Sep 13 2009
How To Grow Grapes The Secret To Amazing Wine
The process of growing grapes has been around for centuries, since the early days of human civilization. A process used all over the world, growing grapes is a rewarding practice that leads to the even more gratifying procedure of making wine.
The Growing Process
Before enjoying your very first self-made wine bottle, growing the grapes is the initial step to complete. Before planting, you will have to select the type of grape to grow between two common kinds.
Choose Your Cultivars According to Climate
Whether you choose to harvest red or white grapes, you will pick between European grape varieties and Hybrid grape varieties. European grape varieties are most often used in traditional wine growing areas such as Napa and Sonoma Valley, in California. These places have characteristic warm climates, with extended growing seasons. In those places where growing seasons are shorter-lived due to cooler weather, hybrid grape varieties are the more efficient to grow. In addition to a higher resistance to cold weather, hybrid grapes also offer great tolerance to disease.
which kinds of grapes to grow
The most vital thing to remember about growing grapes is they are evergreen plants, and thus it will be about 3 years before you’re able to crop your first crop. But, some excellent news is the quality doesn’t think about the winemaker but on the grapevines.
Creating Prime Growing Conditions
Giving your grapevine lots of sunlight and a nutrient deficient soil is vital for the harvesting of a healthy grapevine with fruit suitable for wine making. While sunlight will aid in the grapes sweetness, a nutrient-poor soil will stress out the vine. This will force the grapes to grow smaller and maximize the amount of skin; the key to the color and flavor of the wine. Large grapes, on the contrary, are more suitable to eat since they offer more juice and less skin ” a friendlier scheme for our palate.
Determine the Prime Harvesting Time
In order to determine if its time to harvest your grapevine, you will need to measure the acidity of the fruit in each vine. When harvesting, it is essential that you stabilize acidity levels before adding the yeast to ensure proper fermentation. You can find acidity measurers and acidity stabilizing chemicals at your local wine making supply store, as well as bottles, corks and wine fermenting yeast.
The Fermentation & Finishing Process
After stabilizing acidity levels, its time to add the yeast in order to ferment the wine. Different types of yeast will offer different results in wine taste and character. A little trial and error might be necessary to find the best yeast for your taste. Once you add the yeast, fermentation should take about a week, followed by the first ageing of the wine that enables sediments to settle for later separation during bottling. Ageing can vary from months to years, depending on the type of grape and the resulting wine you are trying to achieve. After bottling your wine, a second ageing is to be done to enhance and deepen its flavors. Even though there are no set schedules for wines ageing process, the rule of thumb is the earlier the harvest, the better the wine.
Following your time and efforts to grow a healthy harvest and make a great wine, opening the first bottle of the harvest is as rewarding as the satisfaction of making it just like you like it. Preserve your efforts during ageing and be patient! When it comes to growing grapes and making wine, a little patience goes a long way. Trust me, when time comes to savor it, you will taste the difference.
Pierre Duponte is a wine making enthusiast. He spends his time teaching others how to make fine wines. For more great tips on How To Grow Grapes and how to make wine visit http://www.grapegrowingwinemakingtips.com/.
