Wine Making (with a note on vinegar)

by Philip Wagner and J. R. McGrew.

Philip Wagner is Proprietor, Boordy Vineyards, Riderwood, Md., and author of Grapes Into Wine. J. R. McGrew is with the Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, Md.

Grapes are the world's leading fruit crop and the eighth most important Food crop in the world, exceeded only by the principal cereals and starchy tubers. Though substantial quantities are used for fresh fruit, raisins, juice and preserves, most of the world's annual production of about 60 million metric tons is used for dry (non-sweet) wine.

Wine is of great antiquity, as every Bible reader knows, and a traditional and important element in the daily fare of millions. Used in moderation, it is wholesome and nourishing, and gives zest to the simplest diet. It is a source of a broad range of essential minerals, some vitamins, and easily assimilated calories provided by its moderate alcoholic content.

In its beginnings, winemaking was is much a domestic art as breadmaking and cheesemaking. It still is, wherever grapes are grown in substantial quantity. Though much wine is now produced industrially, many of the world's most famous wines are still made on what amounts to a family scale, the grapegrower being the winemaker as well.

Production of good dry table wine or family use is not difficult, provided certain essential rules are observed.

The right grapes. Quality of a wine depends first of all on the grapes it is made from. As is true of other fruits, there are hundreds of grape varieties. They fall in three main groups.

First, there are the classic vinifera vine grapes of Europe. These also dominate the vineyards of California, with its essentially Mediterranean climate. But several centuries of trial have shown that they are not at home in most other parts of the United States.

Second, there are the traditional American sorts such as Concord, Catawba, Delaware, and Niagara, which are descendants of our wild grapes and much grown where the vinifera fail. They have pronounced aromas and flavors, often called foxy, which, though relished in the fresh state by many, reduce their value for wine.

Third, there are the French or French-American hybrids, introduced in recent years and now superseding the traditional American sorts for winemaking. The object in breeding these was to combine fruit resembling the European wine grapes with vines having the winter hardiness and disease resistance of the American parent. They may be grown for wine-making where the pure European wine grapes will not succeed.

What wine is. Simply described, wine is the product of the fermentation of sound, ripe grapes. If a quantity of grapes is crushed into an open half-barrel or other suitable vessel, and covered, the phenomenon of fermentation will be noticeable within a day or two, depending on the ambient temperature. It is initiated by the yeasts naturally present on the grapes, which begin to multiply prodigiously once the grapes are crushed.

Fermentation continues for three to ten days, throwing off gas and a vinous odor. In the process, the sugar of the grapes is reduced to approximately half alcohol and half carbon dioxide gas, which escapes. Fermentation subsides when all the sugar has been used up. The murky liquid is then drained and pressed from the solid matter and allowed to settle and clear in a closed container.

The resulting liquid is wine not very good wine if the constituents of the grapes were not in balance, and readily spoiled, but wine nevertheless.

Beneath the apparent simplicity,

the evolution of grapes into wine is a series of complex biochemical reactions. Thus winemaking can be as simple or as complex as you wish to make it. The more you understand and control the process, the better the wine. The following instructions cover only the essentials of sound home winemaking.

Under Federal law the head of a household may make up to 200 gallons of wine a year for family use, but is first required to notify the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on Form 1541.

Making Red Wine

The grape constituents which matter most to the winemaker are (a) sugar content of the juice, and (b) tartness or "total acidity" of the juice.

Sugar content is important because the amount of sugar determines alcoholic content of the finished wine. A sound table wine contains between 10% and 12 1/2% alcohol. The working rule is that 2% sugar yields 1% of alcohol. Example: a sugar content of 22% yields a wine of approximately 11% alcohol.

California grapes normally contain sufficient sugar. Grapes grown elsewhere are often somewhat deficient, and the difference must be made up by adding the appropriate amount of ordinary granulated sugar which promptly converts to grape sugar on contact with the juice.

Note: The result is not precise, yield of alcohol varying under the conditions of fermentation. Adapted from Grapes Into Wine by Philip M. Wagner.

In using non-California grapes, you need to test the sugar content in advance. That is done by a simple little instrument called a saccharometer, obtainable at any winemakers' shop. This is floated in a sample of the juice, and a direct reading of sugar content is taken from the scale. The correct amount of sugar to add, in ounces per gallon of juice, is then determined by reference to the sugar table.

If total acidity, or tartness, is too high and not corrected, the resulting wine will be too tart to be agreeable. Again, California grapes are usually within a satisfactory range of total acidity. Grapes grown elsewhere are often too tart, and acidity of the juice should be reduced.

In commercial winemaking this is done with precision.

The home winemaker rarely makes the chemical test for total acidity but uses a rule of thumb. He corrects the assumed excess of acidity with a sugar solution consisting of 2 pounds of sugar to 1 gallon of water adding 1 gallon of the sugar solution for every estimated 4 gallons of juice. This sugar solution is in addition to the sugar required to adjust sugar content of the juice itself.

In estimating the quantity of juice, another practical rule is that 1 full bushel of grapes will yield approximately 4 gallons. The winemaker therefore corrects with 1 gallon of sugar solution for each full bushel of crushed grapes.