My Wine Making Season Has Begun

Last year I embarked on my new hobby of wine making. After successfully making my first batch of French Concord, I am now hooked on wine making. Yesterday, I got up early and made the drive to Walker's Fruit Farm in Forestville to get my juice. Walker's offers over 40 varieties of juices for wine making. They have been around since 1955 and really know their stuff about wine making.

What a gorgeous morning for a Sunday drive to Walker's. This year I am making two different kinds of wine: Ives and French Concord. After getting the juice back to my house, I had to wait till the juice was at room temperature. Last night, I activated the juice with yeast. This will begin a two week period of what is known as the "violent" fermentation stage. I keep the carboys in the garage during this stage because it does give off a bit of an odor.

If you notice in the photos, I have a small glass bottle of juice next to each carboy. That is because the carboy needs some head space during this initial fermentation stage. After the two weeks have gone by, I will reintroduce the small containers of juice back into their respective carboys. Once that is done, the carboys will be moved to my basement where they will sit for about six months as we wait for the wine to complete the remainder of the fermentation process. I hope to be bottling the wine in early April. The beautiful thing about wine making in the Fall is that is gives you someone else to look forward to during the long Winter months.