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Wild Yeast
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Yeast
is a fungus. Under a microscope, yeast cells are egg-shaped. One species of
yeast called saccharomyces cerevisiae translates into "sugar eating
fungus" followed by cerevisiae, the Latin word for brewer.
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Like mushrooms appearing after spring rains, yeast on grape skins need
four elements to come alive: nutrients, moisture, warmth, and time.
 When ripe grapes are crushed,
their sweet juice provides nutrients and
moisture. September in Brentwood/Knightsen provides the perfect ambient
temperature for yeast to multiply, 70 to 85 degrees F. After 24 hours
at this temperature, the yeast reproduce enough to see bubbles.
Joanne,
one of our friends, made plain grape juice by eliminating two elements. She
refrigerated the juice and drank it quickly. "It was so delicious, it
didn't last long," she told us.
 The grape juice from the
2014 harvest (called must) is fermenting in glass jugs called
carboys (from an Arabic word meaning big jug). These photos show the
beginning of the process when the wild yeast heats up the smashed grapes,
consuming the sugars, producing alcohol. For about a week the must bubbles
and ferments while we do our best to keep it happy and not too cold. From
the big fermenting container we strain the skins and seeds from the juice.
We place the juice into carboys for about a year to continue fermenting.
From the glass carboys, we siphon the wine into glass bottles and cork them.
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