Making Wine, Part 2

Crush grapes, prepare for fermentation

If you missed Part 1 (which covers Steps 1 and 2), you can read it here!

Step 3: Fetch and De-stem the Grapes

Every Saturday in September and October, our group sends a truck to Eastern Washington to pick up whatever grapes are ready. The Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc that I ordered happened to be part of the first round of grapes, so I got to be part of this year’s kickoff fetch.

The truck leaves before sunrise and returns in the early afternoon:

We set up the de-stemming machine next to it and begin shoveling grapes into it. (you can see it’s a team effort)

The grapes come out looking like this:

…and here are the stems:

Step 3.5: Press the Whites

Red wines ferment in the large rubber containers with the berries intact (how they look when de-stemmed) while white wines ferment in the carboys. Before putting the whites in carboys, they have to be pressed to get the juice out of the berries. Our group used a bladder press, which uses water to compress the grapes:

Sorry, we’re not as cool as the I Love Lucy stomping scene

That’s it for day one! Here is what I took home:

Step 4: Add Yeast

The next day I add yeast and some nutrients to help the yeast get started. The yeast comes in powdered form and I have to rehydrate it:

Yummy. The chopsticks for mixing makes it obvious I was raised in an Asian household

For the reds, I simply add the yeast to the container and mix:

The whites require one extra step before adding yeast and that is refining the juice by settling out the solids (the layer you see on the bottom of the carboy in the photo below). We do this by siphoning out the juice to another carboy:

Once the juice is refined, I add the yeast and stir.

Now for the fermentation to begin — you can read about it in Part 3!

Bonus!

At the end of the first day (after we finished de-stemming and pressing), our group gathered around the patio table for a late lunch and wine. As I quickly learned, it’s winemaker tradition to enjoy wine while making wine.

The ten of us shared homemade beer, homemade cider, and at least six bottles of wine (some homemade, some purchased), including this 30-year old Cabernet Sauvignon:

Crossed off the bucket list: drink wine that’s older than me

What an awesome group to be a part of.