Wine Blog Association

To make homemade wines with the recipes and ingredients here
all one needs is a gallon-size glass bottle, a saucepan and
a polyethylene pail. Make certain to use polyethylene as
some plastics are not suitable. Do not use aluminum, copper,
or enamel vessels to make your homemade wine with.

Sterilization is mandatory for all utensils, bottles and
corks, especially corks. One should use commercialy
available plastic corks until you know how to properly
sterilize natural corks.

Ordinarily, baker’s yeast and white granulated sugar are
used by the average homemade wine maker. A special wine
yeast and invert sugar makes the best wine possible.

Wine yeast is capable of producing eighteen per cent of
alcohol by volume (32 proof), against the fourteen per cent
of bakers’ yeast.

Starting what is called a ‘nucleus ferment’or nutrient. A
small jar will do for this. About a 1/2 cup of water
and a teaspoonful of sugar are boiled together for a minute
and then allowed to cool. This is then put into a
sterilized jar and the yeast added in whatever form it is
obtained. Allow to set for 3 days covered with plastic wrap
and rubberband.

Preparing the fruit: Various types of wild yeast and
bacteria are on the fruit naturally and must be dealt with.
Our method, known as the ‘sulphiting’ method, does
this. For more detailed information on “sulphiting” go to
==>http://www.make-homemade-wine.info/sulphiting.html

How to make homemade wine:

Crush the fruit by hand in the poly pail and pour on one
quart of distilled water. Mix well. Crush one campden tablet
and dissolve the power in 1/2 cup of warm water and
mix with pulp. Leave the mixture for 1 or 2 hours. A little
discoloring may happen. After this, take 1/3 of the sugar
to be used and boil this for 1 minute in 3 pints of
water. Allow this syrup to cool and then stir into the
pulp. Then add the yeast (or nutrient) and ferment for 7
days.

After 7 days, strain the pulp through fine cloth and wring
out as dry as you can. Put the strained homemade wine into a
gallon jar and discard pulp. Then boil another 1/3
of the sugar in one pint of water for 1 minute and when
cooled add it to the rest. Plug the neck of the jar with
cotton wool or fit a fermentation lock and continue to
ferment the homemade wine in a warm place for a further 10
days.

At this stage, pour the homemade wine into the poly pail
leaving as much deposit in the jar as you can. Clean
out the jar, sterilize it and return the homemade wine to
this. Boil the remaining 1/3 of the sugar for 1 minute
in 1 pint of water. When this has cooled, add it to the
rest. Refit the lock or plug the neck of the jar with
fresh cotton wool.

After this, the homemade wine should be left in a warm place
until all fermentation has ceased.

Clearing: it is usual to have a brilliantly clear homemade
wine a month before fermentation has ceased so
patience is required here. After all fermentation has
ceased, siphon the clear homemade wine (if not yet crystal
clear) into another jar leaving the deposit behind. Then
when the homemade wine is finally crystal clear it should
be siphoned into bottles and corked.

To get the maximum alcohol and to get total fermentation the
ideal temperature at which to keep a ‘must’ is
between 65-70 degrees F.

Fully ripe fruit is essential if we hope to make the best
homemade wine.

CHERRY WINE (A Delightful Sweet Wine):

8lb. black cherries, 7pts. water, 3 1/2lb. sugar (or 4lb.
invert), all-purpose wine yeast or Bordeaux yeast, nutrient.

PLUM WINE (Port Style):

Dark red, fully ripe fruits must be used. 10lb. plums,
7pts. water, 3 1/2lb. sugar (or 4lb. invert), port yeast,
nutrient.

GRAPE WINE

Homemade grape wine is much more difficult and requires 20
pounds of grapes so unless you own a vineyard it is
not cost effective to make homemade grape wine.

After several batches you will get the rhythm of making
homemade wine down to a tee. With further knowledge you
will be able to make homemade wines with a strength,
clarity, flavour and bouquet of which you will be justly proud.

By: Brian Ankner

Most people love to throw dinner parties for their friends and family. But, they may avoid serving wine because they do not know exactly what to serve. Do you serve red or white with fish? Will Merlot be okay if you are serving a Mexican dish? Do not stress over it – there are some basic wine rules you can follow.

The number one rule of thumb when choosing wine is “red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat.” This is not always true, but it generally works quite well when you are unsure. One exception is chicken. The meat is white, but a nice fruity red wine goes well with it. The same can be said for tuna or salmon, so you do not have to always follow the rule of not serving red wine with fish. The second rule is the rule of complements. It is okay to match sweet seafood such as lobster with a sweet white wine. The next rule is the opposites attract. While you usually want to match like flavors, sometimes a contrast, such as a White Bordeaux with bluefish can be wonderful.

Outside of the basic rules, there are certain things you can look for and certain things you can avoid depending on what you are serving. Here are some hints as to what to serve with particular types of food.

Salads and Appetizers

You should avoid serving wine during your salad, as vinegar and wine do not mix well. But, if you are having an appetizer, you need to consider the ingredients in the appetizer to help you choose your wine. If you are having a cheese tray, the type of cheese will help you determine the wine. For example, cheddar is best with dry reds, Merlots, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinot Noir goes best with Swiss. Camembert and brie are great with a Chardonnay. The cheese we tend to think of as Italian such as parmigiano, romano, and reggiano go well with Italian dry red wines like Chianti and Barlol. If you are serving something a fried appetizer, consider serving a crisp, fruity white or red wine to help cut the oily flavor.

Beef, Steak and Lamb

Do you remember the “red wine with red meat” rule? That one is great to use when serving beef, steak, and lamb. Choose a dry red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon or a burgundy like Pinot Noir. You can also consider serving an Italian red such as Barolo or Chianti.

Fish and Seafood

To be safe, stick with a dry, crisp white wine. Sauvignon Blanc goes well with white fish while Sancerre and Muscadet go well with oysters. If you want to be different, try a fruity red wine (without tannins). But, use caution when serving red, especially if you are serving white, delicate fish. Cabernets with tannins combined with fish can leave a metallic taste in your mouth.

Poultry, Pork and Veal

For the most part, you want to follow the “white meat, white wine” rule with these. White chardonnays and Pinot Blancs are great. If you want to serve red with chicken, remember to choose a wine that is fruity like a Merlot or Zinfandel.

Turkey

Think back to Thanksgiving. Do you remember how well your cranberry sauce went with the turkey? The same rule applies here. For turkey, since it has both white and dark meat, you want something fruity and tart such as a Beaujolais for red or a Riesling for white.

Spicy Foods

If you are planning on service something spicy like Thai or Indian food, a sparkling wine works best. Avoid wines with tannins and look for something fruity. And, make sure the wine is well chilled. Cold wine goes well with spicy foods.

Dessert

The best thing to serve with a delicious dessert is a dessert wine. In fact, you can skip the dessert part and just serve a dessert wine to your guests. These are sweet wines often sold in smaller bottles as you don’t drink as much dessert wine as you do regular wine. Wines such as Sauternes, Beerenauslese, Bermet and Cammandaria will make a great end to any evening.

The most important rule about what wine to serve is to avoid being snobby about wine. There are no right answers, only basic rules to go by and even those, as you have seen, can be changed. Do not be afraid to experiment with different tastes. Chances are if you do not act like there is anything wrong with the wine you are serving, your guests will not either.

By: Jason Connors

Properly storing wine keeps flavor and lets wine age so that you can taste its evolving, complex flavor. Buying a wine rack, however, can be pricey, especially for someone who is more interested in developing a robust wine collection, not decorating.

Before you begin construction, plan where you will put the wine rack. Storing the wine in the right environment is crucial to its flavor. Always store wine in a cool, dark, and slightly humid area. Never store wine in the sun or in the heat. It will cook the wine and ruin its flavor. Keep the temperature between 50 and 59 degrees Fahrenheit. Store the wine on its side so it keeps the cork moist.

Wine rack kits let you grow your wine collection piece by piece. Wall-mounted wine racks let you store nine to 36 bottles on one shelf. Wall-mounted metal wine racks make it easy to see the label of each bottle. Expect to pay between $50 and $100 for each shelf. Don’t be afraid to ask the retailer for a discount if you buy many shelves at once. You can also buy matching wine islands so that you can store wine and have a tabletop in your wine cellar. Look online for the best selection.

Build your own wine rack for the lowest cost. Free plans are on the Internet, and you’ll probably need at least a table saw or jigsaw, a sander, and drill press. For simple projects, you can expect to pay less than $10 for equipment.

Probably the cheapest, but most effective wine rack you can build uses brick and wood planks. Stack the bricks for height, and use wooden planks with smaller wooden dividers for an easy-to-make wine rack.

By: Peter Emerson