Tag Archives: making wine at home

As promised, the first steps in making wine this summer, taught the old-style way by Nonno Anni and older Italians…

Step 1: Roger harvested grapes growing from vine cuttings he gave my cousins a few years back. The grape variety is ‘Isabella’, suitable for growing in warm climates – and it was a stinking hot day when he picked the grapes. (Tried my best with photos of the vines over the pergola but not easy when I’m so short!)

As you can see, harvesting backyard grapes is a bit different to a winery as they don’t all ripen perfectly at the same time. I think those plastic containers hold about 21 kilos of grapes.

Step 2: Sorting the grapes, removing any rotten ones and making sure they’re clean (along with Roger’s feet!)

Step 3: Stomping the grapes, the old-style way (except it’s Roger, not some pretty, young maidens like in Italian films). 👀

Step 4: Crushed grapes and importantly, crushed skins, beginning the fermenting process.

Step 5: Strained juice in demijohns to ferment and let the magic naturally happen for a while.

Down the track, when it comes to the clarifying, bottling and aging process, I’ll share that with you too. Buona giornata! 🍇 Zoe x