“I don’t care how my wine turns out, as long as I can drink it.”
Have you ever heard that from a winemaker? I haven’t.
At our monthly Valley of the Moon Dilettante Enological Society (VOMDES) meeting, I am always overcome with the quality and variety of home made wines the members and their guests bring for sampling. They want you to sample their wine and get your feedback. They yearn to produce the best wine they can – to create a wine worthy of recognition. Often winemakers will go to great lengths in their quest to create such a wine. What about beginning winemaking?
I equate beginning winemaking to “Beginner’s Golf.” In trying to make that “perfect swing,” too often we are focused on incorporating into our swing the 73 things our golf instructor has told us we must remember. Too often we get lost in the details and forget the basics. Some details are worthy of attention, some are not. Just remember that attention to detail is important when making wine, but too many details can often fuzzy-up the focus of what matters the most.
So what matters most in making wine for the first time? I would focus on five fundamentals that are first and foremost when making your own wine at home, particularly if you are just getting started. Too many times I’ve talked to the home winemaker whose thoughts were being consumed with minute details only to find out that they were overlooking some key winemaking fundamentals.
1. Be sanitary.
The most important fundamental is to be sanitary. According to Vicki Scharnikow, a home winemaker and VOMDES member, “Ninety percent of winemaking is dishwashing.” While that may be true, being clean and being sanitary are two different things. You keep things “clean” by washing the grime and grit off the equipment and bottles. But being sanitary requires that you go a step further.
Sanitizing solutions such as sodium bisulfite must be employed in order to eliminate wild mold, bacteria and other microorganisms that can be hiding on your equipment even after it has been washed. After use and storage it may need to be sanitized again, depending on where, when and how long it was stored. There are over 200 wild yeasts in the atmosphere; no telling what bacteria may also be there. You need not become too obsessed with sanitation, just practicing it and being aware of its necessity is enough.
2. Use good grapes.
While wine can be made from a variety of fruits, I prefer wine grapes. We live in one of the prime wine-grape growing regions in the world and have access to some of the best grapes grown. If you are going to take the time and effort to make your own wine, use good grapes to start with. I am not suggesting that you pay a fortune for them, or that you grow your own, just that you are aware of their source and the history of the vines.
You do not need a truckload of grapes to start with. The Sonoma County Grape Growers Association says that 30 pounds of grapes yields approximately 12 bottles of wine. You most likely will want to start with five gallons so you should be looking for approximately 65 pounds of grapes. My recommendation would be to start with a red varietal first, preferably a cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, or sangiovese. However, use whatever you think is best based on your budget. Now is the time you should be lining up your source, don’t wait until harvest. Just ask around, you may be surprised at the results.
3. Use a hydrometer.
A hydrometer is as important to a winemaker as a compass is to a navigator. The proper use of the hydrometer allows the winemaker to guide his or her activities throughout the winemaking process.
The hydrometer is simply a long glass cylinder with a weight at one end. You can take readings with it by seeing how high or low it floats in your juice. The typical wine hydrometer measures three things: specific gravity, potential alcohol and sugar.
4. Control your fermentation temperature.
Yeast is very sensitive to temperature. It is important that your fermentation temperature stays between 70 and 75 degrees for a sound fermentation. If the temperature is too low, the fermentation process may stop in midstream or not start at all. If the fermentation temperature is too high then flavor will suffer.
Fermentation rate is a logarithmic function. To help put the temperature and fermentation rate in perspective – at 75 degrees your wine will ferment more than twice as fast as at 70 degrees. At 80 degrees your wine will ferment very, very fast, but the flavor of the alcohol is usually considered inferior. A high fermentation temperature also entices unwanted microorganisms to multiply more readily, which can eventually result in off-flavors or in extreme cases a complete spoilage of your wine.
Invest in a thermometer that is designed to take fermentation readings.
5. Keep air exposure to a minimum.
When a wine is exposed to too much air in the course of its lifetime, it will show symptoms of oxidation. A white wine will turn slightly amber, and a red wine will turn slightly orange or brown. Also, its flavor will take on a slight caramel to raisin character.
During fermentation, air exposure is not an issue. CO2 produced by the fermentation process protects the wine from most oxidative forces.
But once the fermentation has finished, care should be given to see that the wine is not exposed to excessive amounts of air for extended periods of time.
Also, splashing the wine when transferring it from one container to another – usually referred to as racking – should be kept to a minimum. The same goes for bottling. When a wine is splashed it temporarily increases its surface area by several hundred times, causing the wine to act like a sponge and soak up air at an extremely accelerated pace.
To help prevent oxidation from occurring, add SO2 gas in the form of sodium bisulfite or Campden tablets to the finished wine each time it is transferred. These gases displace the oxygen that may have been absorbed by the wine. However, you need to be careful how much is added and if it is needed at all. The last thing you want is for your wine to smell like sulfur.
Jack Bertram is a Sonoma resident who brings a unique perspective to home winemaking. He is President of the Valley of the Moon Dilettante Society (VOMDES.org) and can be reached at jrbertram@comcast.net.
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