An introduction to the chemicals and essential equipment used in home wine making.

The local brew shop I use is: http://www.defalcos.com/

Back Roads WineCast from the Concannon winery in Livermore California. Take an insider’s peek into wine making in what’s possibly our finest WineCast to date. History pours through the opening gates at Concannon and is echoed in every hall and workspace across this winery. Andrew guides us in the amazing behind the scenes view into wine making in Livermore California.

ONEMAN SHOW MAKES YOUR HOME A WINERY; by describing how to convert a frozen CONCORD GRAPE juice to a beautiful RED HOME MADE WINE. Have fun.Please do not make more than a gallon at a time & drink or rather SIP IT SLOWLY.

It is a family tradition in our home, from generation to generation, to make wine. Here is a brief clip that shows us preparing to press grapes that had been somewhat crushed the night before.

Making Red Wine

During the wine making process, White wines are pressed prior to fermentation and red wines are pressed after fermentation.

Those are the basics but when you press, how hard you press, how much pressed wine to blend with your free run wine… well it pays to keep an eye on the wine and taste frequently to make sure you press at the appropriate time to hit the stylistic goals for your wine. In this Winemaker’s Minute, Crushpad winemaker Chris Nelson explains all the variables involved, and the key indicators to watch as you are making these decisions.

Are you looking to extract a little more color from that Pinot? Or maybe you want a bit more weight on the palate which tannins can give. Rather than put your red wines through a rigorous punchdown regimen to get maximum color extraction, you can make an addition of enzymes to the fermentation to more gently extract color. And adding a small amount of tannin at fermentation time can give your wine that small bit of added structure that brings fruit, acidity and alcohol all in to balance.

Depending on the style of wine you want to make, and the varietal of grape you are working with, you have a few choices when it comes to fermenation vessels. And when you’re working with small batch winemaking, it is critical to make the right choice. For white wines it’s important that you ferment in the type of vessel that will help you achieve the style you want. For reds, it’s a little more straight forward. Crushpad winemaker Chris Nelson explains it all.

Should you filter wine during the wine making process - You decide.

Most white wines are filtered prior to bottling, and some reds are. Filtering can clarify a wine so that it sparkles in your glass, but if you filter wine too heavily it can strip away character. How do you decide what level of filtration, if any, is appropriate for your wine? Well, you ask a guy who has 25+ years wine making experience making that call. Crushpad’s Chief Winemaker, Michael Zitzlaff explains your options.

During the wine making process, fining wine can be used to clarify and soften wines.

Fining is the process of clarifying and stabilizing a wine. A fining agent is mixed in to bind with particles suspended in wine that would make it appear cloudy when poured into a glass. Since fining agents are slightly heavier than wine, the bound particles precipitate out and settle to the bottom of the tank.

Sometimes you might fine wine to clean it up if it is cloudy, other times you might wish to soften the wine by precipitating out compounds that are astringent. Most red wines won’t need fining but whites benefit from the process so they remain crystal clear as they age in the bottle.