Archive for October, 2008

Almost two weeks ago, I started a Malbec wine but to follow the kit instructions correctly, I should not have started it when I did.

Normally, a wine is started in a primary fermenter – generally in these days, a big food grade plastic pail usually of the capacity of 5 gallons. Generally speaking, it takes about six days – sometimes 7 or 8 – to complete the initial vigorous fermentation of the juice that occurs. When that happens, when the specific gravity of the wine is below 1.020, the wine is “racked” into a secondary fermenter often referred to as a carboy.

When I started my wine, I neglected to think about the fact that I would be flying off to a city 3,000 miles away where I’d be spending time with my Sweetheart, and wouldn’t be home to rack the wine until more than 11 days after I had started it.

When I first began making home wine years ago, I was very attentive to instructions. But after having made hundreds of batches of wine from both kits and my own “raw materials,” I’ve realized that instructions are nothing more than guidelines. You’re not going to wreck a wine by disobeying instructions too often. There are of course things you should not do – I wouldn’t leave wine in a primary fermenter for a month for example, but an extra week – depending on the conditions (no fruit flies is important) – won’t do bad things.

So after some wonderful adventures which made it impossible for me to rack the Malbec, I did so tonight. The specific gravity was 0.998 – not quite finished it’s fermentation.

I love the smell of new wine! This Malbec was no exception! Mmmmm. I of course appreciate the complexity of the scents and tastes of a mature wine even more. But as the Malbec was siphoned into the carboy, the odor lingered in the room I was working in and was quite delicious.

If I were to follow the directions, this wine should be racked again in about three days and sulfited. I might wait a week.. or two.. or more. Wine making although an art, can also be a very forgiving art – and even when you don’t follow instructions precisely, the finished product can be very enjoyable.