“How is your garden growing, Warren?” I asked.  Warren, who was an avid gardener and kept some hens for his own eggs, ran the store where I was shopping. 

“Pretty good.  Need some zucchinis?” 

“No thanks,” I said, “I just picked my grapes.  What do I do with three bushels of grapes?” 

“Make wine.” 

“I don’t know how to make wine,” I said. 

“It’s easy.  I’ve got all you need right over here,” he said as he led me to his wine and beer supplies corner.  Indeed he had it all, including a handbook on winemaking.  I looked over his stuff and decided to try to make a batch of wine.  I left the store with all the necessary items.  I was in business. 

The look my wife gave me upon learning of my intentions was far from encouraging.  Undaunted, I forged ahead with my new game.  A year later I had wine.  It was not really good wine but it was really wine.  Concord grapes are not the best wine grapes, I reasoned, so try something else: dandelion blossoms, oranges, elderberries.  Ah yes, elderberries proved to be my favorite.  They were plentiful and free.  They grew wild along the railroad tracks.  I even had some in my back yard.  So it was that I became an old winemaker. 

A winemaker must first want to try a new process and not be afraid of failure.  After all, if it is treated as a game instead of a chore it already becomes easier and a more intriguing challenge. Success will be a bonus that will bring pride to the winemaker. 

Making wine at home is a far different process than that used by commercial winemakers.  They are bound by law as to what they can do to produce wine.  Home winemakers are not restricted—unless they try to sell their product. 

Having decided to play the game, there were a few obstacles to face.  A proper place to set up the winery is essential.  The corner of a basement may be ideal.  Summer temperatures are usually cool enough for the process.  Of course other venues may be adapted provided they are kept at low room temperature level. 

I highly recommend a wine-making handbook for detailed information and useful hints.  Recipes cannot be trusted to memory for long. 

I made my wine using the fermenting vessels I bought from Warren.  Made of nylon, they were just right for making up to five gallons of wine.  They were provided with tight-fitting lids having a hole to accommodate an airlock.  I had three of these to make ten gallons of wine. 

I began by assembling all the ingredients in handy places.  I put the fruit and sugar in the kitchen, and the other additives on a table in my basement corner, ready to add to the mix. I prepared the elderberries by removing them from their stems and heating them in a little water to break the skins.  I chopped the raisins to break their skins.  Then I put the fruit into the fermentor.    I used about two pounds of berries and a pound of raisins per gallon of wine to be made.  I added about a pound of sugar per gallon, and took the vessel to the basement, put it on the prepared table, and added about five gallons of water, which I stirred to dissolve the sugar. 

The primary fermentor was ready for the rest of the ingredients.  There is always a possibility that wild yeast can get into the mix, especially from raw fruit.  I wouldn’t want to make vinegar.  A Campden tablet, a sulfur compound, kills wild yeast but not wine yeast, so I crushed five tablets and dropped them into the mix.  Of course I poured in a packet of yeast.  The mixture must be acid for fermentation to take place so I added a measure of acid blend.  Some grape tannin and some yeast enhancer (fertilizer) completed the additives.  I stirred the mixture, covered the vat with an easily removable plastic bag to keep fruit flies at bay, cleaned up and quit for the day. 

Each day following I removed the bag covering the vat and stirred the mixture to break up the solid matter called must, and redistribute it throughout the liquid, then replaced the bag.  I repeated this daily for seven days.  It seemed that nothing much changed for the first couple of days and I became anxious.  By the third day the must had risen to the top of the liquid and I noticed a faint odor.  The next day a delicious aroma filled the basement.  It became a pure delight to go and stir the must.  Sometimes I would go to the basement and hang around just to enjoy the aroma.  This was certainly the highlight of the entire process. 

After a week of fermenting it was time to rack the new wine into a secondary fermentor.  I set an empty vat on the floor and using a length of plastic tubing siphoned the wine off the must.  I set the new wine on the table and put a tight-fitting lid on the secondary fermentor.  I installed an airlock in the lid to let gas escape but prevent air from entering.  It sat for three months to finish fermenting, then it could be racked off into bottles. 

Back to the must—did I discard it?  No indeed!  I made a second run wine.  The second run is a lighter, thinner wine, but nevertheless worthwhile.  It is much easier to make than the first.  All that’s needed is another measure of sugar, acid blend and water.  The must is filled with yeast.  Proceed as with the first run.   

I was always on the lookout for used wine bottles.  Several people saved them for me.  Parties were a good source for left over bottles.  I preferred screw caps because they were easier.  I bought a simple corking device.  Corks were easy to install provided they were soaked until they were waterlogged. 

Both my first run wine and the second run were quite palatable.  I know this because my wife admitted that my wine was getting better all the time.  The first run had a fruity taste, while the second run was much lighter.  I tried blending the two runs, and improved the taste of both.  The blend tasted much like Burgundy. 

Thanks to Warren I became a winemaker.  Although my grapes made less than delicious wine they made fine jelly and good juice.  Ask Welch.