Wine Making
Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of wine, starting with selection of the grapes and ending with bottling the finished wine. Winemaking can be divided into two general categories: still wine production (without carbonation) and sparkling wine production (with carbonation). After the harvest, the grapes are crushed and allowed to ferment. Red wine is made from the must (pulp) of red or black grapes that undergo fermentation together with the grape skins, while white wine is usually made by fermenting juice pressed from white grapes, but can also be made from must extracted from red grapes with minimal contact with the grapes’ skins.
By using grape concentrates, you can make wine that originates in many parts of the world, bringing to your table a truly international flavour. You can choose to make dry or sweet wines, light or full bodied, white, rose or red. Winemaking can be a novel experience in its planning, making, tasting and by the sharing with others, adding to the joy of having a good time with good company. Nowadays, the quality of home made wines are better than ever.
The first step to making fruit wine is figuring out what kind of fruit wine you want to make. This could be anything from banana to blackberry. If you have an abundance of a particular fruit available then that obviously would be a prime candidate for making wine. Or, maybe there’s a particular type of fruit that you absolutely love and can’t wait to taste it as a wine. Then go for it! There is virtually no limit as to what you can use to create your own fruit wines, and that’s part of what makes this pastime so fun and interesting.
Experienced home winemakers already know how easy it is to make your favorite red or white. We invite you to take our home winemaking quiz, use our handy winemaking calculator page (helps you convert between units of volume, temperature and weight (Metric vs. U.S. vs Imperial) and even helps you determine the alcoholic content of your wine), join our discussion groups, learn how to sanitize winemaking equipment, send a winemaking postcard, learn how to use a hydrometer, post your favorite wine recipe, send us your winemaking photos, learn how to blend wines, read our winemaking articles, or try our lines of grape concentrates and wine kits. All wine kits and equipment are guaranteed!
Apricot wine: 2-1/2 lb. apricots, 7 pints water, 2 lb. sugar , 1-1/4 tsp. acid blend , 1 tsp. pectic enzyme, 1/4 tsp. grape tannin, 1 crushed Campden tablet, yeast and nutrient. In primary fermentation vessel, combine all ingredients except yeast and apricots, stirring to dissolve sugar. Wash, pit and dice apricots. Place in grain-bag, tie top, and squeeze as much juice as you can into vessel.
Place grain-bag of pulp into vessel, cover, and set in warm place for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and squeeze pulp daily to extract more juice. Stir twice daily. After five days, strain juice from grain-bag, discard pulp, transfer liquor to secondary fermentation vessel, and fit airlock. Rack after 30 days and again after another 60 days. When clear, rack again and bottle. Allow to age one year or longer.
