The DIY Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon
Among all the available wines in the market, the one that is likely the best candidate for the process of aging is none other than Cabernet Sauvignon. It is the kind that greatly improves in taste, texture and quality the longer it is stored. It is by far the most popular among the red wines in California, even among the classification: wine diy. It has a unique aroma, a black currant aroma in particular, that unfolds into nuances of a variety of flavors — cedar, leather, violets, cigar box, etc. The tannic edge it has may considerably soften and smoothen. That’s Cabernet wine diy for you.
The grapes used for the making of Cabernet Sauvignon wine diy are spherical, small, dark, and with a very tough skin. This characteristic makes it impervious to contamination as well as to decay. Their thick skin also makes them resistant to autumn rains causing them little damage. Because of these qualities, Cabernet Sauvignon, became a popular red wine varietal along the lines of Merlot and Carignan, even in the wine diy category.
The reason behind Cabernet Sauvignon’s popularity partly stemmed from the appeal of the unique flavor of the grape and also partly on its appeal as a collector’s wine. Because of this, Cabernet Sauvignon is affected by inflationary climb as collectors and fans as well as the newly rich affect its supply and bid it upward.
We now come to the winemaking or the wine diy part. Let’s divide the wine diy instructions to three parts: Crushing, Primary Fermentation, Racking and Aging.
Wine DIY Ste p 1: Crushing
- After picking or buying the grapes, rinse them using tap water whether from a garden hose or on a huge kitchen sink. Take out or cut the big stems. It’s okay to leave tiny little twigs.
- Crush the grapes or stomp on them if you don’t have a machine for this process. This will make you produce grape juice.
- After stomping on them and producing grape juice, what is left is what you call the “must”. This is the combination of grape juice, skins, and little twigs. Pour it all out into the fermenter or vats for the next step — primary fermentation.
Wine DIY Step 2: Primary Fermentation
- Now that you have the must, test it first for acidity as well as sugar content using a testing kit that you can buy from a store.
- The results you will get will determine if you need to add more sugar content to the must.
- You will also use the test results to determine how many Campden tablets you will put into the must.
- Tightly cover the must and leave it for 24 hours.
- Then add the winemaker’s yeast into the cabernet must. Seal them again and let them ferment. For one week, make sure that you come back by stirring it twice a day with a wooden paddle.
Wine DIY Step 3: Racking and Aging
- Get the fermenters or vats and pour out the contents into another empty vat using a strainer to get rid of the grape skins and little twigs. This is now what you call a young, new, “green” wine.
- You’d have to test the acidity of the wine again. If it’s too high, you can dilute it with spring water (least preferred), or by adding potassium bicarbonate, or calcium carbonate.
- Get an empty vessel and siphon the “green” wine there for aging. Because of Cabernet’s strong affinity for oak, oak barrels are typically used. But since they are way too expensive for home winemakers, you can substitute it with a 5-gallon glass carboys with 2-3 oak chips dropped at the bottom.
- Seal the carboy tightly and store it in a dark cellar for three weeks.
- After three weeks of secondary fermentation, top off the vessels to compensate for settling. What you do is drain the least full vessel with a siphon hose and fill up the others. Kill the microorganisms that got in during this procedure by adding a spoonful of sulfite to each of the vessel. Tightly seal each vessel with an airlock after.
- You can discard any leftover wine you may have. This will just turn into vinegar. If not, transfer it to a smaller container.
- Let the wine age for another 4-6 months before bottling it.
