Adventures in Winemaking

Jennifer and Lindsey go toe to toe with Jean-Michel and put their home wine making skills to the test.

We will attempt to document the experiment, the comedy, and hopefully the fine wine that comes with it.

Installment #1

Home Winemaking 101 Class

The OSU extension office in Central Point hosted a two night home winemaking class taught by local winemaker and owner of Pallet Wine Co., Linda Donovan. The class was a quick overview of both red and white wine making, with the end result being that students would be capable of making a total of 5 gallons of wine. Our first evening of lecture took us from harvesting, berry and juice composition, adjustments, to white wine making. Our second lesson delved into analysis techniques, red wine making, finishing, bottling and we ended the evening tasting some problem wines from previous attempts of novice wine makers.

Although, it was an incredibly quick tour of wine making, both Jennifer and I feel up to the challenge. The stumbling block may just be how much Jean-Michel is willing to tolerate in our invasion of the winery. We will begin small only selecting 6 gallons, which with spillage will most likely result in 5 gallons. 5 gallons translates to roughly 2 cases of wine or 24 bottles. So, what will we be harvesting? Something Red or White? We are not quite sure . . . whatever is ripe enough. I am voting for Syrah and Jennifer is pulling for Viognier. Maybe we will do both. Any suggestions?

We are hoping to have regular weekly updates. We also would love to hear any of your home wine making stories. Stay tuned for our first visit to the vines.