Planting And Growing Grapes To Make Wine

Before planting the grapes you will need to decide where you will plant your vineyard. You will need a spot in your back yard that is well drained. The spot should have plenty of sunlight and placed where the vines can get plenty of air circulation. You will need to have about 1,200 square feet of vineyard space to start your vineyard. After picking the spot for your vineyard you will need to have a soil sample taken to make sure the land will sustain grape vines. The soil should be between 5.0 and 6.5 PH. You may need to add different minerals to the soil to get the perfect balance.

Once you have you vineyard staked out you will need to build a trellis system for your grape vines to run on. These can be built out of 4x4 post set about 12 feet apart, and in rows about 8 feet apart. Run a wire about 3 inches off the ground and another at the top of the post. The top of the post should be nor higher than you can reach comfortably, where you can pick the grapes with no problem.

Now that you have your land and trellises in place you will need to plant whatever type of grape you have decided to plant. You should plant at least ten vines where you will have about 5 gallons of juice to make your wine from. The vines should be planted in holes bigger than the root ball on your vines. Do not make your holes so small that you have to bend the roots to get the plant in the hole. After placing the plant in the hole, place loose dirt around the roots then water the soil to allow it to settle around the roots. Place more soil on the roots and pack down firmly with your hand. The plants will need to be watered at least until you notice new growth on the vines.

After the vines are planted teach them to run the post and wire on your trellis. You will need to prune the vines as they grow to keep the best fruit producing vines. When the vines start producing grapes you will need to let them get ripe and then pick them to start the wine making process. Take the grapes and mash the extracting the juice from the grapes. For red wine you can leave the skin in the juice, where white wine will need the skin removed from the juice. Now that you have you juice you will add yeast to the batch to begin the fermentation process. The fermentation process will take between one and two weeks. During this process the sugars in the grape juice is converted in ethanol (alcohol) and carbon dioxide. The juice will be placed into tanks to finish the process. The wine is kept warm and to finish converting the sugars into alcohol. Now the wine is put through a secondary fermentation. This is a bacterial fermentation which converts malic acid to lactic acid. The wine is now placed in oak barrels or other containers and left for weeks or months. Then it is ready to drink. This is a general description of how to make wine.

Hope you enjoyed this article,
Steve Barnett