How to start making wine

Supplies to have in quantity

You might want a warehouse exclusively for Wine Supplies.

• Boards, Nails and Rope to build vineyards. 40 Boards, 25 Nails and 12 Rope each vineyard.
• Empty Wine Bottles produced from Normal glass. Can produce batches of 12 in Glazier's Bench. 21 grapes per bottle.
• Barrel Taps. Made with Iron Knife and Carving 3.
• Label papers made from 1 Papyrus Paper (made on a Paper Press) and 1 Ink (made in a Chemistry Laboratory) and 1 Quill (made from an Ibis feather). Or be smart and give it a good name from the start so you don't have to relabel.
• Barrels. Buy Cooperage skill at SBody (need level 5 and Advanced Metallurgy Tech) for 2 Brass Plates, 50 Copper Straps and 100 boards. Build a Barrel Vise with 2 Brass Plates and 6 Copper Sheeting. You will need 100 boards, 2 Copper Straps and 150 wood(approximately to be safe) to make each barrel. Barrel making is easy as long as you do not fall asleep.
• Wine Barrels. 6 Boards + 50 Nails + 1 Small Barrel
• Ceremonial Tasting Table needs 6 Oyster Shell Marble and 20 boards.

Gather materials

You'll need: • A few Vineyards - see below for where to build. • A couple of Wine Barrels. • Some Empty Wine Bottles. • Some Barrel Taps. • Some Vine Cuttings.

Where to build

There's no pattern to where you can find each wine flavor. It's random, and they repeat. If you want a specific flavor, you're going to have to ask around or check any flavor maps you can find on the wiki. If you're not after a particular flavor, it's much easier.

• Choose a place you run around a lot - near your camp is usually good. • Build as many vineyards as you like, placing each about 8 coordinates apart. You can do this in a line, in a grid, or in a combination. Building along a path you frequently follow is a good idea...You'll tend more often. • Do NOT build a bunch of vineyards all together in a cluster.

Grow (tend) grapes

• You can tend your vines once/hour. • Do NOT reduce grape total to zero. The vine will die. • Do NOT reduce vine vigor to zero. The vine will die. • You can take a cutting of the vine once/2 hours. Do this every chance you get, and you'll quickly build up a supply of that vine. • There is no penalty for leaving your grapes untended for long periods of time. Nothing changes. Tend as often or as little as you like

Harvesting the grapes

When the vigor of your vine has reached close to zero, harvest the grapes.

Harvesting kills the vine.

I always replace it right away with a new cutting so I can start the process all over again immediately.

!!!Grapes spoil!!! so don't harvest them until you're ready to use them.

Barrel the grapes

Take the grapes back to camp, and toss them into a barrel. • One bottle of wine = 21 grapes.

• You can put as many grapes as you want in a barrel. • You can put grapes from different vineyards in the barrel together to create mixes. • Once you've added all the grapes you want to add, use a barrel tap to seal the barrel.

You have the option to name your wine as you like when you push the button to seal the barrel, but do not use the "/" character.

Try to give a name, that contains the flavor, age, % alcohol, vintage

Age Your Wine in the Barrel

In the barrel, the sugar in your grapes turns into alcohol, and tannin develops. This is not immediate. It can take a day up to a few months, depending.

• 10% alcohol (required for Ra Festival) can happen in 24 hours, but it can take days longer with low grape sugar. • 12% alcohol (needed for Thoth Festival and first wine notebook) takes about a week. • 13% alcohol (needed for second wine notebook) takes about a month. • 14% alcohol (needed in the fourth notebook) takes about three months, but there may not be enough time left in the telling for you to make wine for this one yourself. You can ask me (Calixes) or another vintner if you need wine for this requirement.

These times are RL lengths of time - not game time.

If you're just making wines for general drinking, alcohol and tannin aren't really important. You could put your grapes into the barrel, close it up, and immediately bottle the wine if you wanted. Keep in mind that a couple of the wine notebooks have alcohol categories (12% or 13%), though, so you want to make a little bit of those wines.

Tannin - If you need tannin for Banquet wine or for wines used to make spirits, how much tannin you get depends on the stats of your grapes and how long you leave the wine in the barrel. This is generally not a fast process, and you should probably look into the other wine guides for advice on a specialized vine cutting and/or more information.

Alcohol - If you need a specific alcohol level for Banquet, the Test of Festivals, or for the wine tasting notebooks, then you'll need to watch your barrel over the coming days/weeks/months (yes, it really can take that long). Use the "Siphon a Barrel Sample" option on the barrel at any time you like to see how the alcohol level/tannin level is progressing.

A high sugar stat in your grapes can speed up the alcohol production a little at the beginning. If you only want 10% alcohol, try to make sure your grape sugar is at least 100 when you harvest your grapes, and you can get to 10% in a day. This isn't hard to do with Eigam Copper or Cali's Favorite.

Bottle your wine

When your wine has all the alcohol/tannin you need, press the "Open the Barrel and Bottle the Wine" option while holding enough wine bottles. Now it's time to age the wine so flavors will show up.