1986 Chancellor

June 2021 – This was my first try with fresh grapes.

It did not go well, as I had NO idea what I was doing. Fresh grapes require crushing and pressing that juices do not, and I managed to mentally gloss over that when I ordered the grapes. I suspect I was so excited that I did not engage my brain in the process.

I crushed the grapes with a potato masher. Yes, seriously, that’s what I did.

I also managed to forget I was in college in Potsdam, 2-1/2 hours from home. So I came home one weekend to pickup, crush, and inoculate the grapes, then came home the following weekend to press them. My parents were not impressed.

Without having a press, I did it by hand, squeezing the grapes in a mesh bag. I strongly recommend NOT doing this. In hindsight I left at least half the juice behind.

I recall bottling the wine over Christmas break, but discovered the wine was oxidized when I came home after finals in May 1987. Most of the wine was polished off that summer. Having friends that lacked a discriminating palate was useful at the time.