Wine from Whole Grapes

The amount of grapes that you need depends on the type that you use. Six gallons of wine will usually require 70 to 100 pounds of Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Chardonnay and the like. Stronger, more acidic varieties like Fox, Scuppernongs and Muscadines will usually yield the same amount of wine with only 25 to 50 pounds, as they will be mixed with sugar and water in order to soften the taste.

Grape wine

Once you have picked the fresh, ripe, robust grapes from your vine, you must then decide if whether or not you want to crush them with the stems, which provide additional tannin. If you are making white wine, you need to press the must right after crushing the grapes in order to take out the skins, which will give off colour if you include them in the fermentation process. It will then take ten days to a month to complete the fermentation process, which converts all the sugar found in the must into alcohol. If you want sweet wine, you will have to stop the fermentation earlier than normal in order to retain some of the sugar. The wine will then have to be separated from the remaining pulp, then bottled and aged.