Joy of Home Wine Making (49 page)

A standard kind of bottle is usually expected. Make it clean (even polished) and fill the bottle up to about ¼ inch from the cork. Sometimes a label is provided, sometimes not. Label the wine clearly.

You might want to get together with some of your winemaking and non-winemaking friends and hold a blind wine judging. Have an impartial person cover the labels of the bottles with paper and mark them by assigned numbers from a master list.

Bring out the wines in rounds of three or four bottles of like kinds and have people put down their impressions by the number on the bottle. Later, unmask the bottles and provide a master list.

Some friends did this with commercial wines. In the Cabernet section, it was discovered that the two most popular were a $50 bottle and a $3 bottle. Needless to say, there was a run on Bulgarian reds the next day at the wine store.

COMMERCIAL WINEMAKING

If you get a chance to visit a commercial winery, do so. It’s a fascinating experience. Smaller wineries are usually more interesting.

Compared to the small lots you and I work with, the sheer bulk of the operation is exhilarating.

Many wineries use mechanical harvesting, but the better (and smaller) wineries still use people, which is kinder to the grapes and the vines. One would prefer that it were also kind to the people.

Trucks bring the grapes in from the fields. They are then tumbled into huge vats that are covered with grills to keep out stray branches (and rabbits and dogs, I suppose).

Stalks are sometimes removed before crushing, but not always. Many red wines are fermented in open containers, and are stirred or pumped regularly to make sure that the “cap,” or floating mass of grapes and skins, doesn’t cause problems with the wine below by cutting off all of the oxygen or rotting.

When enough tannin and color have been extracted into the
wine, the wine is pressed. There are many different ways of doing this, but in the old-fashioned way, grapes are loaded onto huge mats, the mats are stacked, and the juice is pressed out by means of winching a huge screw, like a printing press (hmm, is this where Gutenberg got the idea?). The wine pours out the sides and is then pumped back into a sealed vat.

The pomace, or what is left of the skins and stems, is used as compost or silage.

And you know what happens to the wine!

There is also a lot of science behind grape winemaking these days, which improves methods more universally than mere guessing used to. Much of the time spent in the laboratory is devoted to simply finding out
why
old Jose’s or Drucilla’s techniques worked.

Winemaking is still a very human process and will remain so, no matter how much wine is produced. In California alone there are now so many small, specialized wineries compared to twenty years ago that wine stores are treasure-houses of discovery. You never know what you will find. Heck, even the Smothers Brothers make wine! And now so do you and I.

HOMEMADE LIQUEURS OR CORDIALS

Commercial liqueurs are made two ways—by distillation of a fruit wine or by infusing the fruit, seeds, or herbs into already distilled alcohol.

Private citizens are not allowed to make distilled alcohol in this country. You can buy it, though! Then you can use it to make liqueurs and cordials.

There are two basic ways of doing this. You can buy the liqueur extracts ready-made and add them to your own alcohol and sugar, or you can use real fruit and soak it in the alcohol and sugar.

I’ve done both. For the most part, I prefer using real fruit, but the extracts are fun.

U
SING
E
XTRACTS

The most commonly available extracts are the Noirot brand, available in most wine supply places. Directions come with the extract, but basically, you use 2 cups of sugar made into syrup with one cup of water, or 2½ cups of mild honey with less than
one cup of water, a bottle of the extract, and 16 ounces of 80 proof vodka. This gives you about a quart of a 40 proof (20 percent alcohol) product.

If you use high-proof alcohol, you get a higher alcohol content. Forty proof is perfectly fine for sipping.

U
SING
R
EAL
F
RUIT

Using real fruit is almost as easy. I keep the sugar at a minimum at first, but it is necessary to use some because it helps draw out the flavor, as does the alcohol.
Never
squeeze the fruit at the end of the process. You’ll just make the drink harder to clear.

If you are making liqueurs to fortify your wines, use the highest-proof alcohol you can get.

These keep for a long time, but they do deteriorate after several years. Keep liqueurs cool and in a dark place.

RASPBERRY LIQUEUR

1-2 lbs. of the best raspberries you can pick or buy

1 cup white sugar

1 bottle vodka or high-proof alcohol

1 sterilized quart canning jar or other glass jar with an airtight lid

Boil the canning jar or wash it well, rinse it in warm water, and pour boiling water into it. When the jar has cooled, pour out the water and put in the raspberries. Pour in the sugar and as much vodka as the rest of the jar will hold, leaving an inch or two clearance. Fit the jar with a sterilized canning lid and ring, or some other tight-fitting lid, depending on the jar.

Sometimes I put a barrier of plastic wrap between the jar and lid if I am not using a canning jar lid.

Put the jar in a dark place, but somewhere where you will see it every other day or so, perhaps near the coffee or tea. Shake the jar every day, or at least a few times a week for a month.

The sugar will dissolve gradually, and the color of the liquid will become a lovely red, while the raspberries will turn pale and uninteresting.

After the raspberries are almost white, let the jar settle, and
carefully pour out the liquid. Some books say the fruit is now wonderful on ice cream, but I find it repulsive and throw it away.

NOTE: You can use this recipe for any berry or cherries. Every year I make pie cherry liqueur. Pit the sour cherries, add them to the vodka, and tie the pits in a bit of cheesecloth and add them as well. Some people crack a few of the pits for that almond flavor.

Also note that, especially with strawberries, you might get some globs of pectin floating around in the finished product. They are harmless but look disgusting. Filter them out when they form. I’ve never tried it, but it might be interesting to see if mashing the strawberries and adding half a teaspoon of pectic enzyme for twelve hours before adding the sugar and alcohol would help.

Taste the liqueur. If you want it sweeter, boil another ½ to 1 cup of sugar with half the amount of water, cool it, and add in increments, tasting as you go. You will find that this procedure makes you quite cheerful.

I now filter the liqueur through a paper coffee filter, probably losing some alcohol content as I go, but that’s life. You can also use several thicknesses of clean cheesecloth.

Store the liqueur in another jar or pretty bottle that has been cleaned and rinsed out with boiling water. Make sure the lid is tight. Keep in the dark to maintain the color.

NOTE: Liqueurs are superb for after-dinner sipping instead of a dessert. They are also wonderful to put
in
or
on
desserts. As long as you have a good vanilla ice cream in the freezer and this liqueur or others in the cupboard, you have an elegant easy dessert. Put out your selection of liqueurs and let the guests choose their favorite. Toasted almonds are a nice touch, too.

Another easy dessert is to make one layer of a dense chocolate cake, sprinkle liqueur over it (raspberry, orange, or cherry) and top it with fruit to match or contrast, or drizzle chocolate icing over the cake. Pound cake is great this way, too.

ORANGE LIQUEUR

This takes some forethought. During the winter, eat lots of aromatic oranges and tangerines, preferably organic. Peel them in large pieces, enjoy the fruit, and save the peelings. With a grapefruit spoon, carefully scrape away as much of the inner white pith of the peel as you can, then lay the peels out to dry. When you get about a pint jar’s worth, you are ready to begin making this useful liqueur.