Winemaking (sage ability)

Winemaking is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Brewing & Distilling, permitting the character to make simple wines using basic methods and commonly available fruit. This ability does not extend to the refinement of high-quality vintages, but rather focuses on the ability to create drinkable, modest-strength wine through natural fermentation. The process involves knowledge of gathering and preparing suitable fruit, most commonly grapes but also other fruits capable of yielding sufficient juice and sugar, crushing or pressing them and setting the juice to ferment in clean containers. The character understands the importance of sanitation and can recognise when a batch has soured, spoiled or turned to vinegar through contamination or neglect. Temperature control is limited to environmental conditions, meaning fermentation and settling occur at ambient temperatures rather than through precise regulation.

Simple reds, whites, rosés, fruit wines and other rustic country wines, which can be made without specialised equipment beyond tubs, jars, casks or similar vessels, strainers or cloth for separating skins and pulp, and stoppers or covers to protect the fermenting juice, are within the character's grasp. The final product is often rough and variable, but sound for consumption. With time and repetition, an amateur winemaker can produce a steady supply of passable wine, suitable for personal use or limited trade within a local community.

Limitations

Consistency, control and refinement are the most difficult parts of effective winemaking. The character can make wine that ferments successfully, but cannot reliably produce a clear, balanced or durable result. Sugar levels in fruit will vary from batch to batch, wild yeasts will behave unpredictably, and the finished wine may differ noticeably in strength, sweetness, colour and flavour even when the same method is used repeatedly.

Control over fermentation is also limited. The character has no precise means of regulating temperature, selecting yeast strains or managing acidity, tannin or sweetness with much sophistication. If the weather is too cold, fermentation may proceed slowly or fail; if too warm, the wine may ferment too quickly, develop harsh flavours or spoil. All this means that while the character is able to create drinkable wine consistently, as much so as most vintners, taste and quality will often suffer due to circumstances beyond the individual's control.

Storage and preservation present further difficulties. The wine can be made drinkable, but it is not likely to age well or remain stable past a single season. Exposure to air, poor sealing, unclean vessels or shifts in temperature may cause the wine to sour, oxidise or turn to vinegar. Sediment, cloudiness and minor off flavours are common and do not necessarily indicate total spoilage, but they mark the product as rustic and inferior.

The range of what can be made is narrow. The ability covers simple table wines and country wines made by straightforward fermentation, not fortified wines, sparkling wines, carefully blended vintages or wines requiring specialised presses, barrels, cellars or controlled ageing. A character with this ability may know that such things exist, but lacks the skill to reproduce them with dependable quality.

Quality and Volume Produced

These depend directly upon the weight of usable fruit. A winemaker can produce approximately 1 gallon of finished wine from every 16 pounds of grapes, or from every 20 pounds of other suitable fruit such as apples, pears or berries. This assumes ordinary losses to skins, pulp and sediment, and reflects the results of competent household winemaking using simple 16th-century methods.

In practice, this means that 32 pounds of grapes produce about 2 gallons of wine, 64 pounds produce about 4 gallons and 160 pounds produce about 10 gallons. For other fruit, 40 pounds produce about 2 gallons, 80 pounds about 4 gallons and 200 pounds about 10 gallons. Fractions should be rounded down to the nearest half gallon.

A character working alone can prepare and set to ferment up to 80 pounds of fruit in a day, yielding as much as 5 gallons of grape wine or 4 gallons of other fruit wine. With one ordinary assistant, this amount can be doubled. Larger quantities require additional labour, vessels and storage space, but the ratio of fruit to wine remains the same.

See also,
Brewing (sage ability)
Distilling (sage ability)
Purify Water (spell)