Hey Blog! A few days ago, I went to our local vineyard to pick some grapes and make wine. I thought I’d let you know how it went.
It’s been two fact check: three years since I last picked grapes, and though I wrote about it then (Home Ed at the Harvest, 2023), that was only the picking. Now, I’m a bit taller and can keep going a bit longer, and I have a better understanding of wine, having tried to make some from our own three vines last year (it’s still in bottles, but we’re not sure how good it is). These changes are some help, except height, because looking for grapes which are growing low down means bending over and walking like that along the row of vines. Painful next morning. At least this year the wasps weren’t as bad, so no one got stung. The grapes were mostly good looking and there weren’t that many rotten ones, thankfully, so less to sort through and get rid of.
You pick grapes with secateurs, along long rows of vines that are probably held up by wire and sometimes covered with netting to stop the birds snaffling them all. It’s productive work, as you can often fill two crates per row. Once that’s done, you’re rather hungry and in need of some lunch, so it’s back to the centre of operations to do that. And drink some of last year’s wine, or sniff it if the legalities dictate that 16 year olds can’t.
But, what I couldn’t tell you before is how to make wine. Now I can! You need a lot of grapes to make any quantity of it, which is why it’s a good idea to do all your picking before lunch, so you can spend the afternoon at a press doing the making. In theory, it’s quite simple, you squeeze grapes, juice comes out, you leave juice and it turns into something that makes you tipsy. Well, the chemical bit I learnt about in science last year, because you are converting C6H12O6 (glucose) into C2H4OH (ethanol). A sugar into alcohol reaction is done by utilising the natural anaerobic processes of the tiny fungus yeast, the same stuff used for bread and beer. As the saying found on bottle openers and t-shirts goes, fermentation and civilisation are inseparable. As yeast respires, it makes alcohol and CO2, the global warming gas and what gives champagne all those bubbles. Then, due to a lack of sugars as they have all been used up, the yeast dies off and you have a bottle of wine. How, though, does the yeast and glucose get in there in the first place?
Well, you need the grape juice first. Remove the stalks from the grapes, using (if you have one) a special destalker (even after examining one I still can’t work out how it works!). Next, a large metal drum with holes in, and a thick canvas bag like the kind used for jam, is needed. Put the stalkless grapes into this, and fold the top over before pressing down on top. The juice will run out the holes, off the tray it’s sitting on, and into a bucket. You might want a sieve in there to stop any skin bits. Keep pressing on the top – using a car jack to exert more pressure is so fun! Once the first lot of juice is fully squeezed out, add more grapes and repeat.
What I learnt by following this process at the vineyard – grape juice tastes awesome! It’s sweet and you can taste the flavour of the wine without any of the regulations surrounding underage drinking. Also, the system’s a lot more hygienic than the use of bare Roman feet, as was done in the past, when you use a sterilised press. In addition, I realised it’s easy enough to make, and you get to use some funky tools. I can see how you could adapt the press to make it useable on grapes if it was designed for something else, like a metal cutting or drill press, so if and when I get myself a workshop, I could expand into winemaking as well. As far as I’m aware, you can’t sell or buy wine under 18, but I don’t think you’re forbidden to make it. Hmmm. I’ll see you next time!
