Any wine-making experience?

We've got a couple of vines growing up the back of the house, they look lovely and have produced a reasonable quantity of grapes this year. They are wine grapes (smallish with pips) so not great for eating although they taste yummy. The chickens have had a few bunches but I was thinking about the possibilty of making some wine with the rest if it's not too difficult.

Any ideas/advice welcome.

I could be your taster?

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

I could be your taster?

Drunkard

yep, but you will be shocked how many grapes you need to make a decent amount. We had a vine at the last house and made some really nice red it was almost like a port. We called it Le "jardin De Ellanya" I wish I took a cutting when we left there 3 years ago.

Originally Posted by SV-net

yep, but you will be shocked how many grapes you need to make a decent amount. We had a vine at the last house and made some really nice red it was almost like a port. We called it Le "jardin De Ellanya" I wish I took a cutting when we left there 3 years ago.

difficult/complicated/time-consuming is it?

You can do it in a few different ways. I have one grape recipe that instructs you to boil the grapes in some water, but I'd rather do it a different way, which I'll be doing with a mate this month.

Send grapes through a mangle to break the skins, leave in a barrel for a week, then press grapes et al to extract the juices. Leave that to ferment. You end up with traditional italian wine.

Hi Sarah,

For a small first time run I'd suggest using several sterilised 4L plastic water containers, party ballons and wine makers yeast. The reason for 4L containers is that it is easy to mess up when doing a single large batch - the smaller batches give a very good chance of a positive result. The importance of sterile and oxygen free (the target is zero) fermentation enviornment cannot be under stressed.
Run your fruit through a food processor and pour approx 3L into each container. I do not seperate the solids. Top the bottle off with un-chlorinated (chlorine is nasty stuff in wine making) filtered water.
Add your wine makers yeast. There are many types available for different styles of wine so choose something that seems appropriate... but it is not critical. A sachet will normally do about 30L so split it accordingly.
Cap it with a properly sterilised party balloon stretched over the neck of the bottle while minimising the air content trapped in the balloon and bottle.
Set the bottles in an area that is warm (say 27-32C a thermometer is handy but not a prerequisite), and where it will remain undisturbed. As the yeast does its thing the balloon will inflate with CO2. You'll want to partially (not fully otherwise air will get in) deflate the balloon each day or it will burst. When the balloon has stopped inflating you know that the fermentation process has ceased and it is time for bottling. This will take two to three weeks.
If the bottles have remained undisturbed you should see a heavy sediment in the bottom which you do not want. The easiest way to seperate this from the wine you want is to use a length of 6mm ID clear plastic tube to carefully siphon the wine of the top into another sterilised bottle - plastic if you like. Don't worry about the wastage.
Cap and refridgerate.
Don't bother trying to age this wine. Just drink it.
Serve chilled, with ice, on its own or with lemonade. Just don't let anyone get into it before getting on a bike. It is sweet and easy to drink, but the alcohol content is high.

I have used this same basic method for grapes, blackberries, mulberries, apples, citrus, mangos and stone fruit.

If you have enough fruit for two or three 4L bottles (say 6-10kg) then you are off to a flying start.

Cheers