A Start in Winemaking

The first wine kit, a GSM. The second kit
was the same, and was a Do-Over that is
vastly improved .

As I got ready for Year Two in the vineyard where focus was again on the development of the vines rather than the production of fruit, I decided to get a jump winemaking for that day when I have my own grapes to crush. I figured it would be awkward to confront even a small a harvest with zero experience in the wine making department.

Lesson one began in the Spring last year when I unboxed a Grenache/Syrah/Mourvedre (GSM) kit and launched into my first adventure as a winemaker. The kit contained everything but the tools I needed to make six gallons of wine. It has 12 liters of juice from Gard, France, from the west side of the southern Rhone, supplemented with Syrah concentrate and a grape skin pack from California.

GSM v1.0 in the bottle. About
to bottle v2.0

I scrubbed up and sanitized all the tools and containers—including some of my old stainless steel goat milking buckets—required to get the primary fermentation underway. I also set up a temporary winery in the corner of my shop. I religiously followed the directions, and by 3:45 p.m. my first foray into winemaking was in the primary fermenter.

It was not a pretty sight as I struggled with the large containers in the laundry room sink.The cleaning and sanitizing agents were all new to me, there was water everywhere, and not a little of the grape juice. My fluid handling practices needed a little work, but in the end, the primary fermentation was underway in less than 24 hours.

I followed directions religiously, had more challenges with the fluid handling as I transferred the wine from the primary to the secondary fermenter.

Shiraz in the primary fermenter, and Cabernet in the box

ready to start 

primary fermentation. Both are aging in

carboys at this time.

I was sufficiently concerned about my handling of this first batch that I immediately ordered another of the same kit, which I planned to start when version 1.0 was in the bottle. I vowed to learn from my first episode and execute version 2.0 in a much more proficient, and experienced, manner.

At this writing (I started this post last summer and let it sit until today), GSM v1.0 has been in bottle for six months, resting in my refrigerated wine cellar. GSM v2.0 is resting in a carboy for the same amount of time. I tasted v2.0 last week and find it far superior to v1.0, and have high hopes it will provide decent drinking this summer and fall.

Cabernet and Shiraz in the secondary

fermenters, before transferring to carboys for

aging. There are six gallons of each.

I compounded my experience with an Old Vine Zinfandel that has been aging for two months in carboy, a gallon of Zinfandel from my own grapes that is tracking along with the kit Zin, an Australian Shiraz that went into carboy for aging two weeks ago, and an Australian Cabernet that will be transferred to a carboy this week to start it's aging.

It has been a fun year full of learning, testing, tasting, watching and smelling the work in process. I learned to test for and adjust the sulfur to ensure the prevention of spoilage, and handle the liquids in a much more efficient manner.

I'm please to say that based on the early taste tests, I should have a nice collection of wine to drink as I work through Year Three of my little adventure in vines and wines.