We were able to cull about fifteen five gallon buckets worth of Mourvedre grapes and about four five gallon buckets of the Sangiovese from the grapes that were not picked during harvest. It gave us the opportunity to try our hand at some homemade wine.
We pretty much had to make do with our crushing and destemming technique by using a milk crate and bucket method we found on YouTube. It worked pretty well, though it took us several hours to get them all done.
The Sangiovese made about two five gallon buckets of must and the Mourvedre made about eight. We added the yeast and mono-bisulfate and let the grapes ferment for about 10 days. Everyday we pushed the must down to the bottom and kept the yeast active. When all the sugar had turned to alcohol we did a malolactic fermentation and then pressed the grapes into six gallon carboys. We will rack them several times and continue learning the process. At some point we will transfer the wine into barrels and let it sit for a couple of years.
