Zinfandel Recipe

[PeaTearGriffin]

I am able to get some zinfandel grapes that are about 26%. I have never made wine, and really need to do my research, but does anyone have some suggestions on a recipe and yeast selection? How am I to press these also? I have an old apple press, will that work?

[mischa.porter]

You're pretty lucky to get some zinfandel grapes! I think you need advice or someone to teach you on how to make home made wine. Good luck!
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[rebuiltcellars]

Here is a basic recipe:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request204.asp

And more importantly, here is some reading you can do on the process:

http://winemakermag.com/new/fresh
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/basics.asp

Zinfandel is a pretty versatile grape. I bought 180 lbs of them 3 years ago and made three different wines from them: 3 gallons of white zin, 6 gallons of red table wine, and three gallons of port-style desert wine. All came out great. For the white zin I used Red Star Cotes des Blancs, and for both reds I used Red Star Premier Cuvee.

The apple press should work for grapes.

[PeaTearGriffin]

Well, I jumped in and did it about 1 1/2 months ago. It actually turned out better than I thought. I yielded just under 5 gallons. It's been on two ounces of oak in secondary for a month now. The only complaint I would have, is that it really isn't as dark as I would like. I don't forsee the oak adding much more color either. I'll probably add another 2 to 3 ounces of oak, as I like my zins heavy on the oak. other than that, the taste is great. Dry, and very complex already for a young fairly unoaked red. OG was abv was right on target, 14.2%. Clear as can be too, with no pectic enzyme. Thanks for the links.

[rebuiltcellars]

Glad to hear it worked out well for you. Once you get the process down, wine is pretty easy compared to beer.

There are a couple ways to get the color darker for next time. You can add enzymes like Lallzyme EX which help extract color compounds from the skins, or you can drain off some of the juice pre-fermentation. That's what I did. Press between 10 and 25% of the grapes, and seperate the juice from the skins. Crush the rest of the grapes and mix in the pressed grape skins, then ferment normally. The higher concentration of skins will increase the color, tannins and body of the resulting wine.

Then you can ferment the juice you drained off to make a blush wine. That's how white zin was invented.