Gear up for this year’s autumnal varietal harvest by sharpening your winemaking skills. Designed for small-scale winemakers as well as novice home winemakers, this two-part series examines all practical aspects of the winemaking process. Learn tips and techniques by watching UC Davis instructors and presenters produce wine during real-time demonstrations and videos. The first part of this series will walk you through the main steps of winemaking: juice and yeast preparation, fermentation, filtration and aging. You will be given hands-on demonstrations that involve working with incoming fruit, crushing both red and white grapes as well as pressing juice using traditional and non-traditional methods. You will learn about the cleaning and sanitation process, must analysis, alcoholic and malolactic fermentation, fining agents and wine tasting.

Learning Outcomes

• Gain a practical understanding of the winemaking process
• Learn how to analyze and prepare juice/must
• Understand the fermentation process and how to control it
• Explore fining agents and filtration methods
• Learn about aging process

Skills You’ll Gain

• Must analysis and preparation
• Wine fermentation
• Wine filtration

Course Format and Pacing
This is an online course delivered through Canvas, UC Davis CPE’s learning management system. Course materials—such as video lectures, readings, assignments, and discussion forums—are accessible throughout the week. Live sessions held over zoom will provide real-time lectures and Q&A sessions with instructors.