Any one made organic Grape wine?

[sheme]

I am about to make some wine for the first time. This years solar energy has really created some serious growth and although I am relatively high up for grape growing I have had a modest crop one and a half gallons of grapes after crushing. I would have loved to have made organic red wine but I have been put off by fears of contamination, so I figured I would go the conventional way and kill existing yeasts then add a proprietary yeast and extra sugar just so I know what normal wine making should be like in its various stages.

Has anyone on Avalon made successful organic wine- I love a glass of wine and would miss it quite a lot so I figure organic has to be the way to go when the SHTF lets be civilized if we can.

[mojo]

for many years would help Grandfather make the wine, the old fasion Italian way from Sicily. Had the winepress in the cellar and 50 gal-oak barrels. It was a fun family tradition and even the Catholic Bishop came to the house for the Sacramental wine for service, and my Gandfather made sure he sampled it maybe a little too much as I watched him go on his way out the door...;)

we never put sugar in wine, would fire & swell the barrels, the hand grinder was the only metal used in th process that touched the grapes and turn them by hand in the barrel to keep fermenation going and lots of cheese-cloth to keep the fruit flies out. hope that helps and good luck,
oops we used a hydraulic press but everything was wood in the press..

[sheme]

Thank you Mojo happy days then, I must get me a small oak barrel, I am getting excited about making wine. (well drinking it actually) I presume your wooden barrel was used as a fermenting vessel then? can you remember how the firing and swelling the barrels worked - I am guessing the fire was to decontaminate the barrel and the swelling was just getting the barrel strips wet so they closed tight together ready for the new seasons brew?

[Carmen]

We grew our grapes entirely organically and our wine was made as naturally as possible (I think) but sulphur was used, I know that. We only had one vintage before we pulled the grapes out unfortunately, but we still have a few ton of that vintage. It is wonderful wine, Pinot noir and pino Gris. Nothing like nipping into the cellar for a bottle of your own wine. A year ago a winemaker from Spain sat down to sample all the wine from our valley and rated ours the best. He recognised its organic origins. I have posts in the ground ready for planting a smaller vineyard beside our house but haven't planted it yet! I too, love to have my own wine and intend to grow some more grapes and make wine for our own consumption. Our label is "Brother Adam" who is the patron saint of honey. The name came about as our first clumsy attempt at wine making was made in a honey house.

[mojo]

It was happy days back then! We kids grew-up having wine at the dinner table, and no wonder my friends liked coming over for dinner...;)

yes, your correct about the firing and swelling. And, no need to destroy the natural yeast on the grape skin already or add yeast to the process, the natural fermentation did it all but you had to keep an eye on it and keep fermentation going by turning the fluid and skins in the barrel. Oak provides the flavors when ageing for a year or more. My friends have used modern wine-kits and flavor packets (oak/charcoal) to achieve a closer taste of a barrel. Once fermented we would drain using cheese cloth and sample the seasons reward. The rest would be collected for the press and squeeze the remaining juices out.

[Ellisa]

My gran used to make mulberry wine. It was VERY alcoholic and tasted vile! It would have made good rocket fuel or dry-cleaning fluid.

I know quite a few people who make small amounts of drinkable wine here but I have not made it myself. Some even do the bare-foot trampling bit too! Very organic indeed!

[dianna]

I made wine once, in high school with friends, and it was absolutely gastly! LOL, personally, I drink bourbon, and leave it to the good people of Kentucky, who know what they are doing ...

[Ammit]

Yeah, organic grape and any other fruits i grow in my garden.
Im drinking a glass of blackberry wine now.....

[Carmen]

We grew our grapes totally organically as I said but we had a winemaker. He actually looked like the god of wine as we see depicted in paintings or the god pan. He did a couple of years winemaking in France and he was always likened to the god of wine (can't remember the name!!) anyway we had two rows each of gevertz and Riesling. He put them together and made a wonderful brew, very unusual. It tasted foul till it was ready then it came right and is unusual and delicious. I love the dry fruitiness of gervertztrminer (sorry bout the spelling!)

Bacchus, that's it! The Roman god of wine.

[Octavusprime]

I made some wild grape wine last year. Harvested in September. Basically I smashed the grapes, let sit, used colander to separate and added some brewers yeast.

One thing I didn't do is let the grape musk sit long enough. The wine was a rose instead of a dark red. A little too sweet because I didn't use a wine yeast but still tasty.