The Art of Home Wine Making

There is a serious trend in the United States, and it’s all about drinking wine. Wine drinking per capita is steadily increasing, and it has spread from the farthest hills of Napa Valley to the familiar green hills of New Jersey. As a natural extension of this increase, people are becoming more and more interested in what goes into each bottle on the kitchen table: what kinds of grapes are involved, what else may go into a bottle, and how, exactly, wine is made.

Wine is the product of a simple equation: sugar + yeast = alcohol + carbon dioxide, with the equation sign representing the fermentation process. Sugar comes naturally from grapes, though some wine makers will add sugar or grape juice to the juice to increase the resulting alcohol level; this process is called chaptalization. Yeast can be found on its own in grapes; however, many wine makers will add yeast to help along the fermentation process. During the fermentation process, the yeast eats the sugar, and the byproduct is alcohol. Carbon dioxide, which is a gas, is released when making still wine. (Do you ever wonder how Champagne gets all its bubbles? Champagne begins as any other still wine, like your bottle of Chardonnay, or your bottle of Pinot Noir, but it goes through a second fermentation in the bottle, capped, which means the carbon dioxide can’t escape. Instead, the gas remains locked in the wine as tiny bubbles, just waiting to burst out when you open that bottle on a special occasion.)

All wine making follows these basic principles of fermentation. In the vineyard, wine making depends very much on seasons. Grapes are harvested in early fall, after a long summer of ripening. After the grapes are harvested, they are crushed (usually by machine, though in a few traditional regions of the world, people still stomp to make juice) and transferred to whatever fermentation vessels the winery has – these can be giant, stainless steel tanks, or big, open-top oak barrels. After fermentation is complete, the wine is transferred to another vessel where it will age; these too can be large, stainless steel tanks, or smaller oak barrels. After the wine has been aged, it is bottled and shipped. All of these steps, in addition to the grape variety and region in which the grapes were grown, affect the final flavors and aromas of wine. For instance, you may have heard someone describe a wine as “oaky” – it’s not that the wine is oak-like, but rather, this is a simple way to describe all the aromas and textures that oak barrels pass on to wine during the wine making process: aromas of vanilla, cloves, and caramel, and added weight in the mouth thanks to the tannins that oak barrels impart.

While the many steps and equipment may make wine making seem like something best left up to professionals, as we have seen, wine is the product of a simple equation. As such, wine making can be scaled to a much more manageable, indeed pleasurable, process at home. Though some home wine makers will buy or grow grapes themselves, and go through the crushing process at home, most buy grape juice. This is not Welch’s from your local super market, but rather, juice from grapes grown all over the world, so you could easily make, say, an Italian Chianti, a Spanish Rioja, or a South African Chenin Blanc in your own backyard (or basement, or kitchen, or laundry room). Buying juice from trusted growers has an added benefit: you can make wine year-round, instead of waiting on the seasonal harvest. Instead of large fermentation tanks, homemakers use plastic carboys, which serve as a neutral place for the fermentation process – similar to stainless steel. For those who enjoy the flavors, aromas, and textures that oak imparts, oak chips can be added to the wine, which adds a familiar touch without overpowering the wine’s natural taste.

Another option outside the winery is to make wine at a shop. Vintner’s Circle is a unique place, in that its shops provide the professional guidance and equipment to those interested in making their own wine, but would like to avoid any smells or messes. Customers can make wine in four easy steps, and have a batch of personalized wine in eight weeks. Wine making at Vintner’s Circle goes beyond making wine; it is the experience, as well as the wine, that is incredibly special. Vintner’s Circle is a place for friends and family to gather, to spend time together, and share in making something very personal. Wine is something that, by its very nature, brings people together; wine making at Vintner’s Circle means that the unifying aspects of wine start at the beginning of a bottle of wine, not just at the end.