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Grape Wine

A method for fermenting grapes into wine using sugar and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Grape and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Grape Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the grapes

  1. Wash and pick the grapes from the stems.

  2. Pack the grapes in a stone jar and cover with water.

  3. Let the jar stand overnight.

Ferment the mash

  1. Remove the grapes, pound them well, and return them to the jar.

  2. Add 1 pound of sugar for each gallon of grapes.

  3. Let the mixture stand for four days.

Finish the wine

  1. Strain the juice into another jar.

  2. Add 2 pounds of sugar for each gallon of juice.

  3. Let the wine stand for eight days, skimming and stirring daily.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,490 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Grapes
Supply the juice, flavor, and natural yeast that start fermentation.
Sugar
Feeds the yeast to produce alcohol and adds sweetness to the wine.

The step that matters

Skimming and stirring daily. Skimming removes floating pulp and debris that can spoil the wine, and stirring keeps the yeast evenly distributed so fermentation proceeds steadily rather than stalling or turning sour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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