Wine Time - Our First Vintage

Last autumn we took the leap. We hitched up the trailer and headed east to take delivery of 525 pounds of Cabernet Franc grapes. Sourced from Dineen Vineyards in Prosser, Washington we were confident they were of top quality.

A year later. The reward of hard work and patience.

It took a full day to drive the four hour round trip, have the grapes crushed for us and unload the bounty at home. We had fantasized about crushing our own by hand but thankfully reality won out.

Harvested that morning from the scenic Dineen Vineyard and waiting for us when we arrived.

Scott Greer at Sheridan was kind enough to work us into the crush that morning.

We then proceeded to measure the brix and the Ph.

Brix is a measure of the sugar level of the grape. This is how vineyard managers determine when to harvest. Measuring the Ph gives you an idea of the acid content of the juice.

Fermentation took place in the garage with some added heat to keep the yeast happily eating the sugars converting them into alcohol.

Punching down the cap had to be done twice a day for 10 days.

Once the yeast is done converting all the sugar and the acid is balanced out it's time to separate the skins from the juice. We decided to do a 'free run' and then press.

Free run juice going into the carboys to let the solids sink to the bottom. We then moved juice from one carboy to a clean one, removed the sediments and did the same for the remaining ones until the wine was clear and ready for bottling.

Our bottles were recycled so we needed to wash and sanitize them. This took a full day of family labor. Once sanitized in the kitchen they were filled and corked in the garage. Each carboy was taste tested before bottling and labeled as A, B or C grade according to us then laid down in the cellar.

We paid labor in wine and still had plenty to spare!

A year later, we have re-graded. The 'A' became 'B' and vice versa. 'C'  has remained the same.