Winemaking Fun

[sparrowgrass]

Steve, you may have inspired me to start up again. Making my own would probably save me money!!

Would you send a link to the place where you purchase your grapes?

 

[taxlady]

Thank you Steve for this really interesting thread. Do you ever make white wine from white grapes? If you do, do you leave the skins on?

 

[Steve Kroll]

Bottling day has arrived!

This is the earliest I've ever started bottling. Normally, I don't start until March or April of the year following harvest. But, for whatever reason, this year all of the white wines were clear and ready to bottle before Christmas.

Below are two of my favorites, Viognier (California grapes) and my Minnesota-grown La Crescent (very similar to Riesling).

 

[Steve Kroll]

Thank you Steve for this really interesting thread. Do you ever make white wine from white grapes? If you do, do you leave the skins on?

I actually prefer to make white wine from grapes when I can. But to have them shipped this way is very cost prohibitive and, to be honest, the first I'm going to do when I get them is crush and press them off the skins anyway. So it's just easier and cheaper to let the distributor do the processing, and it doesn't make a enough difference in the end result to justify the additional cost.

However, when I make white wine from locally grown grapes, my wife and I pick and process all the fruit ourselves.

 

[GotGarlic]

That looks amazing. It was fun reading back over this thread about the process again. Cheers! ?

 

[Cheryl J]

Wow...congratulations on bottling day, Steve! I just re-read through this thread, too. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and the process over the years.

I love the pics - the clarity, labels, and light reflecting off the bottles is stunning!

 

[CharlieD]

Steve, when you talk about yeast, are you talking about natural yeast or is it something you add? Also, do you add sugar to your wines or not.

 

[Steve Kroll]

Steve, when you talk about yeast, are you talking about natural yeast or is it something you add? Also, do you add sugar to your wines or not.

In most cases, I use commercially packaged wine yeast, but not always. Sometimes the juice begins to ferment on its own before I can add anything. When that happens, I just let it go.

I like commercial yeast because it's more predictable.

As far as sugar goes, I rarely have to add any. Most wine grapes have plenty of sugar. There have been a few times, though, when I've had grapes that were a little underripe (so far this has only been the case with Minnesota grapes), in which case I have to add a little sugar.

If you're wondering about what makes a wine Kosher, I found this:
What Makes a Wine Kosher? Israel tours, Israel Travel Tourism, private tour Israel, Gems in Israel

I do have a Jewish friend who makes his own wine. As I recall, he has to order special yeast and nutrient. He also can't use animal products of any kind, such as egg white (sometime used for clearing) or a product called Isinglass (also used for clearing), which comes from fish swim bladders. For what it's worth, I don't use those things. The only clearing product I use is a type of clay called bentonite. It doesn't end up in the finished wine.

 

[CharlieD]

Thank you. One of this days I would like to try to make my own wine. Not on scale you do. Something small. But that's not on today's agenda.


P. S. There is no problem with egg whites. Wine is inherently kosher as long as inherently none kosher products are used to produce it.


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