wine in a barrel. This is a popular method when producing white wines because it tends to give them some character that might not be possible from tank fermentation. In the end, it is really up to you and your personal choice, but you will need to make this decision before you produce your first batch of wine.
You will also need to give some thought to the types of yeast that you wish to use. Most beginning winemakers are not aware of the fact that grapes picked straight from the vineyard actually have yeast on them. These are naturally occurring yeasts. As a result, you may choose not to add any additional yeast to the fermentation mix. In this case, you can allow the natural or native yeasts to work on their own. The one downside to this problem is that you may run into a problem known as a stuck fermentation. This is when the yeast reaches a certain point and then it just simply stops. Generally, yeasts that are created in the lab will be more stable. Of course, there is a downside to this as well. Many winemakers feel that lab created yeasts are lacking in flavor when compared to natural yeasts.
If you do choose to use natural yeasts, you will need to be prepared to handle a stuck fermentation in the event that it does occur. Adding a yeast nutrient or energizer can often help to combat this problem by providing the natural yeasts the ‘kick’ they need to finish the fermentation process.
Finally, you will need to give some thought to whether you wish to filter or not filter your wine. There is no set rule regarding this matter. You may find that a wine that has been unfiltered will have a great amount of richness; however, do be aware that there are bacterial issues which may arise if you choose not to filter your wine. In addition, wines that have not been filtered tend to have a cloudier appearance than those that have been filtered.
Sometimes the waiting is the hardest part – but it’s necessary…
Of all the areas of winemaking that must be studied, one of the most essential is the area of racking. The racking process is what is done in order to have a clear wine that can be bottled. Bits which are left floating about are usually called the lees. These bits must usually be removed in order to allow the wine taste and look better. Nobody (and this especially refers to people who are buying wine) wants to drink wine which has different unknown elements floating in it. Lees or bits may be anything from dead yeast to other things such as dirt and pieces of skin and stems which get into the wine in the process of winemaking.
