Monday morning, Klara's freezer stopped working. I went with Misha and Klara to one of the new appliance and building supply stores in Uzhgorod, which resembled "Home Depot" or "Lowe's".
All of the prices for appliances were comparable to prices in America; this makes sense because the prices for tech items are set by global market forces, not the local Ukrainian market. Klara bought a chest style freezer for about $350 USD.
Back home, Misha and I pressed the grape must, the juice and pomace, to prepare the wine for the secondary fermentation. Before we could start pressing the wine, we had to completely disinfect the wine barrels. This was done with strips of paper, impregnated with sulfur, which were lit and then suspended into the wine barrels. Even with the stopper in place, the pungent sulfur fumes escaped from the barrels, filling the cellar with smoke and sulfur fumes, creating a miniature Hell.
Misha covers his nose and mouth when he descends into Hell; I don't bother.
The grape must was poured into the basket press,
One kilogram of sugar is added to every 10 liters of juice, because the grapes have not produced enough natural sugar this year. The sugar is mixed with a small amount of juice, then boiled before adding to the barrels.
After the juice and pommace is pressed, all that is left is a dry block of stems and skins:
After the barrels are filled with the juice, a homemade airlock is employed. A piece of rubber tubing is inserted into the barrel, then the other end goes into a jar of water, making sure that the opening of the tube is under water. The airlock allows CO2 to escape from the barrels, while prohibiting outside air and microbes from entering the barrel.
Now there is nothing to do but wait. According to Misha, this wine will be ready to drink after the First of the NewYear.
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