6 best homemade black grape wine recipes
Homemade winemaking is a rewarding art. A good way to process a large harvest of a summer cottage is to make wine. A drink made from natural raw materials is rich in vitamins, therefore it is useful for blood vessels and immunity. Homemade black grapes are used to prepare sweet, dry and even white wine. Having mastered the basics of technology, you can diversify the bouquet with honey and spicy notes or invent your own recipe.
Features of making wine from black grapes
Homemade wine is best made from berries grown on your site. Hand-picked bunches are fresh, ripe and juicy. Purchased grapes are treated with chemicals that increase shelf life or may not be stored properly. An exception is a product purchased from farms.
The advantage of natural, freshly harvested grapes is the content of wild yeast. Thanks to microorganisms, the wine acquires a unique bouquet, significantly different from the factory drinks.
Raw materials
Fully ripe grapes with added sugar are suitable for wine. Therefore, it is important to comply with the terms and technology for picking berries:
- at a temperature of +20 degrees;
- in sunny dry weather;
- cut bunches with pruners;
- hold by the handle.
The rain washes away the yeast from the berries. Without them, the wine will not ferment well. Therefore, the harvest is best harvested on a clear, warm morning or evening.
A temperature of +20 degrees is optimal for dissolving sugar and moderate fermentation. Strongly heated berries ferment faster, but sugar does not dissolve.
Cold berries ferment for a long time, and therefore moldy.
In order for the temperature of the product to return to normal, it must be kept for 2 hours in a ventilated dark room.
Homemade wine is made from freshly picked, ripe, unwashed grapes with a temperature of +20 degrees.
Unripe berries add acid to the drink, while overripe berries turn it into vinegar. Stained grapes can be wiped with a dry cloth, but they cannot be rinsed in water. Grapes intended for winemaking cannot be stored for more than 2 days.
Inventory
You can use dark plastic bottles, glass jars and enamel dishes to store the wort during fermentation. The metal oxidizes and spoils the taste of the wine.
During fermentation, the product releases carbon dioxide, which must be removed using a special device. A home odor trap is a tight fitting lid with a hole. Gas is discharged from the hole through a tube, the free end of which is immersed in a container with water.
Instead of a bulky design, you can put a rubber glove over the neck of the fermenting drink bottle. Gas will escape through a small hole in one of the fingers. With the help of a glove, it is easier to understand whether the drink is fermenting or not. If it is completely deflated and sagged, then the wine is ready.
Product benefits
Homemade wine is useful as it is prepared by natural fermentation. Vitamins and beneficial bacteria are retained in the drink. 200 milliliters of wine a day dilates blood vessels, speeds up metabolism and strengthens the immune system.
Homemade wine is good for your health:
- with thrombosis;
- pain syndromes;
- weather dependence.
Grape juice is a source of flavonoids and a natural antiseptic. The daily allowance should be divided into 2 doses - drink 100 milliliters 2 times a day 10 minutes before lunch and dinner.
The best varieties for a drink
Wine varieties are distinguished by small berries, but the concentration of juice in them is higher. Therefore, red wine takes on a rich shade of carmine, burgundy.
Several varieties of black grapes are suitable for home winemaking:
- Athos;
- Baikonur;
- Isabel;
- Black Pearl;
- Merlot;
- Original;
- Chardonnay.
From the Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety, wines with a chocolate, coffee flavor are obtained.
How to make wine from black grapes at home
Different types of wines can be made from varieties of berries with low or high sugar content:
- from sugar - sweet fortified dessert drinks;
- from sour - dry wines.
Mulled wine is prepared with the addition of spices. In a simple recipe, increase or decrease the amount of sugar, and the taste of the wine will change.
Simple recipe
Ingredients:
- 10 kilograms of dark grapes;
- 250 grams of sugar.
Cooking method:
- peel the berries from cuttings, sort out along the way and leave only whole and smooth;
- squeeze the juice by hand, with a silicone or wooden pestle, to get a homogeneous mass;
- transfer juicy grape pulp into an enamel or glass bowl, cover with gauze from insects and dust;
- put in the dark at a temperature of +20 degrees;
- leave for 3 days, stir a layer of peel on the surface with a wooden spoon;
- squeeze the peel layer through cheesecloth and strain the concentrate;
- pour liquid into a dark bottle 3/4 of the volume;
- pull a non-sterile rubber glove over the neck of the bottle, tie with threads;
- poke a hole in the index finger to remove carbon dioxide during fermentation;
- keep the bottle in a dark place at 22-26 degrees for 2 months;
- when the wine is infused, wait another 3 days and drain the liter of liquid;
- add sugar;
- pour the sweetened liquid into a bottle, close the neck with a water seal glove and leave in the dark;
- when the gas stops inflating the glove, strain the liquid and store for 3 months for ripening in a dark place.
You can discard squeezed grape skins or grapes. At the last stage, ripening, you need to periodically decant the sediment. When it stops appearing and the drink becomes clear, you can taste it.
Sugar-free option
Wine made from sweet grapes, for example, Isabella, Pinot Noir, is prepared without added sugar. For the rest, cooking is done according to a simple recipe.
In both cases, the first time, the bottles should be filled to two to three thirds, since carbon dioxide expands the container. From 10 kilograms of grapes, 5 liters of concentrate are obtained.
With honey
For 10 kilograms of berries or 5 liters of concentrate you will need:
- 5 liters of water;
- 1.5 kilograms of flower honey;
- 500 grams of raisins for sourdough.
How to cook:
- pour raisins with 800 milliliters of boiling water and leave for 3 days in a dark place;
- crush grapes, insist the wort according to a simple recipe;
- pour water into the strained concentrate, add the leaven;
- infuse in a bottle with a glove, as described in the usual recipe;
- when decanting, add 300 grams of honey instead of sugar to each liter;
- insist 3 months, filtering the sediment.
Add water at room temperature to the concentrate, not lower than 23 degrees.
Instead of raisins, you can use ready-made wine sourdough.
With spices
For a 1-1.5 liter bottle you will need:
- 2 cinnamon sticks;
- 4 cloves.
Crush the spices and sew them up in gauze or cotton bags. Place a bag in a clean container, pour the ripened wine and cork. Infuse the drink in the dark at a temperature of 6-12 degrees Celsius, and after 21 days strain and pour into clean bottles.
Fortified wine
The list of ingredients includes:
- alcohol or vodka - 200 milliliters per liter;
- sugar - 1.2 kilograms.
Recipe:
- add sugar to the strained concentrate and leave in a bottle with a water seal for 2 months;
- when fermentation stops, strain the drink, add alcohol;
- after 2 days, strain the drink, pour it into clean containers and leave for 3 months.
You should also monitor the formation of sediment.
Dry drink
The recipe is designed for 10 kilograms of grapes, but is slightly different from the simple one:
- infuse the squeezed pulp with juice at a temperature of 25 degrees Celsius until the juice becomes a rich dark red;
- squeeze the wine mass through cheesecloth;
- pour the squeezed concentrate into a container and close it with a water seal;
- insist for 3 months;
- strain the drink;
- put to ripen for another 3 months, periodically freeing from sediment.
The finished wine will brighten. Then the drink must be poured into clean bottles and stored at 6-12 degrees for 2 months.
The infusion of the squeezed pulp takes, on average, a week. If the juice has not reached the desired color, they continue to insist.
Is it possible to make white wine from black grapes
White wine is also made from red grapes. The peel of the berries gives a red tint. To make the drink light, you need to remove the skins from the mashed mass and insist according to the usual recipe without them.
The grapes are pressed or passed through a juicer. It is important not to damage the bones, otherwise they will give tartness to the wine.
The squeezed juice will contain dyed skin. It needs to be kept for 6-12 hours for the pulp to rise to the surface, and then collect it.
Terms of use
How to handle homemade wine to reveal its flavor:
- open the bottle one hour before the tasting;
- the optimal temperature of the drink in summer is + 16-18 degrees, in winter - +20;
- hold the glass by the stem so that the wine does not heat up from the palm;
- before a sip, lightly wash the walls of the glass with a drink;
- hold the first sip in your mouth for 3 seconds.
A good drink will leave a long aftertaste.
Terms and conditions of storage
How to store homemade wine:
- at a temperature of 5 to 12 degrees Celsius;
- spread glass bottles at an angle so that the wine inside washes the cork;
- in a dark container.
The drink needs some rest. Bottles should not be shifted, shaken. It's better not to wipe the dust off them.
A permanently moistened cork in a horizontally lying bottle will retain its tightness for many years. In an upright bottle, the cork will dry out and allow air to pass through. The oxygen turns the wine into vinegar. Light and heat also ruin the drink. Therefore, the bottle rack should be kept in the dark.
Under the right conditions, naturally fermented homemade wine can be stored for 5 years, fortified wine - 10 years.
