Time to make wine. Well, the year is 2007 and the barrels are over 40 years old! Looked at the price of new 15 gallon oak barrels (over $300) and had to look elsewhere. How about those nice five gallon jugs they use for bottled water? The price was right, just don't tell anyone! As always, click on the images for large pictures!
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| Well, here is the Murtari vineyard. It has stood for many, many years -- not just on pressure treated wood, most of those beams are railroad ties! | I think it's important to take a nice picture of the grapes ahead of time. Even if the wine turns our lousy, at least you started with 'nice grapes!' | There is some old equipment. The grape crusher and old cut-off barrel that has held 'must' for many years. |
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| Here is your merry winemaker. | What the 'must' looks like right after we crush the grapes. | Give it about a day after fermentation starts and it looks like this. The barrel is normally covered with just a blanket. The smell is terrific! |
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| We mix the 'must' once in the morning, once at night -- it really bubbles! | After about three days the wine was siphoned... Well, here we go, the plastic jugs. The plastic bags on top are held by rubber bands. What are they? The airlock! | Give it a little while and the bags expanded |
