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headinsouth

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My name's Bill and I LOOOOVE wine!

Although I haven't made much wine (a bit of apple and a touch from some wild grapes growing on my property - finally beat the birds to 'em), I have stockpiled enough honey from my friends that keep bees to make some mead! Looking forward to THAT!

Almost 4 years ago I decided that it was time to write the next chapter in my life and "took inventory" of the things I've done and places I've been, the pros and cons of them and decided that the location should be somewhere tropical, with world class fishing, inexpensive to live including an abundance of really great food! Of course, having lived in the good ol' USA all my life, things like a relatively stable government and a culture that I could assimilate into with a minimum of difficulty seemed important. So I did some research and to make a long story short, the area that scored the most points was Central America - specifically Costa Rica. So I spent Dec - April of '07 "test driving" Costa Rica enjoying tropical breezes on beaches and in rain forests while my friends in Ohio were - well you get the picture... The culture and people passed the test and since then I've been trying to sell my house on 8+ acres so I can live up to my moniker.

While in CR I found that there is not only an abundance of very good South American wines available, but also an amazing amount of the most wonderful fruits and vegetables available - far beyond my expectations. And the side benefit is that they are really inexpensive! Pineapples for US $0.25, bananas are next to free (they're veritable weeds down there), limes for a nickle, mangoes, papaya, starfruit, guava - the list goes on and on... and on. And they are are available picked ripe and often within hours of being harvested for pennies on the dollar for what we would pay here. So I'm really thinking that I should get up to speed on making wine so I can take full advantage of the situation!!

And so here I am - seeking some guidance in the craft of winemaking. I've brewed a fair amount of beer - mostly with success (knocking on wood) and I hope that bits of that experience will transfer over to making excellent wine.

Mentor me wise ones...

Bill >>>>>> headinsouth... soon
 
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Bill, once again welcome to the forum. Great story and I admire you for going after what you want. As you know we have members down there that came from PA. From what I understand if you make beer then wine will be a breeze except for the waiting process. Best of luck to you on your dreams and we look forward to hearing more from you.

Incidently from from NE Ohio you should check out Luva Bella's near Boardman if you haven't yet.
 
Welcome Bill, we have a guy on here that did pretty much the same thing and lives there in Costa Rica. Wine making is very similar so youll take right off with that. Basically use about 8 lbs of fruit per gallon or more to make most wines and keep the starting sg around 1.085.
 

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