How did you get started in wine making?

[NoSnob]

The more the merrier! Glad you all found us here and hope y'all stay and share your experiences!

Couldn't agree more! But you would think the old-timers (that's not me) would be pitching in and yet we must have a lot of lurkers here. Hope to hear more from all of you newbies.
NS

 

[NoSnob]

Wish I had a family of winemakers or had mentors but in fact I came from a long line of tee-totalers and total abstainers. Even in the military I did not drink though I still had a good time sitting around on week-ends with my beer drinking buddies.

In time, I developed a fondness for wine back when selections available at the stores were not that great. Remember Almaden rose', Andre' sparkling burgundy, and anything by Gallo? Today we would not even call that plonk. The alternatives were European wines which were expensive and whose quality to me anyway seemed all over the place. After several decades I developed a better sense of different wines and what I liked. Tiring of getting in a rut (buying mostly the same mediocre wines at value prices) I decided, after retirement, to learn more about wine by branching out a bit.

I figured that learning to make wine would teach me a lot about it and it has. It has also given me a great excuse to buy wines that would not be my first pick so I can learn more about different styles of wine and not just what I like. It is also an excuse to buy an occasional expensive bottle, (strictly for comparative purposes you understand.) One could make only the type of wine which one loves but what would you learn from that? I have learned to appreciate wines that were not always my first choice. And I am developing a small cache of upscale wines to compare with those I make.

Learning about wine is very different from being a snob -- thinking you know all there is to know about what's good and what's not. That's why I am

NoSnob

 

[LanMan]

I got into making wine after I started brewing beer. After a couple of beer kits I ended up with the fermenting bug. Once cought I started my first gallon of wine just to see if I could(Welches grape ) I had to do a fruit wine so I picked 5lbs of blackberries and it turned out GREAT. So here I sit with yeast in the fridge and fruit in the freezer. I need to make wine

 

[hobbyiswine]

I wish I had a more romantic reply but...I like wine, therefore I decided to make some! I think I am a bit younger than "average" here on the forum. I wish I had started my wine hobby earlier but didn't really appreciate wine until I started working in the upscale restaraunt industry in Las Vegas. Tried a couple of New Zealand sav Blancs and French Burgandy and was hooked. I have since read about wine, drank a lot of wine, visited a lot of wineries and generally have the wine bug in a bad (good) way. I have been to wineries across the US and can't wait to visit other countries. If you haven't been to Sonoma, Napa, or Washington State, etc. it is a wholes new world. I can imagine many of the other major regions of the world are similar. when you visit the wineries there you get the best wines they produce and the best part is that sometimes the grape doesn't travel more than a few hundred feet from vine to glass. Totally awesome. Some say the wine tastes best in the place it is from. Doesn't get much closer than looking at the vine that made the grape while drinking it too. Now I am hooked and loving every sip.

 

[fishziblu]

My childhood memories all revolved round my uncle's vineyard and the thrill was the harvest and wine making days. Until I got a job, bought a house and married, I did not much think about owning a vineyard or winemaking. Then another uncle decided to start a vineyard himself. I grew interested to the point that me and my dad bought field myself and converted my cellar to the wine making room.

Let's say just the job was boring, and I needed more fresh air in my life.

 

[Andrewwarwick]

My father-in-law, who is Portuguese by birth, randomly decided to make a bucket of grape juice he saw in the local Italian center. I guess he felt pretty cocky, stirring the must with the un-santized broom handle he found in the shed, because he challenged me to make a better wine than his and assumed that I would just laugh it off... I didn't and now I'm hooked lol!

My first was a WE Australian Shiraz and I topped it off with water after clearing, as per instructions(what's with that anyway?) but even being weak and diluted it was drinkable ... not so much his own, which has a very rancid and sour taste - I can't drink it.

This forum was a godsend to me and I'm learning a lot from the posters here. I'm nowhere near where I want to be as a wine maker but the journey there is rewarding and I'm very much looking forward to becoming a competent wine maker of both kits and grapes.

 

[joeswine]

Set-up

one day in the summer I got a service call on a ac system,nothing new about that for me ,that's what I do,so off I went when I got to the location and went to the front door the lady of the house stated her husband was around back,I SAID THANK YOU AND WENT TO THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE WERE THE CELLAR DOOR WAS A MAN CAME OUT HIE NAME WAS BOB,HE TOLD ME WHAT HIS PROBLEM WAS AND I ASKED TO SEE THE CIRCUIT PANEL,WENT DOWN THE STEPS AND LOW AND BEHOLD THERE WERE 15 CARBOYS STIRRING AT ME,OF COURSE I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE AT FIRST ,ASK "WHAT ARE THEY"? HE REPLIED"WINE CARBOYS,i MAKE WINE "i ASK ABOUT THIRTY QUESTIONS,AND STATED "NEXT YEAR WHEN YOU GO CAN YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU?" HE SAID "SURE"...................TIME PASSED I DIDN'T THINK MUCH MORE ABOUT IT ,JUST TO GUYS KILLING TIME, WHILE THE OTHER WORKED ,NOTHING MORE. ONE DAY EARLY FALL i GOT A CALL FROM BOB AND HE TOOK ME TO PHILADELPHIA ALONG WITH 39 OTHER GUYS AND WE WENT TO PERCUCCI BROS. AND THE REST WAS HISTORY 10 YEARS AGO.

 

[Spadoinkel]

Why I started

And by starting I mean complete newbie. I have bucket of strawberry wine must barely 2.5 days into primary fermentation. I love things that have involved processes. Tobacco aging. Coffee roasting, puzzle box creation. Black and white film processing. I love it.

Wine making seems to be the ultimate in process...months, years even a lifetime. I'm in for the long haul.

Spadoinkel
Posted from my IPhone

 

[saddlebronze]

Its so long ago, I can hardly remember. Oh yes, got married in 1980, moved into our first house in 1983, there was this huge vegetable garden that I kept going for a few years, made sweet cider and then picked up a book called "Wine, a Gentlemen's game" by Mark Miller. Caught the bug from the book, went to see Mark and then planted a vineyard. Moved, took 25 years off to raise kids and now I have planted a much smaller second vineyard in the current home. Whew, long story!

 

[Boyd]

Went out one day and picked 4 buckets of wild grapes.

Grape jelly is not good so I made wine.

That was about 5 years ago.

My yonngest daughter drank the last bottle on her birthday this year.

DIdn't even save me a taste.

 

[RussR]

I read the book "Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition" about a year ago on a recommendation (available at our library, or on Amazon). Pretty interesting reading, and lots about people making wine at home. I figured that sounded interesting, and if they could do it then, I should be able to do it now, right? Mentioned it to my wife, who said a friend of hers makes his own wine too. So I talked with him a bit, and got started! It's good to have an indoor hobby that doesn't take much time and can be done when the weather's lousy, too. I like it! (And so do my friends.)

 

[geohines]

Seemed like a natural extension of my interest in Biological topics. It's kind of like being back in the lab again. Sometimes I even wear an old white lab coat. Besides I like drinking wine with friends and sharing something I have made.
I recently started making cheeses, another natural biological product. My wife helps me with that.

 

[rhythmsteve]

When I moved into my current residence there were some very mature fruit trees on the property and I got tired of wasting all of the Bartlett Pears, and Apples so i decided to turn them into alcohol.

 

[MozMan]

When I was a young boy growing up in The Bronx, my grandfather made wine. I can recall the smell of the wine cellar when the grapes were in the press, and to a lesser extent all year. Several years ago, I was on a cruise and took a day trip in Encinada to a local winery. On the tour, they took us through their facility, and when I walked into the room with the barrels in a stone building, the scent brought me right back to my childhood, helping my grandfather make wine. I was so nostalgic, that I decided in that moment that I would take up winemaking as a hobby. Since then, I have been making kit wines, but have also started growing vines in my yard and hope to have my own fruit to press in maybe 2013.

 

[sailavie]

4-5 years ago a friend of mine gave me a bottle of wine that he made and it was terrible. The first thing I thought was "I can do better than that" - I was right, and now I'm hooked and my friends and family enjoy the benefits.

 

[redfeet]

About 1955 or 1956 my mother made a couple batches of wine in a glazed earthenware container - one batch of cherry, one of dandelion (we kids picked the dandelions). They were made using bread yeast, and turned out reasonably good. I don't remember how they were bottled. About 1965, second year university, a number of my Portuguese friends invited me to help them with their wine making. That was the start of my interest. Initially I used California grapes, alicante, zinfandel, grenache. Later, I graduated to Niagara region grapes, mainly red, occasionally white. I haven't used California grapes in probably 40 years. Once I got internet access I was able to dig deeper and find information which has helped me substantially.

Ken

 

[AKsarben]

When I was in High School in Oshkosh, NE, I used to make grape wine in my bedroom from Welch's Concord Grape Concentrate, water, some sugar and yeast. When you're 17 they don't ask for ID for those ingredients at the grocery store. Soon, I was bubbling away making wine and it tasted a lot like Mogan David, but cheaper and "safer" from being under age. Known as Vern "Jug-O-Wine" from my name of Jenewein. I kept making wine and wanting to get better and for my Birtday one time in the near future from 1971 graduation, I received a book of "Technoloty of Wine Making" by prof. Amerine, Berg and Creus (sp). I was growing some hybrid grapes and then moved out to Seattle to work for Boeing and joined the Boeing Employees Winemaker's Club and got to make wine with "real" wine grapes, like Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, Riesling and the like. I remember one year I was the grape purchaser and one guy complained about all the mold on his Riesling grapes, so I traded him my "green" bunches for his gold and botrytised bunches. I made a Riesling that took Best of white in a competion with that. Moving along... back in Nebraska I still made wine occassionally, and then started helping others plant vineayrds in Western Nebraska after I got laid off from my job as a machinist at The Egging Company. While looking for winery supplies for some folks, I came across a wine ad in one of the trade journals from Doug Welsch of Fenn Valley Vineyards looking for a winemaker that knew grapes and winemaking from the grape up. I told him of my experience, followed by Resume' and then an application, and finally a job interview here in SW Michigan. I started working at Fenn Valley Vineyards as a winemaker in 1999 and am still at it. Since I've been there in 1999, our production has doubled and we have a wonderful array of premium vintages and wines, garnering medals here and there, along with several specialty wines that I devloped. Right now, in the cooker (so to speak) is some Vidal Icewine of about 2400 gallons. One of the last Vidal Icewines we made was served at the White House with Baked Alaska when President Obama hosted the Governors Ball there a few years ago.

So now my hobby is my living, and I work in it every day.

 

[Runningwolf]

Vern, great story especially the "so I traded him my "green" bunches for his gold and botrytised bunches" part. I really enjoyed the whole story, thanks for posting.

 

[roblloyd]

There are some great stories here! Nice to hear how everyone got to this point in life.

 

[tykyle39]

Love wine. My brother made wine for years and finally in 2009 I decided I can do it too. For me making and sharing the wine is more addictive than drinking it.