Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Red, Red Wine

We have tons of grapes growing on the fence in our backyard. I couldn't even tell you what kind they are - they're small (pea-sized) and have huge pits in them. If you eat them too early, they are incredibly sour, like chokecherries. But if you catch them at the right time, they are actually quite sweet and tasty. And it's hard to tell when that sweet spot is, because they look the same shade of purple whether they're all chokecherry-pucker-inducing or sweet and yummy.

I've never had much use for them before, but this year, I decided I was going to take a trip into the unexplored (by me) world of wine-making. I found this recipe online and used it as my base recipe. I still had tons and tons of raspberries left, so I threw a bunch of those into the mix, too.
The only other thing I did different from the recipe was that I went to our local brew & grow shop, and bought actual wine yeast (as opposed to regular old bread yeast), and threw it into the mix instead of floating it on the bread, as the recipe suggested.

It's been fermenting for about a month, and I've started bottling it. I only had two empty bottles to start with, so let's just say I've been having to drink a lot of wine lately so I can use the empties for my homemade stuff. It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. And as an added bonus, you know all that stress I've been under lately from solo parenting? After putting the kids to bed and having a couple of glasses of wine, I'm all, "What kids?"

I actually tasted some of my homemade stuff, and it's quite delicious, if I do say so myself! And I couldn't believe how easy it was.

6 comments:

Tabitha said...

OMG Sounds so nummy!

C. Beth said...

Now that is so cool!! We've been to a beer-making party and I've had homemade beer multiple times...but never homemade wine.

YUMMY.

Colleen said...

What a fun project! I love Chokecherries, we are planting a big hedge of them at my MIL place so we can make jam and syrup. Now I will have to add wine to my list!

Anonymous said...

I'm starting to think we are very much alike! I sooooooooo wish we lived closer!!! I LOVE wine, probably a little too much. And, oh my raspberries- I bet it was so good. Next time, you should try a tiny bit of chocolate....

Oh, are you up to shipping domestically? Is that possible? I guess selling is out of the question...I'm not for sure what all the 'laws' are about that stuff. But, I would definitely BUY some!!

Becky said...

It was a fun project! And I couldn't believe how easy it was.

Mommy Vern - Oh...wine and chocolate is such an awesome combo. I wish we lived closer, too! You might just have to come to MN sometime. :-) And I would be happy to give you a bottle! It might be a few weeks, though - I want to make sure it's totally done fermenting first so the bottle doesn't explode in transit and you just end up with a soggy, boozy-smelling box.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, how cool is that! And yeah maybe I will head to MN sometime...remember your welcome here on the coast, too!