It's Vino Time!!!

So yesterday my Nonno and Nonna came by my house and brought with them a little bit of Italian Tradition! What was it you may ask...Vino of course!! Making wine is one of the oldest traditions my family brought to Canada from the old country. Every year it’s a must, it has to be done, an earthquake could be going on and I guarantee my Nonno’s still going to be making it in the garage! It’s a lengthy process but well worth the time. We usually start making it within the last week of September and the first week of October. So since I’m such a nice guy I figured I'd share the secret on how wine is made in my family! Just follow these 8 easy steps:

1.     Obtain grapes from a supplier. The best ones to use are from California (what we use) but many people use local grapes from Niagara Falls.

2.     Crush grapes with Macinello (crusher) into a barrel. This is going to make like a liquid with the skins from the grapes in it; we call this “Mosto” in English it means juice.

3.     Now you let the Mosto ferment for 7-10 days.

4.     Next you have to separate the liquid from the skins and put it into a separate barrel.

5.     You now have to crush all those skins with a Torchio (wine press) to extract whatever juice was retained in them and placed with the rest of the Mosto.

6.     Next all the liquid has to be transferred into an oak barrel.

7.     Let that liquid sit for about 2 months for it to become Vino, it won’t be 100% but still drinkable, the longer it sits the better it gets.

8.     On November 11^th the day of Santo Martino all Mosto is turned into Vino.