Learn how to make your own natural wines at home! (Foraged or Store-bought)

Given by one of the top fermentation expert in North America, in this workshop we’ll go back to making delicious wines the way our ancestors did it! With what nature provides.

Did you know that store-bought wines are made using all kinds of chemicals such as sulfites, “food grade” acids, potassium sorbate , phosphates and so on? Well, not in this workshop! We’ll use the natural yeast present on the berries to make our own wine, we’ll go through all the steps of making wine from initial fermentation to bottling.

What wine will we make that day? Let’s make an elderberry and blackberry wine. We’ll do a mix of foraged and store-bought berries and maybe even add some savory wild herbs to the mix.

This workshop is a perfect introduction to wine making for anyone interested in making their own fermented drinks from fruits or berries at home. Perfect for anyone interested in natural drinks, foragers, herbalists, home cooks or chefs, bartenders or fermentation enthusiasts.

The workshop will be held at Reptacular, in a beautiful private space in the middle of the Los Angeles forest.

During the first part, we’ll go on a short plant walk just for the fun of it and look at local edible and medicinal plants. I’ll also talk about what fruits or berries are in season right now to make wine. The walk will be around an hour or so.

After the walk, we’ll get to work and start crushing those berries and go through all the steps to making the wines. Of course, we’ll have some wild food snacks and drinks on the side.

The whole workshop will probably be around 4 hours from 10am to 2pm.

After this workshop, you’ll know how to make your own natural wine at home using commercial or wild yeast and foraged or store bought berries. Heck, you can even make tasty wines from organic frozen berries.

You’ll learn:

Pro and cons of using commercial or wild yeast

How to forage wild yeast to make your own wine

What chemicals are used to make regular wines and what are the natural options.

All the steps necessary to make wine

For this workshop, long pants is a good idea - We have poison oak in the area.

Location:

We meet in front of a place called Reptacular

8828 Gold Creek Rd, Sylmar, CA 91342

Don’t enter the main gate, keep driving on the road for 25 yards and you’ll see me (old guy with white hair).

Time: From 10am to around 2pm