Homemade Red Wine from Fresh Grapes

Day 1: Crush

1. Sanitise. Clean and sanitise everything that will touch the grapes.
2. Crush and destem. Crush the grapes into an open fermenter, removing as many stems as you can.
3. Add Day 1 packs. Dissolve the PMS (Day 1 No 1) in a glass of water and stir it through the must, then add the enzyme (Day 1 No 2).
4. Test. Check the sugar with a hydrometer: 12.5–13.5 Baumé is ideal. Cover and wait 12–24 hours.

Day 2–7: Ferment

1. Add yeast. Rehydrate the wine yeast and stir it into the must.
2. Feed it. Add a quarter of the yeast nutrient on day 3 and the rest on day 4.
3. Plunge. Push the cap of skins down into the wine 3–5 times a day.

Press and finish

1. Press. Press when the Baumé reaches 0–6 and the colour is right, usually day 4–7.
2. Finish fermenting. Transfer to containers with airlocks and keep at 20–25 °C until it's no longer sweet and the hydrometer reads below 0 Baumé.
3. Rack and mature. Rack off the sediment onto PMS, top up and mature for several months before bottling.

For the full step-by-step, read our How to Make Red Wine at Home guide, or ask us in store.

Make it your own

Every winemaker has their own style. Use this recipe as a starting point and adjust it to suit your taste.

Add oak chips during fermentation for a smoother, oakier wine, or blend in some Merlot to soften a Shiraz. Write down what you changed so your next batch turns out just the way you like it.