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Just harvested the grapes from the vine for the first time in three summers. They are in good condition and are almost certainly vitis vinifera. I think that based on leaf shape and the grapes that they are probably Pinot Noir. On the grounds that nobody has tried making a Port-like wine from Coventry-grown Pinot Noir before, can anybody give me some tips? Starting with:

What do I do now?

I don't expect to compete with other, better-known, quintas as it's only one vine so the declaration will be limited to very small quantities.

add sugar =)

g-man wrote:add sugar =)

That's cheating!

KillerB wrote:

g-man wrote:add sugar =)

That's cheating!

chapitalize it then =)

They're not even squished yet

u need to take brix readings then!!

1. Squish them - preferably with your (washed) feet.

2. Store in a cool place.

3. Repeat once or twice per day for two days.

4. Go out and buy a bottle of the most alchoholic clear spirit that you can find. Arguadente is probably hard to come by in Coventry.

5. Do some maths and work out how much spirit you need to add to the volume of juice you have, making an assumption that your juice will be about 12 degrees proof after two days and needing to be raised to 20ish.

6. Keep it with the skins and gently churn it up a bit for a few days.

7. Pour it through a sieve so that you just have juice in a a container that will take all of it with not much air space left.

8. Find a chunk of oak and throw it in the container.

9. Leave it for 20 years.

10. Drink from the top.

I may have missed some minor details.

DRT wrote:1. Squish them - preferably with your (washed) feet.

2. Store in a cool place.

3. Repeat once or twice per day for two days.

4. Go out and buy a bottle of the most alchoholic clear spirit that you can find. Arguadente is probably hard to come by in Coventry.

5. Do some maths and work out how much spirit you need to add to the volume of juice you have, making an assumption that your juice will be about 12 degrees proof after two days and needing to be raised to 20ish.

6. Keep it with the skins and gently churn it up a bit for a few days.

7. Pour it through a sieve so that you just have juice in a a container that will take all of it with not much air space left.

8. Find a chunk of oak and throw it in the container.

9. Leave it for 20 years.

10. Drink from the top.

I may have missed some minor details.

the sugar part =)... a northern region pinot probably has high acidity and not as much sugar.

If it's anything like the stuff I tried to make, I only ended up with 12 proof

i'd actually add some woody whiskey in there .... might save on the oak aging ?

I have a litre of Italian Brandy!

crush the grapes with clean feet or metallic type object used for grape crushing (use bathtub, it's just like a lagar)

put contents into a container

go to market

buy a bottle of 2007 Warre's VP

Put said bottle of Warre's in the cellar

drink the grape juice you just crushed with breakfast in morning

25 years - return to cellar and open said bottle of Warre's

I may have missed a few steps, but darn if you won't have some great grape juice for breakfast

A dash of yeast to get the fermentation going would be a help - unless Coventry has a surfeit of natural wine yeast floating about!

KillerB wrote:I have a litre of Italian Brandy!

Perfect!

As long as it is no "grappa di brunello di Montalcino".

I lilke the Warre idea of Andy and I heard that they are in desperate need of new stuff to torture people since the waterboarding gained such a bad reputation.

Do as Derek suggested and try to sell the "product" to the CIA.

Btw you might want to consider some help from Corinne Seely since she is in charge of a winery product in the UK.

Good luck.

Axel