My family's favourite pastime is to sit around a table or two with a home-cooked feast to satisfy the stomach – well, stomachs – because we each need an extra one to fit our food, just to keep nonna happy. Italians can't bear to worry our nonnas and have them utter: "Why you no eat?"
To help the food go down smoothly, we like to indulge in a decent drop of red. Oh, and in my family, we make it too – that's in addition to making homemade and passata. Si, my family, is pretty much one big Italian food-making enterprise.
The origins of homemade wine
My dad, Giuseppe D'Orazio, began to make wine with his Italian-born parents in the 1960s when he was still a kid. For them, it was about savouring a taste of their origin, Abruzzo, in a bottle. It wasn't uncommon for his dad to fill up his ute with three-quarters of a ton of grapes to make wine for family and friends who fancied a backyard drop.
The family travelled across Perth to the Swan Valley to pick grapes together.
Sometimes, winemaking became family excursions. The family travelled across Perth to the Swan Valley to pick grapes together. Here, my dad helped to teach his younger brother, Frank, the ropes of winemaking – something they have been perfecting together ever since.
Where it all began
It was humbling to go back to my late paternal grandparents' house to make wine in their garage. Occupational health and safety officers would have a field day if they saw our process of sorting grapes and how we churn them into a fine red blend in a makeshift factory.
Previously, our family's winemaking involved foot-stomping on grapes in an old concrete tub that nonno had made (all feet and tubs involved were clean, may I add). However, this time around, we don't use footwork. We hire a grape destemmer, which both crushes and removes the stems of the grapes.
My family usually sources Grenache grapes from the Swan Valley. This was my grandparents' favourite variety. However, for the latest occasion, dad and my uncle switched to Shiraz for a bolder taste.
Giuseppe D'Orazio working the winepress. Source: Julia D'Orazio
The making of 'Doraz Shiraz'
We began making our 'Doraz Shiraz' by sifting through 460 kilograms of grapes in a tarp-covered trailer. A dozen of the D'Orazio family, ranging from my dad, 69, to my nephew, Will, 4, sorted through them to get rid of any leaves, loose stems and yucky bits.
After this, we put the grapes through a destemmer and into a large plastic tub to let the grapes slowly release tannins. Judging by the hue of purple on our hands, we could tell who had worked the hardest.
That was the first of a three-part process. The following week, we came back for part two. We moved grapes from the big bucket into smaller ones. It was like a song and dance. Then, we placed the grapes in a medieval-looking winepress until the last drop of juice had been extracted. Slowly but surely, the grapes were crushed into our version of liquid gold. We then transferred the fruits of our labour to a family member on a ladder. They poured it into two-metre-high stainless-steel vats that were once hot-water storage tanks. (Remember, Italians are resourceful folks!).
The D'Orazio family getting in on all the winemaking action. Source: Supplied
Judging by the hue of purple on our hands, we could tell who had worked the hardest.
Our work may have been done, however, we wouldn't be savouring a glass of red anytime soon. Part three is the waiting game. Dad informed us that it would be at least six months until we could enjoy this wine – all 300 litres of it. Six months can sometimes feel like an eternity in these trying times, but I knew it would be worth it.
It feels truly wonderful to carry on the tradition at the property where my dad and uncle learnt how to master wine from their parents. And when the time comes for us to all be seated around the dinner table, I know my dad will make his late mum proud by asking us if we want wine. The answer, of course, is yes, because I can't have him ask: "Why you no drink wine?"
The D'Orazio family at work. Source: Supplied
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