This Christmas, I got The Artful Winemaker kit as a present, along with several wine packages including Pinot Noir, which I chose as my first wine to make.
The process of the artful Winemaker takes 28 days from beginning to bottle. Step 1 is easy enough. After careful sanitation of the kit and all its components, the grape juice bag inside the square box in the photo is poured into the winemaker with a few wooden oak pieces added, undoubtedly to give the wine a barrel-like flavor.Then fermenting yeast is added. There is of course, an airlock at the top. Step 2 occurs after 14 days and involves more sanitizing and the mounting of the interior cones and removal of the oak pieces.
Step 3 comes after an additional 14 days, when the wine is bottled. The instructions recommended to bottle 6 of the 12 bottles for immediate consumptions and 6 for later, the difference between the two bottling procedures consisting of the way the bottle is rinsed. It is further recommended to let the immediate consumption bottles age for an additional 1-2 weeks before consuming them, so that the flavors and bouquet have a more of a chance to develop.
The last step of the bottling procedure was labeling the bottles with the labels provided, and further labeling by hand the bottles meant for immediate consumption and those for aging.
Overall, I found it to be a pretty straight-forward, easy process. Full results are pending, since I just bottled my wine late last week, but I have high hopes that the results will not be 12 bottles of homemade vinegar. Tasting notes coming in about one week, but in the meantime, my Napa tasting experience will be the subject of my next post.
The process of the artful Winemaker takes 28 days from beginning to bottle. Step 1 is easy enough. After careful sanitation of the kit and all its components, the grape juice bag inside the square box in the photo is poured into the winemaker with a few wooden oak pieces added, undoubtedly to give the wine a barrel-like flavor.Then fermenting yeast is added. There is of course, an airlock at the top. Step 2 occurs after 14 days and involves more sanitizing and the mounting of the interior cones and removal of the oak pieces.
Step 3 comes after an additional 14 days, when the wine is bottled. The instructions recommended to bottle 6 of the 12 bottles for immediate consumptions and 6 for later, the difference between the two bottling procedures consisting of the way the bottle is rinsed. It is further recommended to let the immediate consumption bottles age for an additional 1-2 weeks before consuming them, so that the flavors and bouquet have a more of a chance to develop.
Wow, It looks like a very robust wine making kit. So are the days of stomping on grapes with your bare feet over?
ReplyDeleteGlad you are engaged in something you are passionate about. My son who is 14 is now bee keeping with 4 hives. He has done extensive research on the subject. Being engaged with a hobby the is cultivated from nature is really great for the soul. Look forward to hearing how the tasting goes. Like your labeling too. Did you design that logo?
Yeah, it is a pretty solid kit. I am getting started on the Pinot Grigio next. However, this kit is probably meant for amateur winemakers like me, so for now grape-stomping is alive and well for professionals. I do agree that it is a great hobby, especially in this era when few people actually take the time to make their own anything. As to the logo, no, I did not design it. It came with the kit. My artistic skills are completely lacking for the most part.
Deletelooking foward to seeing the result
ReplyDeleteWell, my newest blogpost talks about the wine results, beer results will be coming up next week.
Delete