Diary of an Impending Wino
I don't really know how I got into winemaking. I think it was that my boss told me he was having a yard sale and was thinking about ditching his old gear... he'd tried it once or twice about ten years before. Then again, maybe I had been thinking about it and told him, and he asked me if I wanted his gear. Like I said, it's a little fuzzy.
At any rate, I've been making wine, mostly from kits, for about three years ...hold on, I just remembered. I had a lawn full of dandelions and instead of just cutting them, I decided to try to make use of 'em. Dandelion green salads and a first attempt at dandelion wine, using a recipe gleaned from some Texas Cooking web site, followed.
The dandelion wine turned out crap, or so I thought until I gave away a bottle I'd had forgotten about... and discovered that after a year of aging, this wine was pretty damn delightful. That was what got me interested in general, and now I make a kit about every three months or so. It keeps me happy, and provides (relatively cheap) "emergency gifts" for people you like when you're down to the wire.
To be honest, I've started to enjoy the labels (drawn, usually just for that particular batch of wine, by the amazingly talented Mel) almost as much as making the wine itself. No, that's a lie. I enjoy the wine more. But making labels is pretty fun.
So far, I've made... let's see...
The funny thing is, I've managed to screw up in some minor way or another with every batch I've ever made. So if there are any aspiring winemakers out there, please take as gold this one essential bit of advice:
Don't worry about it.
I mean, be careful and everything, and try your best to follow all the rules and instructions and such, but don't panic if your temperature is a degree off or if the thing foams over during secondary fermentation, or whatever. I stressed a lot when I started making wine, worrying when the SG didn't match the fermentation charts, fretting when the yeast didn't activate as soon as I dropped it in the must... but it always, without fail, worked out in the end. Just plug away diligently and, odds are good, you'll wind up with a fairly decent wine.
Emphasis on "fairly decent." I've made a lot of cheaper kits and a few more expensive kits, and they've all turned out what my dad would call "decent plonk." I haven't hit two years old on any of 'em yet, though, so there's still some time before they apparently really hit their stride. The Internet, however, is full of fabulous people -- including the astonishingly patient and helpful people in Google group rec.arts.crafts.winemaking, who take their home wineries very seriously indeed: to the point that they're crafting world-class wine from grapes they grow or commission themselves, in barns full of semi-industrial equipment costing tons of thousands of loads of dollars.
Which is cool, but I've never had much of a palate, so if I can swish a mouthful of wine around and not (a) vomit or (b) feel it scorching the roof of my mouth, I figure I'm doing okay.
Here are a few indispensible resources:
rec.crafts.winemaking. Read the FAQ.
Jack Keller's winemaking site. He knows more than anyone else. Period.
I'll link to some of The Mel's labels...uh...soon.
I don't really know how I got into winemaking. I think it was that my boss told me he was having a yard sale and was thinking about ditching his old gear... he'd tried it once or twice about ten years before. Then again, maybe I had been thinking about it and told him, and he asked me if I wanted his gear. Like I said, it's a little fuzzy.
At any rate, I've been making wine, mostly from kits, for about three years ...hold on, I just remembered. I had a lawn full of dandelions and instead of just cutting them, I decided to try to make use of 'em. Dandelion green salads and a first attempt at dandelion wine, using a recipe gleaned from some Texas Cooking web site, followed.
The dandelion wine turned out crap, or so I thought until I gave away a bottle I'd had forgotten about... and discovered that after a year of aging, this wine was pretty damn delightful. That was what got me interested in general, and now I make a kit about every three months or so. It keeps me happy, and provides (relatively cheap) "emergency gifts" for people you like when you're down to the wire.
To be honest, I've started to enjoy the labels (drawn, usually just for that particular batch of wine, by the amazingly talented Mel) almost as much as making the wine itself. No, that's a lie. I enjoy the wine more. But making labels is pretty fun.
So far, I've made... let's see...
- Vieux Chateau du Roi (generic kit for Chateauneuf du Pape)
- Cabaret Sauvignon
- Chianti
- Gewurtztraminer Blush
- Manoir Blanc
- Chat Dormant
- Sad Hound Reisling (just a Reisling, really, but making an interesting label required SOME sort of name)
- Another Vieux Chateau du Roi (but from a better kit this time).
- I've also followed some neat recipes, most from Jack Keller's site (see below) or an old copy of the Pan Book of Winemaking (circa 1969)...
- Dandelion Wine (II)
- Carrot Wine
- Lemon Wine
- Ginger Wine
- Pear Wine
- Coffee Wine
- Dandelion Wine (III)
- Blueberry Wine
- Raspberry Rose (a rose kit with two pints of crushed rasperries in the must)
- Blueberry White (a Reisling kit with two pints of crushed blueberries in the must).
The funny thing is, I've managed to screw up in some minor way or another with every batch I've ever made. So if there are any aspiring winemakers out there, please take as gold this one essential bit of advice:
Don't worry about it.
I mean, be careful and everything, and try your best to follow all the rules and instructions and such, but don't panic if your temperature is a degree off or if the thing foams over during secondary fermentation, or whatever. I stressed a lot when I started making wine, worrying when the SG didn't match the fermentation charts, fretting when the yeast didn't activate as soon as I dropped it in the must... but it always, without fail, worked out in the end. Just plug away diligently and, odds are good, you'll wind up with a fairly decent wine.
Emphasis on "fairly decent." I've made a lot of cheaper kits and a few more expensive kits, and they've all turned out what my dad would call "decent plonk." I haven't hit two years old on any of 'em yet, though, so there's still some time before they apparently really hit their stride. The Internet, however, is full of fabulous people -- including the astonishingly patient and helpful people in Google group rec.arts.crafts.winemaking, who take their home wineries very seriously indeed: to the point that they're crafting world-class wine from grapes they grow or commission themselves, in barns full of semi-industrial equipment costing tons of thousands of loads of dollars.
Which is cool, but I've never had much of a palate, so if I can swish a mouthful of wine around and not (a) vomit or (b) feel it scorching the roof of my mouth, I figure I'm doing okay.
Here are a few indispensible resources:
rec.crafts.winemaking. Read the FAQ.
Jack Keller's winemaking site. He knows more than anyone else. Period.
I'll link to some of The Mel's labels...uh...soon.
