Wine Basics - Learn About Wine

Wine has been around for thousands of years, and for a newcomer wine can seem very
intimidating. Really, many people in the world drink wine simply as a healthy,
enjoyable daily drink. Many people make wine in their own back yards out of the
available fruits and berries found there. Wine should not be intimidating or pretentious.
It should be something you enjoy for your own personal taste preferences.

The best way to learn about wine is to dive in and start tasting some!

Wow!! How many different types of wines are there?!?

How many different types of wines? Great question!! And the answer is... LOTS!!!
Have you seen the wine aisle at the grocery store for gosh sakes?!? It goes on and on
and on... and how do you choose?!?

Lets start with some basics...

When you think of wine you think either red or white... The determining factor in
whether or not a wine is red or white is whether or not the grape skins are left in during
the fermentation process.

Wines tend to be named after the grape that is used to make them.... or the place they
are made.... This is one of the reasons that there are so many different types of wines...
soooo many grapes!! Burgundy wine is made in burgundy. And... the Merlot grape is
used to make Merlot wine.

Red wines tend to be rather dry and go well with pasta dishes, red meats, heavier foods.
White wines tend to go best with chicken, turkey, seafood. White wines will range from
faily dry to very sweet.

Different Types Of Wines - Red Wines

Merlot - Typically, the taste of this wine will be a dark fruity berry, cherry, and cassis
with maybe some plum fruit as well as chocolate, herbs, and notes of leather.

Burgundy - This would be the most difficult wine to make... it has the taste of mineral,
earth, leather, cherry, and other red fruits. Not a wine for the faint of heart!

Pinot Noir - This is a smooth and silky wine that will have either a smoky, spicy, tea,
tart fruit flavor or it will have a fruity earthy floral flavor depending on the style in
which it was made.

Shiraz - This is also known as Syrah - this is an Austrailian wine. There are many
different varieties of this type of wine depending on the region that it was made in.
Zinfandel - tastes associated with this wine would be blackberry, boysenberry,
raspberry, and dark cherry..

Madeira - This is a fortified wine which means the fermentation process was stopped by
adding alcohol to it. There are some of these wines out there over 100 years old!

Different Types Of Wines - White Wines

Sauvignon Blanc - This is a very aromatic wine and will give your senses the smell of
lemon, grassy, grapefruit, and gooseberry aromas.

Pinot Gris or Pinot Grigio - (cousin to Pinot Noir) - a bit of a heavier body wine than
Sauvignon Blanc with hints of pears

Riesling - This wine will have an earthy smell to it mixed with floral and can range
from very dry to very sweet.

Chianti - This wine will host flavors of cherry, plum, and raspberry fruit combined with
smoke, leather, minerals, This is a traditional Italian food wine that goes great with not
only spaghetti, lasagne, pizza but also with chicken, beef, vegetables and cheese.

Viognier - This wine smells of banana and peach and floral aromas.

Different Types Of Wines - Specialty Wines

Sparkling Wines - Or better known as Champagne...

Muscat - This is usually a dessert wine that is medium sweet

Ice Wine - this is a dessert wine that can only be made when it is very cold out. Ice wine
is made with grapes that have stayed on the vine longer than normal... into the time
when it begins to snow.

Port - This is a fortified wine. This is usually a dessert wine that goes great with cheese,
dark chocolates and nuts

Rose' or Blush Wine - A Rose' wine is a low alcohol type of wine. Flavors will range
from the tart, acidic wines with little or no oak, to big fruity wines.

Sherry - This is another fortified wine. It will range from light and bone-dry to thick,
sweet, and creamy.

This is by no means an all inclusive list of the different types of wines!! When you
consider how many fruits there are out there that you can make into just as many
different types of wines... how many spices... how many edible things... it is just mind
boggling!! . Drink up! And CHEERS to trying to discover just how many different
types of wines there are out there!!
Wine Tasting - An Adventure of the Senses!
Wine tasting is a whole world in
and of itself. I have watched
professional wine tasters on TV
and I am always amazed that they
can pick out the tiniest of flavors
from a single sip...

The thing about wine tasting is

that the taster takes into account
all of their senses... taste... smell...
visual... overall feel... I do those
things naturally but I guess not to
the extent that the "professional"
wine taster does.

Have you watched one of these shows? The taster will

say something like "I feel that this wine was birthed
during a lunar equinox... there are hints of a sea spray
that can only be found off the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea... " I am just always amazed at
how they know these things...

But giving wine tasting a try yourself can actually be

pretty fun... this is the wine tasting process...

The Look: Check out the Color and Clarity.

Pour your wine into the proper wine glass... and take a good look. Hold the glass away
from you and see how the color varies from top to bottom. Use surrounding light to help
you see the variances.

The Smell: What is the aroma?

This is a very important component when analyzing a glass of wine. What you will do is
to again swirl your glass... not too much or you will spill it on yourself...

Now... take a quick smell... Stick your nose down further into the glass and breathe
deeper. Now what do you think? Close your eyes and think about each varied smell... do
you smell flowers? Oak? Vanilla? Swirl the glass again to mix the aromas again... do
you smell anything different? Jot down each impression you have...

The Taste: Three Stages

 Okay... the most important step is to take a
taste. Just a small sip and let it roll around on
your tongue. Think about your first impression.
This is called the Attack stage. The Attack
Stage, is the initial impression that the wine
makes on your taste. During this stage you will
think about the alcohol content, tannin levels,
acidity and residual sugar. Optimally these four
components will be balanced and one part will
not over power the others.

The next stage is The Evolution Stage... also called the mid-palate or middle range
phase. This is the actual "taste" of the wine. Is it fruity? Is it smoky? Can you taste
herbs? Cinnamon? What are the actual flavors of the wine?

The Final stage is of course called The Finish. This is where you evaluate the aftertaste
of the wine... what does it taste like after you swallow it? How long does the taste stay
with you? Can you still taste the wine when you breathe?

Wine Making Supplys - What you need to get started

What wine making supplies do you need to get started? Great question!

There are some basic pieces of wine making equipment that you will need to get before
you begin whipping up a fantastic batch of what is sure to become the envy of friends
and family.

I will list your mosts needed wine making supplys for you Here we go... You will
need...

• A Food-grade plastic bucket and lid - This is used for primary fermentation and also
for bottling. Some people call this a pickle bucket... and by some people I mean my
family...

• A Spigot for the plastic bucket... this is optional but nice to have - This can be used to
drain the wine into the carboy, instead of siphoning and can be used to bottle your
wine... you will develop your own preference...

• A 6-gallon glass or Better-Bottle carboy - This is used for secondary fermentation and
aging. This looks like the big water bottle on the water cooler at work... many a great
story has been told around the water cooler... perhaps you can tell great stories around
your carboy... start a tradition...

• An airlock - This allows the carbon dioxide to escape from the plastic bucket or
carboy during fermentation while keeping the oxygen out. A very important process...

• A drilled rubber stopper called a bung - I prefer to call it a rubber stopper... This goes
in the neck of the glass carboy, it provides an airtight seal while the drilled hole in the
middle holds the airlock. A very nice set up.
• A Hydrometer - This measures specific gravity, sugar, and potential alcohol... this is a
very important piece of equipment... I keep a spare one in case I invariably break it... a
very important wine making equipment...

• Some vinyl tubing - This is used for "racking" or transferring your wine from one
vessel to another. You can use this with the racking cane, auto-siphon, bottle filler
and/or spigot.... very handy to have around...

• A plastic spoon or paddle to stir your wine.

• A curved cane and racking tip or Auto-Siphon - This is used in conjunction with the
vinyl tubing that I mentioned to be very handy... to siphon the wine out of the carboy.

• Some cleanser - A chemical used to clean your equipment.

• Some sanitizer - A chemical used to sanitize your equipment.

• Some Wine bottles - You'll need around 30 bottles (750 ml size) for most kits. I reuse
bottles and my friends and family save them for me. My attic would make someone
think I was a closet wino... but the truth is I am pretty much out there... no secrets here...

• New Corks - do not reuse corks... they will leak - Corks keep the wine in and the
oxygen out.

• A Corker – A device to insert the cork into the bottle. If you have ever tried to replace
a cork on a recently opened bottle you will appreciate this piece of equipment. If you
plan on using screw caps then you dont need this...

• A Wine Thief - Nope... not what you are thinking... this is a device used to get a
sample of wine from a carboy for taste testing without having to tip the carboy and pour
it out.

• Test tube or the Wine Thief/Test Jar combo - To hold your wine and hydrometer while
you test for the Specific Gravity (S.G.)

Home Made Wine Recipes!!

The thing I want to get across to you though is that all homemade wine recipes have similar
components. Kind of like a cookie recipe... you have your basics like flour and eggs and milk
but you can jazz up your cookies by adding chocolate chips or oatmeal or chocolate... I love
chocolate!

Wine recipes are the same... you pretty much have the basic ingredients and/or steps and
then... you jazz it up depending on the fruit or vegetable or flower you want to use.

Vegetable wines? Flower wines?? Are you kidding me? Nope... I kid you not..

What type of home made wine do I want to make???

After you have decided on the type of wine you want to make... maybe your strawberry
patch is overflowing...

Now what do I put in?

Your second main ingredient is going to be a sugar...

this can be regular sugar... honey... brown sugar...

You need the sugar to start the fermentation

process. Now some fruits are obviously going to
already have their own sugars... like grapes. But if
you are using another base for your wine such as
rose petals... or dandelions... coffee... then you will need to help them
out a bit...

Okay... great... now what?

Your third main ingredient for your home made

wine recipe is going to be water. Again... the
main ingredient that you choose for your wine
recipe may already have enough water... but if
it doesn't... or if it is a particularly acidic item...
like lemons... then you will want to add enough
water to dilute the acid levels...

Great!! I have water... now what?

Of course acid is also an important

ingredient for your home made wine
recipe... so if you do not have enough acid
or if you have diluted your mixture too
much then you will want to add some acid
back in.

Fine... take the acid out... put it back in... now what?

The next ingredient for your home made wine recipe is going to be
nutrients.

These will help the yeast to grow and be

healthy. And healthy yeast is good yeast...
There are lots of different ones on the market.

Okay... wine yeast is on the list... now

what?
 And last but certainly not least...
you will add yeast. You have just
created a happy and healthy
environment for your yeast go
grow in... great job!

This is not the normal yeast you

use to bake bread... but the
same company that makes your
bread yeast also makes wine yeast. So make sure you are using "wine
yeast". You won't find this at your regular store... you will have to get it at a local wine
making shop or on the internet.

It is the yeast that turns the sugar in your wine into alcohol... so it is a very important
ingredient.

That's it? That is all of the ingredients in wine?

These are pretty much the standard ingredients for a home made wine recipe. There are
obviously going to be other ingredients that you can play around with to make your own
"signature" home made wine... just like there are many ingredients that you can add to your
basic cookie recipe. Experimentation can be extremely fun... and tasty!

Apple Wine Recipe - Some of my favorites!

Looking for a good apple wine recipe? I LOVE apple wine!! If you live in an area that
grows apples or if you happen to have some apple trees in your back yard... or... if you
are like me and have a neighbor that has apple trees... you are all set!!

Apple Wine Recipe #1

INGREDIENTS:

7 - 8 pounds of apples (or 2 quarts of juice with no preservatives added)

4 1/2 pints of water

2 pounds of sugar

2 1/4 tsp of Acid Blend

1/2 tsp of Pectic Enzyme

1/4 tsp of Tannin

1 tsp of Nutrient
1 crushed Campden tablet

1 package of yeast

1 tsp anti oxidant - This is added before bottling

Starting Specific Gravity (S.G.) - 1.085 - 1.090

Wash and sort your apples. Use only solid firm fruit. Cut your apples into smaller pieces
and press the juice from your apples. (If you do not have a press to press the juice out of
your apples you can put your cut up apples into a nylon straining bag and press the juice
out through the mesh as they ferment. They will get soft so keep squeezing
periodically.)

Put your juice into your Primary Fermenter and add your crushed Campden Tablet and
Pectic Enzyme. This will help with the clearing of your wine.

Stir in all other ingredients except for the anti oxidant and your Yeast and cover your
fermenter.

After 24 hours add your yeast and cover your fermenter.

Stir your batch every day and check the Specific Gravity with your Hydrometer. In
about 3 - 5 days your S.G. should reach 1.040.

Now you will siphon your wine off of the sediment into your secondary container which
is usually your glass carboy. The sediment is the stuff that accumulates at the bottom of
your container.

Attach your airlock and wait for your fermentation to be complete.

You will know it is complete when your S.G. has reached 1.000. This will take about 3
weeks.

Siphon your wine off the sediment into a clean secondary carboy, reattach your airlock.
You will wait about 2 months and then siphon your wine off the sediment again. Keep
doing this until your wine is clear. If it is clear now then it is time to bottle.

Before bottling add your anti oxidant.

Let wine set for a couple of months before drinking.

*** If you want more of a full bodied heavier wine then make the following changes to
the recipe:

14-16 pounds of apples (or 1 gallon of juice - no preservatives added)

1 pound of sugar

1 1/2 tsp of Acid Blend

All other ingredients are the same