[winewriting]

Hello all,

I'm writing a magazine article about making wine. I'd like to hear some of your stories about how you got involved, how neat online communities like this one help you with your hobby, etc.

I also think it would be neat to tell the story of someone who's just getting into it alongside the story of a longtime winemaker.

If anyone here could help me out, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[MedPretzel]

I think if you look around our little community of friends here, you would learn a lot not only about the people here, but how to make a darn good wine.


I think if you throw out questions like bait (or like a glass of wine!!), you'd get more of a response.


Snoop around a bit. There are polls and a general area of "chit-chat" and even a how-to section, where I think lots of personalities come through in each area. You just have towatch outto "not" get the winemaking bug.


George is a great guy and could probably tell you a whole bunch of interesting stuff if you gave him a call.


Good luck, and please feel free to ask us questions. Right guys?


Martina


For what magazine is it?

[winewriting]

I'm writing this article for a magazine called Acreage</span> (www.acreagelife.com). It's circulated around most of the nation (60,000 monthly), and is aimed at readers who "enjoy the rural lifestyle."

I also edit a small local magazine (local to me in St. Joseph, Mo., anyway) called Elegant Living</span>. It's more of a moderately upscale lifestyle magazine. I may run a version of the article in it, as well. In my day job, I'm a TV news reporter...so if I happen to find a local winemaker, I may do a TV version of this, too.

George is already helping me out by answering some questions. I'll probably also throw the same questions out here and see what I get back.

As for getting the winemaking bug, I'm sure it won't take me long. I've been interested in making my own wine and beer for a long time, but I've always been afraid of messing up.

[MedPretzel]

Well, I will start, then.


I started winemaking in the summer of 2003, after a lot of research before that. I had always been an avid winedrinker, and appreciated the "homemade hooch" that was passed around in our family. My grandmother used to make wine, as well as an uncle-in-law of mine. In May of 2003, I celebrated a lifetime-milestone, and had a bottle of 30 year old wine. Was it balanced? Did it have a fruity nose? Was it crystal clear? No, no and no again. But it was the best wine I ever had. My grandmother, who passed away about 27 years before that, had made it. That is what got me into winemaking.


So, when I moved into my new house that summer, I planted all sorts of different, yet edible, things. And my first wine (coffee wine) was a major bust. My second, however, (apple) was fantastic. I started with 1 gallon, a recipe book and the internet. I am now currently making 38 gallons (or so). I have about a 60 gallon capacity "operation."


My parents always are amazed at how similar I am to my grandmother who I barely even remember. I love to make unusual wines. My father keeps telling me that she would have been tickled pink about the unusual wines I'm making. When he tasted my rose-hip wine, he said it was exactly like his mother's. Now that's a great feedback comment!


For my rose-hip wine, I used the following label: It shows her and me - photoediting. Her picture was taken in 1975, mine was taken in 2005.





Thanks again to our member, Waldo, who helped with the photoediting.

[winewriting]

Thanks so much for your story. I'll probably wrap up my first article tonight or early tomorrow. Anyone else care to share?

[winewriting]

Many thanks to MedPretzel, geocon, masta and sebastian for their help.

If anyone else would like to chip in, here are my questions for the article. Feel free to answer all, some, one or none of them:

(Warning: I have to finish my article by tomorrow, but I hope to do more articles on winemaking for other publications, so don't worry about your responses making my deadline)

1) It seems that those who start out making wine for fun end up really getting into it. Why do you think that is?

2) Tell me about your experience starting out; when did you really get into it?

3) What's the best advice you could give a beginner?

4) What is it about online communities like this that make this hobby more enjoyable?

5) What's the biggest misconception about winemaking or winemakers?

6) What's your favorite kind of wine?

7) What would you tell a wine lover who has tried (and failed) at winemaking?

8) About how many bottles and/or gallons of wine have you produced, and in how much time?

9) What's so fun about winemaking?

10) Do you have any other hobbies (or do you have time for other hobbies?)?

[MedPretzel]

Here's my "non-thinking-about-it-too-hard" answers:


1. I think that they get into it because you make something that lasts the ages. (see my previous post -- 30 years from now, my kids or other relatives will say, "Hey, Ma made this, or Auntie Martina made this". And, people love wine as gifts and are tickled pink when they find out you made it, from start to finish. Ego thing.


2. I really got into it right away. Even moreso after the the first batch was "finished." (Drank it within 1 month after finishing, was WAY too young, in retrospect)


3. Don't stress out about winemaking. It takes patience, patience, PATIENCE. There is a lot to learn, and it seems overwhelming at first, but once you've started and gone through the motions once, it doesn't seem that bad. But soon, one starts to delve into it a bit more, and soon realizes that it's really all about chemistry. So you learn more about that. And before you know it, you realize that high-school chemistry could have been so much more beneficial to you had you only known.


4. It makes up for the times that relatively "nothing" is happening with your wines. You start talking about wines with other people. You sample others' wines, compare them to yours. You learn how things can be done easier/more efficient. Oh yes, you meet some of the most wonderful group of people with such amazingly different backgrounds as well.


5. That it's hard, and that you have to stomp grapes with your feet.


6. Chrysanthemum Wine, of course!


7. They didn't sanitize properly. They were too impatient and drank it too young (but if the person was a real wine-lover, they probably would know not to drink it young). They didn't have a great online-support group such as this one to coax and coach them through the process. Most wines are NOT faulty. It almost always can be saved. (or made into vinegar or marinade. So, failure is practically impossible in the big scheme of things).


8. Ummmm. Let's just say, there's a federal or state limit of 200 gallons for a 2-adult household. Of course I never went over that!


9. The results, and above all, sharing the wine with people who aren't intimidated by "unusual" wines.


10. Lots of hobbies, not so much time. Genealogy, for one. Ballet another. Photography and computer programming fall by the wayside too often. I love to garden.

[winewriting]

Voila...I'll probably tighten it up in a few places tomorrow morning. Thanks, all for your help!


Winemaking for Fun<O:P></O:P>
By Nathan Byrne<O:P></O:P>
Put a cork in it, wine snobs. <O:P></O:P>
Cellar-dwelling hobbyists all over the country have found fun in releasing their bottled-up energy. And some of them are so down-to-earth, they’re converting their backyards into vineyards.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P>
</O:P>Information Supergrapevine<O:P></O:P>
The Internet provides a wealth of information you can research before you decide whether winemaking is for you. However, you can spend day after day picking grapes of information, or you can get your answers straight from the racks known as online discussion forums or message boards.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>Fine Vine Wines was born in February 2003 when George Cornelius started selling home winemaking kits after discovering the ease of making retail-quality wines in the comfort of his <ST1:CITY><ST1:PLACE>Carrollton</ST1:PLACE></ST1:CITY>, Tx. home. Within a few months, Cornelius went online with finevinewines.com, thus giving both established and would-be winemakers a place to share tips, stories and recipes at the speed of an Internet connection.<O:P></O:P>
Sweet Science<O:P></O:P>
Scott Johnson makes chocolate for a living, but he makes wine for fun.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>The chocolatier, now crafting his second batch of homemade wine, credits the participants in online forums like the one at finevinewines.com for their willingness to help a complete stranger.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>“I’m sure the questions I’m asking have been asked a thousand times before,” Johnson says. “Yet, usually within minutes of my asking, someone answers it for the 1001st time.”<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>Johnson revels in the feeling of membership to what he considers an exclusive club.<O:P>
</O:P>
“I mean, how many people really make wine?” asks Johnson, who likens the mystique surrounding wine to that which surrounds chocolate, love, programming a VCR and other rites of do-it-yourself passage. “They should give us a certificate, or a wallet card or something.”<O:P></O:P>
Just like Grandma<O:P></O:P>
Her friends on the Fine Vine Wines forum call her MedPretzel, but her grandmother called her Martina. Martina’s grandmother passed the winemaking bug to her through a 30-year-old bottle of homemade wine opened 27 years after her passing.<O:P>
</O:P>
“Was it balanced? Did it have a fruity nose? Was it crystal clear?” remarked Martina. “No, no and no again.”<O:P></O:P>
But this particular bottle contained more than just wine.<O:P>
</O:P>
“It was the best wine I ever had,” Martina recalls. “That is what got me into winemaking.”<O:P></O:P>
Martina says her parents are amazed at how similar she is to a grandmother she barely remembers, but what’s more amazing is how this winemaker who also enjoys genealogy, ballet, photography, computer programming and gardening found time to squeeze in one more hobby.<O:P></O:P>
Don’t fear fermentation failure<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>If you don’t hit a home run your first time up, keep swinging. Martina says the only thing a rookie winemaker should stress is patience.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>“There is a lot to learn, and it seems overwhelming at first,” Martina says. “But once you've started and gone through the motions once, it doesn't seem that bad.”<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>Johnson recommends a wine kit for first-timers or those who have failed out of the gates.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>“Either I got incredibly lucky, or it’s created to be easy enough that anyone can do it,” says Johnson, who admits the likelihood of the latter. “Give it another go, follow the instructions, and ask questions.”<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>What’s so fun about winemaking?<O:P></O:P>
Johnson thinks giving out bottles to family and friends will be fun once he reaches that stage, but in the meantime, he’ll rely on his consumer expertise.<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>“Oh yeah,” Johnson considers as he ponders the fun of his newfound hobby. “Then there’s the drinking of it, too.”<O:P>
</O:P>
Martina, who enjoys sharing her homemade wine with those who aren’t intimidated by unusual varieties, says people love wine as a gift—especially when the gift-giver made it.<O:P></O:P>
“You make something that lasts the ages,” she says. “30 years from now, my kids or other relatives will say, ‘Hey, Ma made this,’ or ‘Auntie Martina made this’.” <O:P></O:P>
In the mix<O:P></O:P>
Martina adds that winemaking is all about chemistry.<O:P></O:P>
“So, you learn more about that,” says Martina.“Before you know it, you realize that high school chemistry could have been so much more beneficial to you, had you only known.”<O:P></O:P>
<O:P></O:P>So, get started on your own learning process, and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty. But don’t worry, you won’t have to stomp grapes with your feet (unless, of course, you want to).Edited by: masta

[MedPretzel]

wow!

[Funky Fish]

Good job, Nathan!