Today, wine-making is considered something of an art form. People pay ridiculous amounts of money for what they consider to be fine wines. But years and years ago, all wines were made within the home. When you know how to make wine, you can not only save yourself some money, but also take pride in learning this lost art.

When you set out to learn how to make wine, there is so much different information available that wine-making suddenly becomes a complicated scientific process. While it?s true a certain amount of scientific ?magic? is needed to turn grape juice into wine, there?s nothing complex about it. In fact, once you learn how to make wine you discover that it?s actually rather simply done.

If you know how to make wine, you can use almost any recipe and even being experimenting with different ingredients to produce the flavors you most enjoy. Most wines originate with grapes, and in fact grapes are probably the easiest base ingredient to use for wine (grapes already containing much of the natural sugars and yeast that are needed to produce wine), but in fact you can get creative and use almost any combination of ingredients you desire.

One simple recipe if you?re just learning how to make wine beings with a few gallons of grape juice. Depending on how much wine you want, you can use as few as one or as many as ten gallons of grape juice. Do not open the container, but place it somewhere out of the sun where it will remain at a fairly constant room temperature. Leave it there for at least four weeks to allow for the fermentation process. Next, open the grape juice (do not stir or shake), and siphon off the contents on top. You want to leave the sediment in the container, and throw the entire container away. Voila! Now you know how to make wine. You can even put your wine into bottles with corks to make it seem more decadent.

The basic recipe for wine-making is simple. You simply extra the juices (and flavors) from your ingredients by pressing, soaking, or crushing them. Next, add sugars, spices, and yeast and put everything into a jar, crock, bucket, or pail. Store, covered, at room temperature for at least one week to allow for fermentation. After this, strain the liquid from the pulp and put the liquid in some sort of tightly-closed jug. Allow this second batch of liquid to ferment for several weeks (up to two months) and repeat the siphoning process. You?ll want to repeat the fermentation process one more time (at least three in total, or as many times as it takes for the wine to have a clear appearance) before bottling your home brew. If the taste is not to your liking, allow the bottles to ?age? for several months and then taste the wine again. When you know how to make wine, you can create any flavor you desire ? and will never again have to spend a fortune on buying ?fine wine.?

Shiny Shiny

Take all the joy out of drinking with the calorie-counter beer mug Shiny Shiny, UK - 17 hours ago Diet gurus love referring to alcohol as 'empty' calories, which indicates their puritanism rather than any actual truth. No, there isn't much nutritional ...

Labels: Uk | Wine Terminology, Wine Tasting

Not too many years back if you heard the term wine cooler, your thoughts automatically went to Bartles & James and if someone told you about their wine collection you pictured a dusty underground vault, where bottles lined the walls in orderly rows, slowly aging to perfection. Your average person that lived in your average suburban home could enjoy a good glass of wine when out on the town, but seldom had the capacity to store wine in optimal conditions at home. With the advent of under counter coolers, a wine cellar is no longer a necessity in order to be a collector of fine wines. In fact, anyone can turn their kitchen into modern day wine cellar.



Fine wines are expensive and they are only worth the money if you have a place to store them. Wine is alive, constantly changing according to its environment. Lots of things affect what changes a wine, including temperature, humidity, darkness, calm, ventilation and the angle at which it is stored. A good wine cooler will take these things into account. You always want your wine to be stored so that it is horizontal, at the lowest, stable temperature possible, in a place that is free of vibration, and away from places where you store items that have a strong odor.



The ideal conditions for storing wine are at 50 -55 degrees and 70% humidity. A wine refrigerator or wine cooler is ideal for this task. Unlike regular refrigerators, wine coolers run a little warmer maintaining the optimum temperature for wine. Because they are electronic, their temperature never fluctuates, helping the wine to maintain its constant flavor. They also offer storage options so you can lay the bottles down, allowing the wine to always stay in contact with the cork. An under the counter wine cooler, built into your kitchen also offers extra protection from the natural light in your house.



When you go out shopping for a wine cooler, there are some things to look for. You want to make sure that the door of the cooler is dark. Try to avoid clear glass coolers. They may look fabulous when they are filled with rows of wines glittering under the fluorescent lights of your kitchen, but all of the light that will seep in the bottles will ruin your wine. When wine is exposed to too much light it creates a condition called being ?light struck.? The result of this condition is that the wine ends up tasting like dry cardboard.



Another consideration when you purchase an under counter wine cooler is the location where you plan to install it. Stand in the middle of your kitchen and take a minute to observe each spot under your counters that the cooler could potentially be placed. Make sure you don?t install it near a stove or oven, which could affect its temperature. Stay away from the refrigerator and the dishwasher because vibrations from both of these appliances will over time, ruin your wine. Placing an under counter wine cooler near the sink also puts if too close to vibrations as water runs through the pipes. If you have an island that has no appliances situated on it you have found the perfect location for your under counter wine cooler.



With the installation of an under counter wine cooler, you can serve wine to guests that came from your own ?cellar? Since a cooler will maintain the perfect conditions for storing your wine, your guests will never know you didn?t trek down a flight of stars into a darkened basement, sift through row after row of fine pinots to choose the perfect vintage, and chill the bottle to perfection just for

About the Author:

Danie Smith writes about Home Appliances and Saving on Home Appliances