Be Wine 101 Done

So, do you want to learn about wine and how you can make it in the comfort of your own home? Let’s start this wine 101 by taking a quick history lesson. Winemaking began thousands of years ago in the Zagros mountains of northern Iran. It then quickly spread throughout the region and was picked up by the country we know today as Cyprus and from there it spread faster than fire throughout the entire region of Europe and quickly became an important part of the western civilization we know today. . Even the ancient Egyptians loved wine and kept it in the coffins of their elites so they could drink some in the afterlife.

Did you know that if you have grapes in your house right now, you can crush them and turn them into wine? That’s because grapes and almost all fruits have a natural insert of yeast in them. Yeast is a bacteria that, when combined with the compound sugar, creates carbon dioxide and ethanol. Ethanol is just another word for the alcohol that you and I drink with our friends and family and sometimes alone. So why do we keep buying our alcohol when all we have to do is stomp or Pigeage, as the French would call it, on some grapes? The reason is that you can never be sure of the amount of yeast contained in these natural grapes, and honestly, it’s never enough. This is where cultured yeast or man-made yeast comes in. There are many types of yeast available today, and when you take a walk through your local winemaking store, you can really discover a lot.

So the main thing when it comes to making wine or creating wine is the fermentation process. Fermentation is the process of yeast multiplying with the sugar in the grapes at a rapid rate and creating ethanol and CO2. Did you know that for every gram of sugar that is converted by yeast, about half a gram of alcohol is produced? So to reach a six percent alcohol concentration in your batch, there must be at least 12 percent sugar present.

If you’re curious about wine now, there are thousands of wine making kits out there today that you can try right out of the box. Making wine at home is not only a hobby, but also a sport. In fact, there are hundreds of winemaking contests in the United States alone. Although home winemaking has yet to become domestic in North America, the continent remains the most popular for this type of activity. The more people learn about how easy it is to make wine, the faster it grows. The second largest place to make wine is Europe and with more and more people learning about this peaceful hobby, the more accessible it becomes for everyone. Wine like anything else on the planet, the more you learn about it, the easier it becomes. The first step is to read about it, the next step is to try it for yourself. Trust me, you’ll love it.