Super Tuscan Wine is Done and Bottled...

[tbern]

looks very interesting and fun to do!

 

[jcam222]

Oh- jcam222 I am saving all the charcoal toasted oak buttons from the wine to add to my next fermented hot sauce. They say the charcoal really amps the flavor creation up big time so I'm gonna give it a go and try it.....

I will be interested in the outcome for sure.

 

[Burlymanchef]

Brings back some good memories. I should have gone the kit route first as I had wine making on my mind 15 years ago. Bought the electric grape crusher, big press and went all in for 2 years. First year in 700 pounds, crushed and fermented with no yeast just from the air.. Was in 3 food grade garbage cans with a wood paddle to punch everyday... Fruit flys on top of the towels covering was unreal as they were trying to get to it.. Needless to say I have had great memories bringing that purple haze on duck hunting trips and serving it at oyster shucking get togethers. I bottled it in 1 gallon glass jugs... no oak at that time and came in at 17%.. My brethren did not listen to me on potency, and more than I can count on one hand fell on their knees releasing the purple haze that they consumed.. OF Course blamed it on the oysters. I think I will buy your suggested kit and start small as I do enjoy good reds. Thanks for creating this post. Peace out

 

[noboundaries]

Fun read! Looking forward to the results.

My Italian grandfather made wine from grapes, which inspired my dad to make wine from kits and concentrates. Both dad and grandpa used gallon jugs. I was really popular at Uni (drinking age 18 at the time in TN) because I always had gallons of red wine in my closet.

One of my HS science projects was making wine out of Welch's grape juice, bread yeast, and water. One of my daughters has an Italian FIL who makes wine from grapes he buys by the half-ton, mostly reds, but he's dabbled in whites. Super Tuscan is one of my absolute favorites. Great first pick!

 

[zwiller]

With your family and sausage skills, you're gonna be hooked for sure. Long time brewer and judge but have not made wine yet. HUGE wine producing area here. Everywhere here they sell pressed juice pretty reasonable. Parents have niagara grapes.

My homemade wine story. One hot summer day when I was like twelev I see 2 liter of Coke in the basement fridge. I proceed to guzzle some straight from the bottle only to find out a few seconds later it was homemade wine.

 

[indaswamp]

Today the S.G. stabilized at 0.992 for 4 days so it was time for the second racking, kill the yeast, and start aging/clarifying.

Got the Carboy full of wine up onto a milk crate so we could siphon to a fresh clean carboy.

The stuff we will be adding...

And here is a funny tool my Uncle made as a joke. It is a 2"x4"; self explanatory...

Transferring...

And now we wait for the magic to happen. We bottle on March 22nd...

 

[indaswamp]

Cleaning wine casings today (wine bottles) in preparation for bottling mid next week. My Uncle has sampled the wine and it is smooth and really good! can't wait to taste it and even more looking forward to it after it has aged a bit.

 

[indaswamp]

Bottled the wine with my Unlce today. Unsettled weather forced me to take a much needed break from building my workshop.

Transferring from Carboy to Primary fermentator with a spigot to fill bottles...

Sanitized bottles ready to go...

I tell people my family owns a Ferrari......it's a Ferrari wine bottle corker. Best they make!

Open to accept a cork...

Compresses the cork when you pull down the handle...

And pushes the cork into the bottle. You can adjust the depth you want the cork in the bottle.

The wine in the bucket with a spigot ready to bottle. Smells AWESOME!

All corked! we got 30 bottles.

Plus 2 glasses...well of course we had to taste it!

Took a break to let my Uncles back spasms calm down, then it was time to label the bottles and put the heat shrinks on..

Stock label that came with the kit...

And the custom Label for the back my Uncle ordered...

And my Uncle putting the labels on the bottles using his home made jig...

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Pretty sweet indaswamp . I’ll stick to buying it. I don’t think I have them self control to make my own and not go off the deep end

 

[pineywoods]

Very cool how did you like it? Looks like a nice little supply to last a little while

 

[Hijack73]

That is absolutely awesome Inda!

 

[indaswamp]

Final cost for this wine is $7.62 per bottle.

If we had bought the bottles, heat shrinks and corks the price would have been $10.69 per bottle. We had enough used bottles between the two of us, and my uncle had the corks already. The shrinks came with the kit.

So I got 14 bottles for $106.69.....not bad at all. And each bottle would be in the $30-40 price range after aging for 1-2 years. I'm gonna let it age minimum of 6months before I open a bottle.

 

[indaswamp]

looks very interesting and fun to do!

I will be interested in the outcome for sure.

Fun read! Looking forward to the results.

My Italian grandfather made wine from grapes, which inspired my dad to make wine from kits and concentrates. Both dad and grandpa used gallon jugs. I was really popular at Uni (drinking age 18 at the time in TN) because I always had gallons of red wine in my closet.

One of my HS science projects was making wine out of Welch's grape juice, bread yeast, and water. One of my daughters has an Italian FIL who makes wine from grapes he buys by the half-ton, mostly reds, but he's dabbled in whites. Super Tuscan is one of my absolute favorites. Great first pick!

With your family and sausage skills, you're gonna be hooked for sure. Long time brewer and judge but have not made wine yet. HUGE wine producing area here. Everywhere here they sell pressed juice pretty reasonable. Parents have niagara grapes.

My homemade wine story. One hot summer day when I was like twelev I see 2 liter of Coke in the basement fridge. I proceed to guzzle some straight from the bottle only to find out a few seconds later it was homemade wine.

Pretty sweet indaswamp . I’ll stick to buying it. I don’t think I have them self control to make my own and not go off the deep end

That is absolutely awesome Inda!

Thanks fellas! The process was much easier than I thought it would be. Easy as boiling water....just follow the directions in the kit.

 

[indaswamp]

Very cool how did you like it? Looks like a nice little supply to last a little while

The wine has a young taste. Not refined like a well aged wine, but it is soft with smooth tannins. It had what I call a slight 'new wine bite'....but not as strong as most wines. This one should be very good after proper aging.

 

[noboundaries]

Time is a red wine's best friend. Start a batch of white that'll age more quickly. Consume it while the red is aging.

My old man used to make whites for just that reason. Weirdly, the best white he ever made was RHUBARB! Clear as water with a taste like lite strawberry-peach. It's been more than 50 years since he made that 5-gallon batch, and that's the only white of his I remember in perfect detail it was so good.

Anyway, just a thought.

 

[indaswamp]

Time is a red wine's best friend. Start a batch of white that'll age more quickly. Consume it while the red is aging.

My old man used to make whites for just that reason. Weirdly, the best white he ever made was RHUBARB! Clear as water with a taste like lite strawberry-peach. It's been more than 50 years since he made that 5-gallon batch, and that's the only white of his I remember in perfect detail it was so good.

Anyway, just a thought.

Yes, whites are ready quicker....but honestly, I'm not really into white wines. Though I will drink them when pairing dictates like with fish and seafood. Also you don't really get the bang for the buck home making whites like you do with reds.

 

[Brokenhandle]

That cork machine works great! Corked several hundred bottles with one... beats the older hand held version for sure!
Glad it turned out so good... and of course the quality control is a benefit!

Ryan

 

[pineywoods]

Yes, whites are ready quicker....but honestly, I'm not really into white wines. Though I will drink them when pairing dictates like with fish and seafood. Also you don't really get the bang for the buck home making whites like you do with reds.

Now living where you live and being a fisherman and sportsman I would think you'd be eating a lot of seafood and with it dictating a white wine consuming such wine often, Not suggesting over consuming just consuming a glass or two with the meal. You need to figure out those seafood dishes that dictate a nice red wine

 

[drdon]

Work of art right there! Certainly a labor of love. Looking forward to the final leg of the journey,

Don

 

[zwiller]

Looks great ya fargin cork soaker! Nice labels and bottles. Time to get another going! On vacation one time went to a tasting of south american reds (Chile/Argentinian). They are made and aged in SS (no oak) and really liked those. I made a mental note to myself that if I ever ran some some I would forgo the oak addition. If you are into oak, I think you want to keep those cubes in there and do bulk aging in the carboy but trust your uncle on that. Maybe going for a light oak there and good idea IMO. I am easy red guy, cravings are usually Lambrusco. or Chianti. Here the most popular wine is a blush called Pink Catawba. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catawba_(grape)