* News Updates
* Special offers
* Post reviews
Create Account

Syrah in my Closet

Written By: Michael Keba on Thursday, November 15, 2007

Wine 101 - Picking Grapes to Make Homemade Wine

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a commitment and actually do this. My friends were sick of my constant blabbering, and it was time to prove that I wasn't all talk. Not wanting to be some kind of poseur, I got down to business. It was time to make my first wine.

My little adventure went something like this:

  • I searched Craigslist.com for wine grapes
  • I found an ad for syrah grapes about 30 minutes away from me, listed at 75 cents/pound
  • Upon inquiry, the owner said that they would be ready that weekend
  • I started school the next day
  • Talked to owner and made plans to get to the vineyard at 10 am Sunday
  • Woke up Sunday and biked to other side of Davis' campus
  • Picked up a friend's car at fraternity house
  • Drove to WalMart in Woodland and bought plastic trash cans
  • Drove another 45 minutes to the vineyard located in Suisun Valley

I had ten minutes to peruse around while the owner drove home from his grandson's baseball game. Like most people, I'm a complete novice to this whole experience. In fact, this was my first time at a vineyard during harvest season. I thoroughly enjoyed my transcendentalist moment; admiring the artistry of tamed nature wrapped around wooden trellises. Midnight colored clusters stretched row upon row as far as I could see.

A rumble from the owner's extended cab pickup broke my trance. A tall middle-aged man and a young blonde boy stepped out. I introduced myself and explained my project. The student factor worked in my favor, and he cut me a deal - 40 bucks for "all the grapes I need." Five minutes later, the two hopped back in the truck, and I had the whole place to myself again.

Unfortunately, I was missing two important tools: helping hands and gardening clippers. The recruitment of my friends had failed miserably, but I hadn't really expected any help from them before noon. However, I never thought about the mechanics of actually picking these grapes. The owner didn't have any kind of clippers, so he lent me a box cutter on the condition that I promise not to slice a finger off.

I spent the next couple hours carefully filling my plastic trashcans with the delicate fruit. It's better that the average wine drinker doesn’t know this, but there were hundreds of tiny spiders crawling over the grapes. It was impossible to get all of them off. I'd guess that quite a few of these make it into the typical bottle of wine, but I haven't gotten that far along in process yet.

At this point I estimate that I have about a hundred and fifty pounds of grapes in my apartment. I have no proper equipment and just a little bit of knowledge of what to do next. However, I'm not too worried. Certain situations require immediate attention if the end goal is ever to be reached. Sometimes you can't be too meticulous about details if you want something done. If I had waited until I had everything organized, this project would probably end up hold until next year. Besides, the goal of this is not to make world-class wine, but to learn from the experience. I'm going to take this one step at a time, and now I need to plan what I'm going to do for the crush tomorrow.

Stay tuned and follow my homemade wine adventure!

Send to a Friend Add to: Digg Add to: Del.icio.us

 Related Videos for Syrah in my Closet

 1  2  3  4  5 ...  Next >> 

Le Bec-Fin Interview and Wine Tasting with Christophe Tassan Le Bec-Fin Interview and Wine Tasting with Christophe Tassan
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007

Today we visit Le Bec-Fin, one of the finest restaurants in the world. And we're honored to be joined by Christophe Tassan, M.O.F. Sommelier and...read more

Le Bec-Fin Food and Wine Pairing Le Bec-Fin Food and Wine Pairing
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007

With a multi-layered dish like Le Bec-Fin's seafood risotto with chorizo emulsion, how are you supposed to pick a wine that will pair well with...read more

Opening and Pouring Wine Opening and Pouring Wine
Posted on Monday, March 19, 2007

It sometimes seems like there are a thousand rules for appropriately opening and pouring wine. In this program, Brian demystifies the process, and tells you...read more


 

  Be the first to comment on this article

You need to log into your ClassicWines account to leave a comment on this article. You can log in here. If you do not have a Classic Wines account you can sign up here.