Hello fellow winers... errr... I mean vintners 
I've been making homemade wine for well over 30 years now, if you count me and my brother's attempts at making "apple-mash" in our closets when I was 14 years old. Our mom used to wonder where her bread yeast went... Anyway, I have progressed a bit since those early days. Honest!
My tastes have changed a little in the last 30 years as well, and swish that was drinkable as a teenager wouldn't be as appealing to me today (understatement). I like making (and drinking) big reds; the kind that need to bulk age at least a year and another 1 or 2 in the bottle before drinking; the kind that really takes over my senses.
I just wish 30 years ago we had the resources that new winemakers have, with the Internet and sources of modern equipment and such. Back in the late 70's when I started to get a bit serious with "country" wines, it was mostly a trial and error affair, during which I made a few incredible disasters that were promptly thrown out in various stages.
Even today, the best I can do is consistently make wines that taste as good as the average commercial wines I enjoy. On those rare occasions that I've made a great wine, it was a complete accident. Every few years I get a wine that is really amazing, "unique", and unfortunately impossible to duplicate.
I've been making homemade wine for well over 30 years now, if you count me and my brother's attempts at making "apple-mash" in our closets when I was 14 years old. Our mom used to wonder where her bread yeast went... Anyway, I have progressed a bit since those early days. Honest!
My tastes have changed a little in the last 30 years as well, and swish that was drinkable as a teenager wouldn't be as appealing to me today (understatement). I like making (and drinking) big reds; the kind that need to bulk age at least a year and another 1 or 2 in the bottle before drinking; the kind that really takes over my senses.
I just wish 30 years ago we had the resources that new winemakers have, with the Internet and sources of modern equipment and such. Back in the late 70's when I started to get a bit serious with "country" wines, it was mostly a trial and error affair, during which I made a few incredible disasters that were promptly thrown out in various stages.
Even today, the best I can do is consistently make wines that taste as good as the average commercial wines I enjoy. On those rare occasions that I've made a great wine, it was a complete accident. Every few years I get a wine that is really amazing, "unique", and unfortunately impossible to duplicate.
