Natural Wine

**Barry_White** · 24th March 2008, 12:09 PM

This year we had an abundance of black Isabella grapes so have decided to make some natural wine.

The Isabella grape was the first grapes grown in the Hunter Valley by the Italians to make wine.

If you would like to have a go at it here is a recipe for natural wine.

IF YOU want a fine wine, obtain a pound or two of ripe purple or black grapes. They will have a whitish film on them. From the way it looks, most people think that this is insecticide. It is not. It is a natural, dormant yeast, just waiting to start fermenting the juice of the grape. It is the secret of natural wine. One may want to rinse the grapes off with water, but do not wash off or rub off this whitish powderlike or filmlike substance.

Now, pick the grapes off the stems, throwing away any that are unripe or spoiled. If a blender is available, liquefy the grapes in it by turning on the blender and immediately turning it off again; do this several times. This prevents breaking up the seeds. If a blender is not available, after washing your hands thoroughly and making sure that all the soap is rinsed off, mash the grapes in a large bowl with your hands. Do not add water, sugar or any other ingredient.

Pour the resulting mass—skins, seeds, pulp, juice and all—into a large-mouthed bottle. Place a plastic bag over the mouth of the bottle and secure it tightly around the neck of the bottle with a rubber band. Place the bottle where the temperature will stay between 60 degrees and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 degrees and 26.6 degrees Celsius), 75 degrees (23.8 Celsius) being most favorable.

Then wait. Allow the remarkable processes that the Creator has implanted in natural things to take their course. Of course, you may find it fascinating to look at the bottle now and then and to sniff around it to observe the changes that take place.

Eventually bubbles will begin to form and will gradually work their way to the top of the mass. This gas will force its way past the rubber-band seal and waft a delightful aroma to your nostrils—in due time. The bubbles are evidence that fermentation is taking place. The juice will gradually take on its characteristic color. A whitish substance may form on top of the mass. Do not worry about it. Everything is all right.

After two weeks the formation of bubbles should have ceased. Now you can open the bottle and pour the juice through a clean cloth into a large bowl. Squeeze the rest of the liquid out of the mass through the cloth. Now put the wine into a bottle. It will still be murky and will have particles in it. However, it could be used at this time if necessary, so go ahead and taste it. Is it good? It will improve with age.

So set the well-capped bottle aside and leave it alone. The longer it sits, the more the particles will settle to the bottom. In a month the wine should have cleared up considerably. The taste will have improved, and the wine should look good. But beware, if the wine continues to ferment, the bottle may explode.

The wine is now ready to be siphoned off into another bottle, which is the easiest way not to get the settlings into the next bottle. However, one can do almost as well with careful pouring. This homemade wine, a dry wine, is best kept under refrigeration. It will continue to clear itself as it sits in the refrigerator. If refrigeration is not available, be sure that the bottle is well sealed.

As one observes this fine wine, one may marvel that all the necessary ingredients to make it are found within and on the luscious fruit picked from the vine.

**Incoming!** · 24th March 2008, 01:37 PM

Forgive the dumb question, but I'd really like to try this. With regards to the plastic bag over the top of the bottle - do you have the bag stretched tight over the top or do you permit the gas to "balloon" into the bag and then leak out through the rubber band seal?

**Barry_White** · 24th March 2008, 02:55 PM

Originally Posted by Incoming!

Forgive the dumb question, but I'd really like to try this. With regards to the plastic bag over the top of the bottle - do you have the bag stretched tight over the top or do you permit the gas to "balloon" into the bag and then leak out through the rubber band seal?

Yes you let the bag balloon above the jar to give the gas somewhere to go and if it builds up too much pressure it will flow past the elastic band.

Leave a bit of room at the top of the jars because as it ferments it will rise up in the jar and overflow. As I say experience is the best teacher.

We used large Fowlers Vacola jars to put the crushed grapes in. We just strained the the first couple of jars we did a fortnight ago and man it tastes fantastic. We have put it into some screwtop wine bottles. So far we have got nearly two 750ml bottle out of two jars and we have got six jars to go that we have to let ferment a bit longer.

Large jars are better for the initial putting down of the crushed grapes. We used a couple of old cotton Bank coin bags to strain the skins and seeds out into a large plastic container and then just poured it into the bottles with a funnel.

A friend of mine is using a beer fermenter for his wine as this allows the gas to escape without letting the air in.

**Incoming!** · 24th March 2008, 09:21 PM

Thanks for that - will let you know how the result tastes!

**stephenkentucky** · 1st April 2009, 01:03 PM

G' Day Barry
I have a winery in Kentucky, if you need anything to help your wine making along, The one thing I would suggest is the minimal addition of a touch of Potassium metabisulfide, this is a natural preservative which is found in 99.9% of the wine out there, It will prevent spoilage over time allowing the wine to mature and soften. Also try not putting the grapes in the blender, it is a pretty violent treatment which will tend to bring out some of the undesirable tannins in the skins and seeds. the less tearing the better. When we crush here (which we are doing at the moment) we set up the crusher to just gently break the berry to allow the yeast to permeate the inside of the grape, once fermentation is initiated the CO2 released will naturally tear the skin open gently. Do your initial fermentation skins seeds and all, then all you have to do is press the resulting wine off the skins and seeds, try putting the whole mess into a cheesecloth and twisting ( like a Spanish windlass ) to extract the juice. If you are doing red wine it is worth considering putting some oak chips in to add some wood tannins. But be careful it is easy to over oak your wine. If you need any other help drop me a line and I will help if I can. I certainly agree that the conversion of grape into wine is one of the most magical natural processes I know of.
Regards
Stephen

**Farm boy** · 24th April 2009, 08:13 PM

Hi Stephen
i make my own wine as well, i have just crushed 440kg,s of muscat grapes in a crusher and added the lot into a wooden barell.(8 inch x8 inch square cut into a few staves and it sits on its side with a stainless steel tap at the bottom) that is enough wine for me and the wife for 2 or so years

i will post some pics when i get a chance
best wishes
greg

**dennford** · 24th April 2009, 08:52 PM

Bazza, (or anyone else making thier own wine),

I have sufficient knowledge of chemistry to show you how to turn your wine (or beer, whiskey etc) into urine in just a very short time.

Just bring a sample around here.

Denn

**stephenkentucky** · 25th April 2009, 05:33 AM

Hey greg I would love to see some photos of your barrel, We use a mixture of storage here, but mostly Flextank which is an Aussie invention made from HDPE plastic which breathes oxygen at the same rate as an oak barrel, to which we add french oak slats, If you are interested we have some U tube videos under Eastview Estate or search stephenkentucky, regards for now Stephen

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