Medicine of the Grapevine: Herbal Wines and Vinegars

Class Details

Returning to the Medicine of the Grapevine: Exploring Herbal Wines and Vinegars

 

The grapevine is a keystone species in Western herbalism, but its degradation and commodification have severed our connection to the ecology of Vitis sp. and its place in both historical and contemporary herbalism. Many of us have forgotten how deep our roots have grown together. We often overlook the microbes that have traveled with the vine, and with us: symbiotic fungi below ground that support and nourish grapevine roots, and single-celled fungi above ground called yeasts that, when nurtured in a polyculture, nurture our bodies in return. Microbes like Saccharomyces cerevisiae ferment grapes into wine; beneficial bacteria, Acetobacter aceti and Acetobacter pasteurianus, carry that wine onward into vinegar.

 

This workshop is for those of us who love medicinal vinegars and oxymels. It’s for people who love naturally fermented and unfiltered wine. And for anyone interested in making medicine in wine via co-ferments or secondary extractions with plants like chokecherry, chamomile, and clary sage. And it’s for lovers of vermouth and amaro, those bittersweet friends of appetite and digestion. For all of these medicines, we have the grapevine, an entire genus called Vitis containing 60-80 distinct species, to offer our gratitude.

 

Students will get to know the ecologies and histories of Vitis sp. and be invited to explore their own personal relationships with the grapevine. They will learn basic techniques for home production of wine and vinegar, including co-fermentations with herbs, secondary plant extractions, and other preparations. The course also attends to other medicines the grapevine offers: cultural, spiritual, and somatic.

 

A PDF handout with basic preparations will be provided.

 

• Class Date: Saturday, April 24, 2027
• Class Time: 10am – 1pm
• Cost: $42
• Location: Live Online (Class link will be emailed to all registered students a few days before class.)
• Registration required.