Bottling Pear Wine

It was time to bottle the pear wine. I ended up racking the pear wine five times. Each time I racked the wine I had a bit of a sample. I have been checking the wine for a few months now for appealing aroma, color, clarity, and taste. Since my husband and I will be the ones mostly consuming this wine we develop the wine to our taste or liking. We decided we wanted to sweeten this wine at bottling time which means we are going to add a bit of sugar to it.

Bottling wine is not an intimidating task instead it is quite simple. I make sure that my wine bottles are cleaned and sanitized before bottling. The size of bottles I use is 750 ML. I buy wine bottles for about $16 a dozen from a home brewery supply store or I pick up wine bottles free from a local restaurant that I eat at on a monthly basis. Either way new or recycled the bottles have to be cleaned and sanitized.

The Bottling Equipment

Besides the wine bottles I will also need wine glasses to sample the wine, sugar to sweeten the wine, and a wine corker. Other bottling equipment also needed includes the corks, potassium sorbate (is used to stop refermentation in bottle), measuring spoon, funnel, large stirring spoon, siphon hose, and large 6 gallon food grade bucket.

The most important step to bottling wine is to recheck the wine before bottling for aroma, clarity, color, and taste. The taste is so important because it lets me know how much to sweeten it, which I have decided to do.

Potassium sorbate is used to stop refermentation in the wine bottle if you decide to sweeten a wine at bottling time.

I set my wine filled carboy on top of the counter and let it warm up just a bit because it has been sitting in my refrigerator and for sugar to dissolve better it should not be so cold. Since I am sweetening the wine at bottling time I will need to add ¼ teaspoon of potassium sorbate per gallon of wine. Potassium sorbate keeps the wine from refermenting in the bottle with the sugar I am adding to the wine. I put this potassium sorbate at the bottom of the large 6 gallon food grade bucket. I insert the siphon hose into the carboy and the other end into the bucket, and then pump it twice. Then the wine starts flowing. As the wine flows, I am stirring the wine with my large plastic spoon so as to mix in the potassium sorbate. I then add 2 cups of sugar and stir in as well. After the wine empties into the bucket, I let it stand covered for 15 minutes and then I taste the wine. If I like the wine then I will bottle, if not I will add more sugar making sure to blend in well. I add small amounts of sugar at a time, taste, and then add more if needed. You can always add more sugar, but once it’s added you can’t take it out. I ended up adding a total of 5 cups of sugar to my pear wine at bottling time. This measurement should by no means be a guide for you in your own winemaking. Making wine should be made to your taste, that is definitely one thing I have learned over the years of making wine and visiting wineries. I like my blackberry and blueberry dry, but I like the pear wine a lot sweeter. It is all about how you like it. You are the one making it and most likely will be the one drinking it. Make it to your taste!

Siphoning wine into a food grade bucket so I can add the potassium sorbate and sugar.

Stir, stir, and stir again so all ingredients are combined well.

Taste, taste, and taste again.

Once I, well my husband and I, are content with the taste it is time to bottle it. I then place the large bucket on the counter. I insert the siphon hose into the bucket and the other end into a wine bottle, and then pump it twice. Then the wine starts flowing. I let the wine fill up to a tiny bit over the neck of the wine bottle. I use the funnel to fill up bottles that seem a little low in wine, so that the amount of wine in each bottles is a bit more uniform. Once all of the wine bottles are filled up I cork the bottle. Then I wipe down the bottles with a clean paper towel that is lightly spritzed with diluted bleach to wipe off any accidental spillage of wine on the bottle.

Siphoning wine into wine bottles.

Corking the wine bottles.

I filled up 28 bottles of wine at 750 ML in each bottle. I even have enough extra wine to fill up my wine glass, so that I can enjoy the fruits of my labor. At a later date I will need to add the wine label and the foil shrink wrapping that covers the cork and part of the neck of the wine bottle.

The wine bottles are ready to be labeled and stored.

I store the wine in a fridge. The wine does not have to be stored in a fridge, but currently I have space in my refrigerators. In the next month I will be starting to slaughter and butcher. At that time I will need my refrigerators for that project. In the meantime I will make my wine labels and add them to the bottles. I will also add a foil shrink wrap over the cork of the wine. After all of that the wine bottles will be transferred to a hall closet where they will be stored until I get ready to drink them. When I am ready to consume a bottle of wine I will chill it in the refrigerator and serve it chilled.