Okay, I'm enthusiastic, but I'm still a beginner! From the left: 6 gallons elderberry-reisling pyment, 6 gallons cherry-reisling pyment, 1 gallon black cherry wine, 5 gallons strawberry wine, 3 gallons tropical ginger wine, 1 gallon white cherry melomel (hiding in back) 3 gallons cherry desert wine (with an unlabeled extra gallon of overflow next to it for topping off later), 3 gallons cranberry melomel, 1 gallon sweet wheat wine, 6 gallons pinot noir, 1 gallon cherry almond wine, 6 gallons malbec, 5 gallons plumcot (hiding behind my shoulder) and 6 gallons elderberry (in the big plastic fermenter under my arm). I think that's everyone... oh yeah, bottles of cabernet on the back wall...
I was homebrewing beer for about a year and a half when I made a sparkling mead for the first time and got HOOKED on making wine. I made a few kits and then moved on to juice. Things have all turned out well, which I attribute to a combination of beginner's luck and the sanitary habits I learned as a brewer.
My real passion right now is making fruit wines, and I have so much to learn. So far I've just been keeping things clean, following recipes (lots from, "Making Wild Wines and Meads") and letting the wine do what it does. I don't know hardly anything about things like ph, degasing (if/when) and finings (as evidenced by my sparkalloid post - argh!). I found this forum when I did a websearch on gravity wine filters and found Martina's "how to" (really, the green mouse assistant was irresistible) and, after reading a few posts, I thought, "THESE are my PEOPLE!"
So - thanks for having me, everyone! I'm excited to learn from you and get inspired about new recipes and techniques I don't know yet.
Cheers!
-Ellen