A Beginner's Guide to Home Winemaking

A Beginner’s Guide to Home Winemaking

Tips and Techniques for Growing and Using Fruit Vines and Herbs for Home Consumption

Table of Contents

Introduction

Growing Grape Vines

Preparation of the soil

Planting your vine

Maintenance

Pruning your vines

Protecting Your Vines.

Harvesting your grapes

Making homemade Wines

What is wine

How to Make Wine

Equipment Needed For Winemaking

Don’ts When You Are Making Wine

Steps in Home Winemaking

Preparation of the Fruits and Vegetables

Extraction of Juice

Making the Fermentation Mixture

Fermentation

Racking into Jars

Artificial Clearing

Fining

Racking off into bottles and storing

Maturing

Serving wine

Choosing the Best Wines

Varieties and Recipes

Winemaking recipes

Apple Wine

Beetroot Wine

Blackberry Wine

Blackcurrant Wine

Elderberry

Elderflower Wine

Grapes

Orange Wine

Raisin Wine

Dandelion Wine

Conclusion

Author Bio

Introduction

According to the ancient Greeks, it was a Demi-God, Dionysius, who taught them the pleasures of making wine and drinking it. No wonder he was always shown with grapevine leaves around his head.

The Romans called him Bacchus and also Eleutherios, which meant the Liberator. The idea was those taking part in celebrating his existence were free from care and worry. That was because they drank freely of the fruit of the grape during their Bacchanals.

A Greek friend told me that according to Greek legend, Dionysius was supposed to have come to India, and Alexander the great during his conquest entered an Eastern city called Nysa , of which the inhabitants told him of its raising by this demi-God. He taught them practices which were incorporated in their own social rituals and festivals.

Ah, well, that is a good myth, but then wine was definitely not unknown in the East. It was one of the first gourmet pleasures discovered and appreciated for millenniums. So if this demigod came to the Indian subcontinent he would have been fed Madira or Soma Rasa -the ancient and traditional drink of the gods!

The names Dennis, Denise and Dion are derivatives from this original Greek name.

So for all of us who would like to raise a toast to the gods in a glass of homemade wine, this book is going to teach you how you can grow vines very successfully in sunny atmospheres. After that, it is going to teach you how to make wines for home consumption.

If you look at winemaking practices, which are being practiced today, it is a very scary and complicated process. This is because of our usage of complex and complicated tools. The practices I am going to teach you have been in use for centuries. You are not going to be buying expensive tools. You are going to be making wine, the traditional way.