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WHAT
IS WINEMAKING?
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| Let's
start off at the beginning. |
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| Wine
is made from grapes. At a winery, the grapes are crushed, and
pressed, and the juice is gathered into a large vat (called
a fermenter). |
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| Natural
yeast, which was on the skin of the grapes, is now free to begin
fermenting the sugars in the juice, turning them into alcohol. |
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| After
the fermentation has finished, the winery drains the wine into
a sealed container where it can clear and age. |
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| Once
the wine has cleared, it gets filtered, put into bottles, corked,
labeled and boxed. Sounds easy, right? |
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| Well,
it is. We left out some of the details, but in essence, that
is how wine is made. And, anyone can do it. |
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| With
the inception of Ontario Winemaking Stores, it has become even
easier. |
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| Here's
how: |
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| Wine
product manufacturers take the same grape juice, and pasteurize
it so that the yeast doesn't activate. |
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| Often
the juice is concentrated to remove the water, the juice is
then aseptically packaged in bags or pails, to be shipped off
to a winemaking store. |
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| When
you arrive at an Ontario Winemaking Store, you will choose a
wine suited to your taste. Each store has brochures which describe
the quality and taste you can expect. |
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| When
you have chosen your wine, the store owner will help you pour
the contents into the fermenter and you then add the yeast.
You are now finished until your bottling date. The store owner
will do the rest including stabilizing and filtering your wine. |
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| In
approximately four to six weeks you will return to bottle your
wine. The store owner has everything you need including bottles,
corks, labels and capsules. |
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Now:
take your wine home and store it in a cool and dark place.
Most wines will be ready to consume in six to twelve weeks.
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