Home Wine Making: The History and Benefits

Wine has been around for thousands of years.  It has been reported that Noah discovered wine making after his ordeal with the flood.

From ancient civilizations to modern times, wine has been produced and enjoyed by many people of all walks of life.  The first evidence of wine produced dates back to 6000BC during the Mesopotamian culture.  It has been shown that the Mesopotamians were the first people to cultivate grapes.

Although not the first to produce wine, the ancient Egyptians were the first people to record the wine making process.  They recorded the harvest of grapes on stone tablets and on the walls of their tombs.  It has been reported that their love of wine, forced them to import the grapes that they were unable to grow themselves.  It has been recorded that many Pharaohs were buried with bottles of wine with them to assure their journey to the next world be more enjoyable.  Just as in modern times, wine was a very social drink in Ancient Egypt.

Wine also played a major role in the religion of Ancient Greece.  It was associated with the god Dionysus and was praised by Greek poets, historians and artists.  Much like the ancient Egyptians, wine was considered a privilege and only the upper class were permitted to consume it.

During the time of the Roman Empire, the production of wine spread throughout Europe.  It was at this time that wine became available to the common citizens.  It has been found that the consumption of wine became so popular that some cities built bars on nearly every street just for the purpose of drinking and celebrating wine.  Pure red or white wines were unheard of in ancient Rome, instead the Romans believed that adding flavor to their wine was more important than to taste the original flavor of the wine.  They began to add flavors such as garlic and onion to their wines.

During the Dark Ages, wine production was made by the efforts of monasteries.  As the church expanded, so did their wine production.  It was at this time that some of the finest vineyards in Europe began to develop.  Due to the fact that Europe lacked a source for clean, safe drinking water, wine was considered to be an important part of everyday life.

During the 17th century, the wine industry saw a brief decline.  A supply of clean drinking water was now available so wine was no longer needed as a major part of the daily diet.  Politics and religion did not help matters by doing very little to promote drinking wine for pleasure.  During the 18th century, wine went through many changes.  Because of England’s strained relationship with France, they were without a major source of wine and had to look to Portugal, Holland and South Africa for their wine.  Even with having bad relations with England, the wines of Bordeaux began to flourish during the 18th century.  Merchants traveled from all over Europe just to get a chance of obtaining Bordeaux wines.  As a result Bordeaux made trades for coffee and other sought after items.  This cemented their place in the wine making world.

Although the 19th century is considered the golden age of wines, it has been found that many of the French grapevines began to suffer from a mysterious disease at this time.  For this reason, some French winemakers moved to the Rioja region of Spain and taught their people the process of wine making.

In modern times, wine is as popular as ever.  The process of wine making has developed greatly.  After the development of refrigeration, it was easier for wineries to control the temperature of their fermentation process.  This enabled high quality wines to be produced anywhere, regardless of the climate.

More countries are producing wine at greater varieties more than ever before.  Although the art of wine making has essentially remained the same, every new recipe allows a more unique take on wine and its varieties.

There are many benefits to home wine making. Aside from the health benefits you can get from moderate consumption of wine, home wine making can be quite fulfilling.  Home wine making is an enjoyable, educational and satisfying hobby.  The process of making wine at home has become more and more popular with the ease of home wine making kits that are now available.  Recipes and instructions make the process easy and successful for anyone interested.  For wine enthusiasts around the world, creating wine at home provides a sense of fulfillment that for many can be unmatched.

Experienced vintners will often stress the importance of sanitizing equipment and work areas for wine production in making their wines and vintages. There is so much that the new vintner might be concerned about whether they have done a good enough job before starting their winemaking process. One must keep in mind that sterilization is not a necessary requirement, that is where every micro-organism is killed and nothing can live on the surfaces of our equipment and work areas.

Indeed, sterilization is impossible under normal circumstances and definitely undesirable when producing wine. Sanitization on the other hand is the process of making our equipment unfavorable to bacteria growth. Bacteria, as a rule, can be very harmful. The acid bacteria of the damaging kind will turn wine into vinegar, and that’s what we as wine growers don’t want.

In essence there are numerous kinds of products available to winemakers for sanitation purposes, one really needs to just keep things very simple and use only one product for sanitation. In doing so, becoming distracted about what products that are being used or use one when you really actually meant to use another can be tricky. Potassium metabisulfite is used to stabilize and protect wines as an additive. It can also be used to make a sanitizing solution with water. It works, so why purchase other ingredients to do exactly what potassium metabisulfite accomplishes.

To make things easy and fast for home winemaking, one must make up a complete solution in a one gallon jug that has a tight fitting top lid. The accepted ratio is 3 tablespoons of potassium metabisulfite to one gallon of water. You can usually make the solution somewhat stronger. If you use five tablespoons, this will do, because the solution gradually can lose some of it’s strength over time, especially when stored above 65 degrees.

One can also use a small spray bottle that you can fill with the solution of water and potassium metabisulfite. For sanitizing the surfaces of airlocks, bungs and the plastic spoons, you can simply spray those surfaces with the solution using the spray bottle. Rinse with water, and you are done. The spray bottle is also helpful in sanitizing work areas such as counter tops and work areas. Using these three tips will help you sanitize your equipment and work area fast and efficiently, moreso than if you didn’t have them.

The history of home wine making can actually be traced back, oddly enough, in biblical times to the story of Noah’s Ark. Noah fermented grapes after the great flood as a special present to his family for all the hardship they endured while on the boat. Wine has been treasured for centuries; by Greek sailors who brought their vintages across the waters; and then to the Romans working in the northern fields of Palermo producing house Italian delights to the specialized vineyards of Avignon, France where it has become a billion dollar industry dating back to the middle ages.

This process of home wine making came about often by chance and sometimes by coincidence. Usually from peasants and later hired hand workers crushing the grapes in over-sized oak vats, then transferring the juice to large oak barrels allowing the natural sugars to ferment thus creating the wine we know and love today.

This basic process was then refined by the Italians and the french who began using glass bottles to store the wine in, thus allowing the wine to ferment in the bottle in its natural state. They would very often mix certain grapes in the wine and try different natural fruit sugar combinations for the fermentation process. It was through this process that many of the different varieties of wines were made and discovered.

It was also through the use of different varieties of grapes that wine was often made, and this led to larger vineyards, mechanized production and the actual business of wineries and the wine trade grew into a billion dollar a year industry that exists today.

But the actual process of home made wine production has taken a turn for the better. Many are bored or dissatisfied with wines made by large vineyards as they churn out bottle after bottle every year. These people have taken up the practice of making wine at home and it has proved successful for them. You can make a quality wine product right at home with a few simple tools and the right ingredients. It often lies in the satisfaction of making a wine that suits the person’s palette, making a wine product that they are proud of and repeating the home wine making process with great success.