Zack's Log

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been trying to recreate a Bronze Age Aegean wine for my Themes in Interdisciplinary Inquiry course taught by Marc Tyrrell. I am happy to say that the fermentation is complete, and I finally got to taste it. It’s probably the fact that I played an active role in the process, but it tastes really great. It is sweet, since I added honey and other spices, and it is better served chilled.

Mainly because of time constraints, I did not get to re-create Bronze Age Aegean wine in a very authentic way, as I had hoped. I did not get a hold of an unslipped ceramic pithos, which would have allowed me to coat the inside with pine pitch. Also, I could not use fresh grapes and leave them to dry in the sun for weeks at a time since I started this project in November. Admittedly there was a lot of hype going into this at the beginning and sadly the wine is not as authentic as I would like. However, I consider this the first batch of many, and I hope to get closer to my goal next time.

In fact, I am working on a PERT chart in order to determine what exactly would have to be done in order for a proper recreation to be made. I will be able to see exactly what I need in order to get it right next time. Since I have a lot on my plate right now, expect this to be done by approximately the 20th of December. Of course, I’ll post it on this blog.

I’d like to extend my gratitude to Jasen Ananny at the Wine Station, who helped me with this project and let me use his facilities and equipment. Him and his staff were extremely helpful, and gave me tons of advice. If anyone has any questions about home winemaking or brewing, I suggest you get in contact with him and he would be glad to help.

I think that this kind of hands-on experience is the most exciting kind of learning. Even though this batch is not perfect, I will work on another one that builds on it at the next grape harvest. Cheers!