Let's welcome this New Year with a toast-  'HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020', with my home-made Grape Wine.  Also my blog 'ESSENCE OF LIFE- FOOD' is stepping into its 4th Year of blogging.   
      Wine Making is an art by itself which requires precise tips, cleanliness & a whole lot of patience. This is a simple homemade Grape Wine with just Grapes and Sugar, making your beverage all-natural. If done perfectly the taste of your home brewed Grape Wine is sure going to astonish you.
    Grape Wine is one of our family recipes.  A call for a festival, occasion or celebration, comes along with it is home-made Grape Wine.  We always plan ahead and make this wine specifically for the occasion.  My MIL buys two varieties of Grapes for the purpose, Sweeter ones and slightly sour Grapes and combine it up together for the homemade Grape Wines.  Brew it for a few months and there you go with a fine home-made Grape Wine to brighten up the party.
     As believed, tedious looking recipes needn't be always difficult to incorporate and I have always found the fact true. I thought Pickles/Wines which has to be stored for a long time take a lot of cooking and meticulous measures to store it properly. But according to me, Winemaking is a simple procedure, but what we need is a lot of patience and simple steps to ensure that the wine is prepared and stored in a sterile manner. Choose the containers for Winemaking Porcelain/Glass Jars works perfectly well. They must be really clean and dry. I simply wash the containers, sterilize it with boiled water and wipe with a dry cloth.


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Recipe Type - Wine
Difficulty - Medium
Yields - 3-4 Bottles
Author - SM

Preparation Time - 30 -45 Minutes
Brewing Time for Wine - 3 Months - 1 Year.

HOMEMADE GRAPE WINE 

 

INGREDIENTS :

Grapes  -  1 Kg
Sugar  -  1/2 Kg
Boiling Water  -  5 Ltrs
Yeast  - 1 Pckt
Cinnamon Sticks - 8-10 big pieces (Optional)
Wheat Kernels - 1 Tbspn
Beet Root - a Small One.

METHOD :

• Select the Grapes, discard any rotten grapes.
• Wash the Grapes thoroughly.
• Remove the stems.
• Crush the Grapes to release the juice and add it into a large glass or ceramic jar.
• Add Sugar, and Pour 5 litres of boiling water into it and leave it aside for 12 hours.
• Activate the Yeast by putting it in warm water and 5 Tspns of Sugar.
• Add activated yeast to the Wine Mix after 12 hours
• Can add some extra Sugar and few sticks of Cinnamon & Wheat Kernels to add more sweetness and flavour to the Grape Wine.
• Cut Beetroot into small pieces and add it into the Wine.  This is will help you to get bright red coloured wine naturally.
• Stir it every day for a week.
• After a week strain and press the juice out of the mixture and bottle it. 
• Keep the bottles tightly closed.
• Store them in a dark and dry place for a month.
• Re-bottle the clear wine leaving the sediments behind for another one month. 
• The Grape Wine should be filtered properly at this stage.
• Taste the Grape Wine after two months, add sweetness and flavour if needed.
• Do the above process until there are no sediments left.
• Good quality Grape yield best Grape Wine. 
• Like most of the wines, it will improve with age.

NOTES :

• Crushing the Grapes will yield more flavour and body to the wine.
• Some variety of Grapes are naturally sweeter, so adjust the amount of sugar accordingly.
• I used Red Globe Grapes for the wine
• I just used normal yeast, as it is very difficult to get wine yeast in my area.
• Stirring the wine is very important for the fermenting process.
• Store them in clean and dry bottles in a moist free place.
• As I am staying in a tropical area, my wine brewed up sooner. But I strictly followed the regime.
• I did not use any artificial colours, food preservatives or enhancers in this Grape Wine.
• The colour and flavour, which I got naturally out of it were more satisfying.
• The colour of the wine totally depends on the colour of the Grapes.
• Adding Beetroot also help you to get the preferred colour naturally.  But it is purely optional.