The Best Way to Make Table Wines at Home

February 7th, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

How to Make Homemade Table WineWritten by a vintner and science editor with twenty-five years experience, The Way to Make Wine is the most readable and reliable handbook among the many winemaking guides. In engaging conversational prose, Sheridan Warrick shows that making your own wine is not only easy, but also fun. Geared to everyday wine lovers who want to drink well, save money, and impress their friends, this book reveals everything needed to make delicious wines–both reds and whites–from start to finish. Warrick demystifies winemaking by explaining the nuts and bolts and demonstrating that if readers can replace a faucet washer or cook a pasta sauce, they can make food-friendly wines that cost less than the bottles they’re now opening. He enables amateur vintners to equip a home winery, procure top-quality grapes, run a flawless fermentation, and enjoy their wine–its nose, its body, and finish–with renewed awareness and appreciation. At the same time, the author points experienced home vintners to new skills, describing top wineries’ techniques. Rich with insiders’ know-how, this book also divulges the many advances that have been made in the past few decades and makes clear that, with enologists’ innovations, home winemaking is easier than ever. With straightforward illustrations of key steps, this book offers one-stop shopping for anyone who’s ever dreamed of making table wines at home.
There are two step-by-step sections: one for beginners, one for experienced home vintners and the sidebars offer quick tips and key elements of winemaking. This book includes a clear and comprehensive guide to minimizing the use of sulfites in wine and provides a wealth of information on sources of fine wine grapes.

Author: Sheridan Warrick

List Price: $19.95

Amazon Price: $13.57

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Simple Homemade Wine Recipes

December 15th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Making Simple Homemade Wine Recipes is a Fast Growing Hobby

One of the top growing hobbies in the United States involves creating simple homemade wine recipes and with it’s basic simplicity many can get involved in the process without spending a lot of money. For most, the lack of a financial incentive to making their own wine is irrelevant and they are captivated with the process more than the finished product. There may be some disappointment when people learn there is more to simple homemade wine recipes than crushing grapes and letting it sit in a bottle, but that does not stop them from trying.

The most time consuming part of making simple homemade wine recipes is the fermentation process as it can take anywhere from six months to two years for a bottle of wine to reach its full maturity. To begin making homemade wine, presuming you are using grapes, you first have to soak the grapes, crush them and press out the juice. Depending on the acid level of the grapes, you will need to add sugar and yeast and allow fermenting for about a week.

After this initial period you can strain the liquid, removing the skins and other particles. However, if you are making white wine the skins are removed before the initial fermentation process. After this straining process, another week to 10 days of fermenting is needed for making your own simple homemade wine recipe. You can tell the fermentation process has ended when the liquid has stopped producing bubbles.

You Must Control the Temperature While Fermenting the Wine

While the wine is fermenting it should remain in a controlled temperature area between 60 and 65 degrees. The liquid will need strained at least two more times to remove any particles that form in the wine and fine cheesecloth is typically recommended. This needs to be done about every month during the course of making homemade wine. After the second straining through cheesecloth, the liquid can be bottled and corked.

Setting the bottles slightly tilted allows room for any unforeseen fermentation for at least five days before standing them upright or laying them on their side. Red wines can be opened after about six months and tasted. If it does not taste mature, another six to two years as needed. When making simple homemade wine recipes, white wines should never be stored more than a year in a wine cellar.

Once the wine has been bottled and corked, it should be stored at about 55-degrees until ready to drink. Depending on how many bottles of wine that is being produced, many who make simple homemade wine recipes have converted a portion of a basement into a private label wine cellar to store their creations.