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Notes From the
Vintner
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Welcome
to our column. We hope that you will return to
learn interesting notes on wine, and related
subjects. Wine is a great gift from God to be used
for the enjoyment of man. It is a food, and should
be treated as such. It is meant to lift up the body
and lighten the soul. 08/1/01
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Grapes into
Wine…music
to our ears and love in our hearts. For it is said that a
man who does not love wine, women and song remains a fool
his whole life long. Now on that joyous note, let's
get to work so we may enjoy the fruits of our
labor.
Having
talked last month about having all the equipment clean and
supplies ready when the fruit arrives, let's go to the next
step. When the fruit arrives, it needs to be cool, not hot
from the vineyard. If the fruit has been sitting in the hot
sun or has been picked during the heat of the day, cool it
down. This can be done by allowing the fruit to sit in the
air conditioning of the home or in a cellar for a few hours.
It is best to crush the fruit when it is cool. Before
crushing the fruit, take time to check it for foreign
matter. Leaves, sticks, dirt, and, some times candy wrappers
are found in the baskets of grapes. Take out all foreign
matter before you crush. Remember, in crushing, you want to
break the skin open to allow the yeast entry, not beat the
tar out of the fruit.
About an
hour before you start the crush, prepare the yeast. Add a
package (or one teaspoon) yeast to a cup of warm water (110
degrees), stirring lightly. Let it sit for about 30 minutes,
then add it to a starter batch of juice. A starter batch of
one gallon will inoculate 100 gallons of juice. The starter
batch should be added to the rest of the juice in the
amounts stated above. For small batches of five or ten
gallons, use a starter batch of a quart.
Do not add
your yeast "cold turkey" into cool juice. This will shock
the yeast, and your results will not be good. Take the time
to allow the yeast to develop and increase before you add it
to the whole mass of juice.
This is the
FIRST step of changing good fruit into
WINE.
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