Midnight Malbec

Yesterday I hinted at a “wining weekend”. We had a slight change of plans though.

We were out literally all day yesterday, and from the first event, we were going to go to a wine party at InVINtions after. But things didn’t quite work out as planned at our first event, and we decided to pass on the wine party. It had already been a very long day, both for us, and for the fur babies, and there will be other parties in the future. Plus, I lost my good camera and I was really bummed out about that. Now I have to get another one, and soon. I use it EVERYDAY!

We have made wine plenty of times from InVINtions, under their expert guidance and tutelage, but this is the first time we made our own wine, all by ourselves. There is definitely a lot more to it than what we thought.

A friend of Lauren’s had given her a wine making kit, that somehow we kind of inherited, though I guess it technically belongs to all four of us; Mike, Lauren, Larry and I. Larry and I watched a winemaking video a few times, then purchased the juice and all the ingredients necessary to make the wine.

The four of us started the winemaking process, and Larry and I did everything else.

Step #1

We sanitized all the equipment first then started mixing everything together.

Taking the first specific gravity reading.

Once we finished this part, we had to let it rest for a few days.

Step #2

The first racking of the wine. We had to rack the wine before adding more ingredients and mixing it all up.

Daddy had some very curious helpers.

Adding the wood chips.

Again, we had to let it rest again. This time for about 10-12 days before moving on.

In the meantime, we cleaned and scrubbed our recycled bottles. This was quite the chore. We need 30 bottles. No problem. We have plenty. We will sanitize them right before our bottling process begins tomorrow.

Step #3

We had to rack the wine yet again and added the bentonite. Then we had to stir vigorously to de-gas it.

Doing another specific gravity reading.

Once this was done, we had to let it rest again for another 10 or so days. And tomorrow, it will be time to bottle it. We followed the instructions to a tee, and watched the video before every step. We took a few “barrel” tastings, but nothing more than a sip or two each time, just to note the progress. So far, it tastes pretty good. I have to say, not bad at all for first time vintners. 🙂

We will rack it once more and then bottle it. We made a Malbec, and since it will be close to Halloween, we named it “Midnight Malbec”, using our “panther” Nicky or Nicodemus, as our model.

Tomorrow will be the real test though. Mike, Lauren, Janet, Bob, Erik and Shannon will all be joining us for the bottling, followed by an authentic Argentine dinner. I decided on an Argentine menu since Argentina is known for it’s fantastic Malbec wines, and Malbec is what we made.

I will drink wine any day that ends with a “Y”. 🙂 Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well, the wine really helps with that, by the way. ‘Til next time.