I still don’t know how to make wine. One of my goals for this year was to begin making our own, but it never happened.
I have friends who are skilled winemakers, and they offered to help. We had a bumper crop of watermelons (the fruit I intended to use), so there was no shortage of material. I just never got around to it. I certainly didn’t spend any of the summer lounging around, but I’m a little frustrated that I didn’t prioritize better.
Wine is one of the few grocery items we’re still having to purchase.
So again I resolve that this is the last year we will buy our wine from a store.
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Watermelon wine sounds lovely.
Have a happy day.
🙂 Mandy xo
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I agree. It does. Maybe next year. 🙂
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You will have fun making your own wine and its not that hard. Basically all it is juice, sugar and yeast, and the biggest thing is getting every thing sterilized and there are food grade sanitizers for that. I bet that water melon wine would be really good, looking forward to a post about that.
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We’re part of a group of homesteaders who meet monthly for a potluck supper followed by a discussion. In August the topic was wine making and a couple of folks demonstrated how simple it is. One gave me a couple of books with instructions. Despite all that help and prompting, I just never got around to doing it. Next year for sure.
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here you have it: https://www.google.com/search?q=round+tuit&rlz=1CAACAG_enUS583US583&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&imgil=HJBIRESAiHqZLM%253A%253B6qBBsLaEC6QXMM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wiktionary.org%25252Fwiki%25252Fround_tuit&source=iu&pf=m&fir=HJBIRESAiHqZLM%253A%252C6qBBsLaEC6QXMM%252C_&biw=1366&bih=633&usg=__4vMEHZbv9IHFqCODdecGEdPT7uo%3D&ved=0CEsQyjdqFQoTCI7locfQnsgCFYP3Hgodv2wBgg&ei=GMQLVo75BIPve7_ZhZAI#imgrc=HJBIRESAiHqZLM%3A&usg=__4vMEHZbv9IHFqCODdecGEdPT7uo%3D
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At first I didn’t get it. I can be slow like that.
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We have the grapes, we have the demi-john, we have the yeast. Just have to put it all together now. Friday will be the day 🙂
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Wishing you the best Joanna! I’ll look forward to reading about it on your blog.
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Making wine is on my “bucket list” my main hesitancy is I will like it too much.
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Oh, that’s the good part!
You can get into winemaking pretty cheap, especially if you keep an eye out for carboys or demijohns used on craigslist.
If you’re worried about consuming too much of your batch, it makes great gifts. Nobody hates free wine!
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I actually feared I might not like it, but after tasting some of the wine our friends made, I no longer have that fear!
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The only time we ever tried making wine was a prune and raisin one (God, what were we thinking?). Great flavour, didn’t seem all that potent until I got out of my chair and my legs stopped working!
Have fun!
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Karen, yeah, I made wine some 30 years ago and it was the same way. It didn’t seem to have much of a punch until I tried to get up out of the chair. 🙂
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Wow, that would have had tons of sugar per weight of fruit. Probably the reason for the sneaky-like high ABV. 🙂
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I’m thinking that the hangover would’ve been equally potent): for the same raison, lol; )
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I was amazed at some of the things our friends made wine out of. One of their favorites was honeysuckle. I just figured I’d use the fruit I had the most of, and that was watermelon. Once I figure out what I’m doing, it will be fun to experiment!
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Wine making has been on our “want to do” list too. We’ve planted the grapes and have all the materials, but like you, have not yet gotten to it. Never a shortage of things to do on the homestead!
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Exactly! There is always so much to do that it seems hard to tackle starting a brand new project. But this is one thing I really want to move off of the “want to do” list!
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It’s something I intend to learn soon also 🙂
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Hopefully we’ll both add it to our skill sets soon. 🙂
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Bill, great minds must run alike. I’ve been getting the desire back to make wine again. I made wine 40 years ago in another lifetime and carried one bottle of that era through the years up until last year. After cleaning out the area in the basement that I wanted to close in for food storage, I reconnected with the bottle of wine. I made a vow that when I finished the storage area I would pop the cork and sample the nearly 40 year old wine. Well, the storage space was completed and the vow was quite forgotten until I spied the bottle sitting on the shelf behind some can goods that I bought on sale. Last summer I decided it was time to sample the wine I made when I was a young man with hair and even hair with color. It was super sweet so it must have been an early batch that I added too much sugar. Any way just as Karen said I sampled a glass and then another and thought, “Hmmmm, not much alcohol here.” But when I stood up I was a bit light headed. That home made stuff kind of sneaks up on a person. Of course I was never much of a drinker but still enjoy a good glass of wine now and then. I always had intentions to use the excessively productive wild Mulberries here in Nebraska to make wine but the end of June is always so garden demanding that I just haven’t done it. Maybe I will pick and freeze the Mulberries this next year and make the wine later when things settle down before the summer harvest begins.
Have a great wine making planning day.
P.S. I’m praying that you will not be bothered with flooding from the rains.
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I bet mulberries would make great wine.
As for rain, we’ve had 6.5 inches here over the last few days. We desperately needed rain, but it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. Now it’s possible that Hurricane Joaquin is going to pass right over us, dumping lots more rain on already saturated land. As farmer friends of ours said today, “We have beautiful fall gardens. It would be a shame to have them destroyed by torrential rain.” Hopefully the storm will stay out to sea. And if it does hit us, then that should guarantee good pastures going into the winter.
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Wine is a little trickier than hard cider. Cider making is easier than beer and wine and uses most of the same tools so it is a great first step. We don’t drink much wine anymore, but cider is pleasant, has a wide range of sweet to dry properties and pairs well with pork, chicken, and almost every vegetable dish. To quote a young Parisian I met in the 80’s, “Beware the cider, she is a traitor, she will take your knees from you!”
At any rate, don’t be put off by the process (wine, cider, etc…). Like everything else the first time seems quite involved, after that it seems to just do it itself and is more of a backburner task after pressing your fruit. Most books on it are surprisingly thin, in other words, not a lot to it.
“Failure” means you get vinegar… which of course is still useful.
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Thanks for the encouragement. Making cider is on my to-do list too, but I haven’t tried that yet either. Interesting that you prefer it to wine. Maybe next year I’ll take a stab at that first. Better yet, maybe I’ll try them both!
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I look forward to your report on the end result. 🙂 Bottoms up. –Curt
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The comments today have me more anxious than ever to give it a try. I’m looking forward to it!
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Well, enjoy the wine where ever it comes from.
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Thanks and good point. I’ll be very pleased if we start making our own wine, but in the meantime I’ll enjoy it regardless. 🙂
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“Old dogs, children and… watermelon wine…” I hadn’t thought of that for years.
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OK, now that song is stuck in my head. 🙂
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Jealous you have that many watermelons!
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It was a good year for watermelons this year. We still have a few but they’re fading fast. I’m enjoying them while I still can. 🙂
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I made wine from plums I got from a tree at an empty house in my old neighborhood about 6 years ago. It was fun to prove to my family that I could do it and I think it is a great homesteading skill. I highly recommend doing it Bill. It is hard not to just eat delicious watermelon though.
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I’m more determined than ever to give it a try next year. I just need to make it a priority. Once I have the basics down, I’m looking forward to experimenting.
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My advice: buy or barter. Unlike beer, which is fast, it takes a year or so discover you made a mistake and created five gal,ons of vinegar. Lol
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That seems sound and sensible advice to me. I’ll give it a shot next year, but if I don’t enjoy it, I’m sure I can work out some kind of barter with one of my winemaking friends.
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Perhaps – until you do have the time to DIY – you could offer the trade of a free supply of fruit for finished product? (Just a thought; )
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Bill, what if you bought a juice kit, and have a go at it once things have slowed down in the gardens? Then, once you get your sea-legs under you, you’ll be (more; ) ready next year – and besides, I understand you get a better batch if the weather’s cooler and the yeast can take its time…
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Procrastination has its good points, Bill.
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