If we’d known there was so much chemistry involved in wine making, we’d have paid closer attention in high school chemistry class. The other problem is we are old people now, and forget from one year to the next what it is we’re supposed to do!
I have spent the last 2 days reviewing notes taken in my wine making class at Mira Costa College, the records of what we did in the making of our 2009 vintage Petite Syrah, and studying the wine making bible, “The Home Winemakers Manual” by Lum Eisenman. This marvelous book is available on line for FREE! Go to
http://www.winebook.webs.com/.
I have done the quantity conversions for the 2010 vintage Petite Syrah, since we plan to make double the amount we made last year. Since we have no place to make wine yet, not even a garage or basement, we are using the kitchen and dining room. It’s messy, smelly, and means we have to eat outside on the porch, or with lap trays, but necessity is the mother of invention.
Tomorrow morning we will stop by the MoreFlavor/MoreWine store in Riverside to go shopping! We will be purchasing SO2, Opti-Red, Go-Ferm, Fermaid-K, and yeast. I’m pretty sure we’ll wind up buying a lot of other equipment and supplies too. Oh boy!
Cheers,
Vintner Elaine