1 - It’s Fun!
2 - To Express My Individuality
- Sure, I could just buy a bottle that someone else has produced. And I have, MANY bottles. But making your own says “I can do that too.”
3 - To Create
- It starts out as juice and becomes much more. It helps to sate my creative urges.
4 - To Save Money
- We were regularly drinking $10-$12 bottles of Texas wine before we started making our own. After four batches our overall costs will be around $5.50 per bottle, dropping with each new kit. Costs will drop even further if we start doing crazy things like using fresh or canned fruit!
5 - To Fully Purge My Fundamentalist Religious Upbringing
- I was taught a confusing mixture of things regarding adult beverages. While it was acknowledged that drinking was not specifically forbidden in scripture, drunkenness was, and in the black-and-white world of fundamentalism it was best to avoid the ‘appearance of evil’ by simply avoiding it altogether. Instead of “moderation in all things” we practiced “abstinence in most things.” One obvious problem with this concept was the frequent mention of wine in the Bible, including Jesus himself seeming to be rather fond of it. I was actually told that Jesus didn’t drink the juice of the grape after it fermented! I was in my 30’s before I became convinced that this was just incorrect and began enjoying an occasional glass of champagne or wine. Making wine myself takes this one step further. I am no longer merely a consumer, I am a producer! I think Jesus would have approved.
6 - To Honor My Ancestors
- My oldest known ancestor (Henry Dixon) was born in the Protestant section of Ireland in 1630. It is very likely (and DNA tests confirm this) that his parents were born in the area between England and Scotland and came to Ireland as part of the ‘Plantation’ period. On October 29, 1676 he was censored by the Lurgan Quaker meeting for “walking disorderly” with Robert Thornbrough. I’m proud to say I have walked in his footsteps on many an occasion!
2 - To Express My Individuality
- Sure, I could just buy a bottle that someone else has produced. And I have, MANY bottles. But making your own says “I can do that too.”
3 - To Create
- It starts out as juice and becomes much more. It helps to sate my creative urges.
4 - To Save Money
- We were regularly drinking $10-$12 bottles of Texas wine before we started making our own. After four batches our overall costs will be around $5.50 per bottle, dropping with each new kit. Costs will drop even further if we start doing crazy things like using fresh or canned fruit!
5 - To Fully Purge My Fundamentalist Religious Upbringing
- I was taught a confusing mixture of things regarding adult beverages. While it was acknowledged that drinking was not specifically forbidden in scripture, drunkenness was, and in the black-and-white world of fundamentalism it was best to avoid the ‘appearance of evil’ by simply avoiding it altogether. Instead of “moderation in all things” we practiced “abstinence in most things.” One obvious problem with this concept was the frequent mention of wine in the Bible, including Jesus himself seeming to be rather fond of it. I was actually told that Jesus didn’t drink the juice of the grape after it fermented! I was in my 30’s before I became convinced that this was just incorrect and began enjoying an occasional glass of champagne or wine. Making wine myself takes this one step further. I am no longer merely a consumer, I am a producer! I think Jesus would have approved.
6 - To Honor My Ancestors
- My oldest known ancestor (Henry Dixon) was born in the Protestant section of Ireland in 1630. It is very likely (and DNA tests confirm this) that his parents were born in the area between England and Scotland and came to Ireland as part of the ‘Plantation’ period. On October 29, 1676 he was censored by the Lurgan Quaker meeting for “walking disorderly” with Robert Thornbrough. I’m proud to say I have walked in his footsteps on many an occasion!
