Video: Eighth Graders Make Their Own Wine

Joseph Zakon started his winery in 1981 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY. This year he did a class project for a group of 8th graders, including his son, how to use the technique called Carbonic Maceration (whole grape berry fermentation) and make wine from scratch.

Joseph purchased California Special brand wine grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese from a local market. We gave each student one plastic 96 ounce container; then they removed the grapes from the stems and placed the grapes in the container.

The students loosely tightened the cap on the plastic 96-oz container of grapes, allowing the carbon dioxide to escape during the natural process of fermentation. Fermentation was taking place within the whole berries and some juice that escaped from the grapes on the bottom of the containers pressed or bruised.

The students then had the opportunity to visit the Herzog winery, the largest kosher winery in the world. In this setting they could see the process being processed efficiently on a much larger scale. As they crushed the grapes and pressed 2,000 pounds at once then placed into holding tanks, holding 50,000 gallons of grape juice for fermentation.

After approximately thirty days, the students emptied the grapes and fermenting juices from their plastic bottles into 5-gallon pails. Joseph used a modified home juicer, which did not allow the juicer to grind the seeds and skin of the grapes. This prevents any bitter flavors from the skins and seeds into the wine. This juicer can be used for smaller quantities and is less back breaking then the traditional basket press. However the draw back was that Joseph allowed the grape skins not to be pressed completely dry.

Approximately 30-40 days after the wine settled in the class room. Joseph showed the children the process called racking the wines off the lees and sediment. The wine they were racking from the top of the container was clean, but had not reached the brilliants one expects from bottled wine. Joseph explained that for that to happen most efficiently one can use a fining agent that will blend with the wine. Then as the wine settles this fining agent causes the more stubborn sediments to cling to the fining agent and settle to the bottom of the container. For our wine Joseph used the raw egg white of a half egg per 5-gallons.

The students were again fortunate to visit the bottling winery. Where they experienced up close the speed and efficiency used to bottle wine and grape juice, for the many Jewish communities.

After many months of patiently waiting, the day finally arrived, and the students can bottle the wine that they made in their classroom. The equipment Joseph brought to the classroom, a water filter, a single bottle filler connected with plastic tubing, a single bottle corker, an electric hot water kettle, bottles, corks, heat shrink seals. And most importantly the self-stick labels that the children designed using a home computer.

We gave every student an empty bottle that they filled with wine, corked, sealed and labeled. This bottle, they proudly brought home to their parents. Lechaim!

Joseph Zakon, in 1981, was the youngest person to start a bonded winery on the West End of Long Island, Brooklyn, NY. The brands are Kesser, Joseph Zakon Winery, Farbrengen and Seloh. Due to the high cost of real estate in Brooklyn, he now contracts his wine production at various wineries.