Wine from Home Grown Grapes

[Ging]

In a position to try this for the first time with grapes from my vines. I'm trying to understand one point in the whole process that is confusing me. I've read and been told that after the intial 24 hours to allow Co2 to escape the grapes should be crushed to extract the must and then left for 5 days to start the fermeting process. Should the pomace be left in for those first 5 days or should it just be the grape juice ?

My experience is pure kits before so whole new learning curve.

Thanks

[Cellar_Rat]

The confusion here could be between red and white.

The process is different.

Red= Crush, keep skins, perhaps some stralks and ferment asap.
White = Crush, Press, Sulphite, Settle (24 hrs), Rack, Ferment clearest juice only.

Hope that helps

[lockwood1956]

For red wines see here

http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/pdf/HWM3.pdf

for white wines see here

http://wineserver.ucdavis.edu/pdf/HWM4.pdf

how are you deciding when to harvest?


regards
Bob

[Ging]

Having read numerous pages it's based on the colour of the pips. Taste wise they were fantastic as well. I am right down on the South Coast which is probably why they have come along quick. We've had some really variable weather conditions in the last two weeks and that seems to have pushed things along.

thanks

[lockwood1956]

Take a couple of grapes (one from the middle of the bunch and one from the very bottom...the one at the bottom will be ripest) along to a local vineyard and ask then nicely if they would check the Brix for you with their refractometer....

winemakers are a friendly lot (even the pro ones)

regards
Bob

[Cellar_Rat]

alternatively.........

Take the grape - squeeze it hard till the middle pops out all over the floor.

Chew the skins. This is the flavour of the wine (with a bit of imagination)

As winemakers can adjust sugar and acidity (more later), but we cannot adjust flavour.

[billybuntus]

Should the grapes when ripe be like the kind you buy in a fruit shop or are the skins thicker? (first time I've seen an un-ripend grape and its almost plastic its so hard)

[Cellar_Rat]

Depends on the variety, but generally winemaking grapes have thicker skins