Homemade Grape Wine

Whenever I meet a new person, after the initial chit chat, I’m faced with these questions:

First, “what do you do… where do you work”? Nope, I don’t work…

And here comes the second question” You have kids… you’re busy with baby?” Nope again…

Here comes the million $ question “so what exactly you do sitting at home, how do you spend your time”?

I used to say reading,browsing blah blah…but these days I say that I’ve a blog. I do this for two reasons: either they don’t have a clue about it and stop bothering me…or they want to know what it is, how it is etc and thereby stop asking all personal stuff :)

The only common question that comes from the above two category is “so do you make any money from this?” hhmmm nope again (here I would like to clarify something, ours is a paid site and that cost is covered with the advertisements) but then I don’t make a living out of this. Then some people do ask me  why am I doing this, if I don’t earn anything… if there is no benefit? I usually reply with a smile. But then, there are somethings which give you more happiness than money, right ? :)

If you ask any food blogger, whether they have gained anything from their blog, apart from the money (if they earn any), I’m sure they will all come up with a long list :). That might include… new friends, immense satisfaction from their readers comments, thrill when they see their stats going up ;) and most importantly  having tried many new recipes which they wouldn’t have tried otherwise.

This is one such recipe. I wouldn’t have ever made this wine, if I wasn’t a food blogger, that’s for sure. During Xmas time, I receive mails asking for a wine recipe. So last Xmas I thought I will give it a try and got the recipe from the expert. Yep, my mother in law is an expert in wine making. She has been making it for such a long time and it’s really awesome. So I got the recipe from her and during the last Xmas we made our first batch of home made wine :) I was very much excited about the whole thing and couldn’t wait to taste it. That’s the one thing I dont like much about it…you have to wait at least  a month to taste the end result. Otherwise its really super easy to make wine, after all to quote one  of my cousins “well… if Maria can make wine, anybody can make it” ;)

Here is the recipe:

1. Black grapes – 1 kg
2. Sugar – 650 – 800 gm (refer notes)
   Yeast – 1 teaspoon
   Water (boiled and cooled completely) – 1.5 litres
   Wheat kernels (gothambu mani) – 1 tablespoon

Wash the grapes well. Take clean big glass or porcelain jar of 3 litre size. Put the grapes into the jar and crush it well, using your hands. Add all the other ingredients to the crushed grapes. Cover the jar tightly with the lid. Store it, in a dark place . Keep it like that for 1 week. After one week, start stirring it with wooden spoon (Not metal) everyday until 21 days. (Try to do it at same time everyday. Dont stir for the next 2 days). On 24th  day, drain the clear wine and leave behind the sediment in the bottom. Bottle it in colored glass bottles, this will help to retain the color of the wine. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Update on 22/04/2010: I’ve been getting mails/comments asking about wheat kernels (gothambu mani). Hence I thought I will put a picture here, so you will get an idea. Hope this helps. Please see the picture below.

Notes: The color of the wine very much depends on the type of grapes. We used Australian Black seedless grapes. Also, the quantity of sugar should be adjusted as per the sweetness of the grapes used. Do a taste test of the grapes first, and then add sugar accordingly. Please note that the water to be used in this recipe should be boiled and cooled well. If you miss to stir the wine everyday, dont worry about it. I’ve missed it a few days and still it turned out well. However, please try to stir it daily.

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MariasMenu is a popular food blog written by Maria Jose with its no nonsense simple, tasty and delicious recipes – all tried and tested by readers, family and friends alike. Read more about Maria and her venture.