wine making

[Thomas]

Keep us informed on its progress. Here's a story for you.

The first batch of wine I ever made was at home--it was Riesling. I had previously fallen in love with the wine while living in then secular Iran, drinking great Riesling from the Caspian Sea region.

Anyway, I did everything the kit advised except that I was not patient. I bottled the Riesling after thinking it had finished fermenting and it had clarified properly. I did not spend money on equipment that would have told me accurately if my assumptions were correct.

One Friday evening in spring, my wife and I got home late. Mingled with the perfume of spring flowers was a decided yeasty/hot aroma. My nose followed the source of the aroma to the cellar; there, I saw a lake of Riesling with corks bobbing in it. The bottles I had filled with the wine were all more than half empty.

The wine had re-fermented in the bottles.

I soon enrolled in a winemaking course.