Wine Making 2008

For Halloween I opened up my only, and first bottle of home-made wine.

It all started back on October 28, 2008, when myself and my grandson T'Andre (age 10) went out to our family vineyard in the St. Helena Appellation in Napa Valley and picked from the second crop of Cabernet enough grapes to fill about a carton and a half. After picking, which took us about an hour, I had my grandson remove his shoes and socks. Quickly rinsing his feet with the water hose, I had him crush the berries with his feet. This is a great memory and I had my wife Ana take a video of T'Andre stomping the grapes while we played over the sound system a latin tune. Afterwards we pulled out the stems and poured the skins, seeds and juice into a five gallon glass container. Our spoils only filled the container half way.

We didn't measure the sugar (brix) but we did taste the grapes before we picked. The grapes were sweet and fruity; they were definitely ripe but not too ripe; you know when they are too ripe because they have that prune taste to them. I should note here that we picked our grapes about one week after the first crop was taken from the vines. I should mention that when I refer to the second crop of grapes I am referring to the small bunches of grapes that are generally left by the pickers. You normally find these small bunches about three quarters down the canes.

I didn't place any yeast into the pulp and juice but I allowed it to ferment naturally for the next five days. On November 2, 2008 I pressed the contents and captured the juices. I let that set and it continued to ferment, changing the sugars to alcohol.

When the bubbling stopped I assumed fermentation had concluded and on November 18, 2008, I bottled several bottles of wine using empty bottles of wine that I had previously consumed. I was certain to wash the bottle before I used them for my intentions.

To my surprise, within the next two days, two of the bottles exploded. My guess is that the fermentation process continued after I placed the juice into the bottles and the reaction forced the cork out of two of the bottles. I was able to save the last bottle by uncorking it and letting the pressure out. I recorked that last bottle and it remained corked over the next year.
On October 31, 2009, I opened that bottle at a Halloween party at my daughters house.

When I screwed in the cork screw a bright deep liquid began to bubble out of the pin hole. I slowly uncorked the bottle without any great mishap. The liguid bubbled up inside when I removed the cork. It was like opening up a champaign bottle. Suds came up and out of the neck and into the kitchen sink. When the bubbles stopped, I had about three quarters of a bottle of wine remaining.

I smelled the contents; it smelled fruity, a little metallic or acidic. I poured a small amount into my wine glass; it was cloudy with a small amount of froth on the surface. I took a sip and rolled the small amount around my mouth, coating my tongue; it was tasty, somewhat sweet; I didn't pick up any foul taste or harsh tannins.

I asked my daughter, Bernadette, if T'Andre could taste the product of his efforts and she said just a sip. You should of seen his face when he took that sip. He didn't care for it at all; just what I expected.

I was surprised that no one other then my wife Ana wanted a taste. Upon tasting the wine, Ana's thoughts were very similar to my own. She thought it smelled fruity, sweet; not at all bitter or vinegery. After tasting it she picked up bits of black berry. She said it tasted like it had alot of alcohol by the way it seemed sharp and a bit metalic.

I recorked the bottle and my wife and I took the remainder home with us. The following day I carefully opened the bottle being very careful not to stir the contents and pour myself and Ana a glass of wine. I was very pleased to see a deep ruby color, much clearer than the preceding evening. I then smelled the wine; the metallic whisper was unnoticable to me. I then took a small taste and was surprised. It truly had a black berry taste, not sweet like fruit off the vine, but more like what I would expect from a commercially produced bottle of cabernet.

I found myself feeling a deep sense of pride. I remember my initial thought being 'why did I make so little?'. I looked at Ana and she had this big smile on her face matching only my own. I knew she was as surprised as I to find that we didn't do bad at all. My second thought was that I I did do the right thing on the 17th of October, 2009, when myself, T'Andre, his brother Fred and Joseph picked the second crop of cabernet; enough to fill that five gallon glass container.

Note: On November 1, 2009, I pressed the pulp, releasing all the juice from our pickings. I left the skins and juice in contact for fourteen days hoping that I will get a deeper color and bring off more of the favorable tannins. Again I have not added any yeast to direct the fermentation process but have let the fermentation take place with the natural yeast that is present.

I placed the wine back into the five gallon glass container and on the evening of the 1st of November the juice was still bubbling but only slightly. I plan on bottling once the bubbling completely stops in the next several days. This year it looks like I will be bottling about twenty bottles (750 ml).