So glad I found you!

[PrincessVintah]

Hubby (hereafter and forever more referred to as Mr. Wonderful) and I are making our very first batch of wine! We have some amazing friends who are mentoring us, thank goodness!

We chose WE's Johannesburg Riesling for our first attempt, since our favorite wine is an extra dry Riesling from Idaho. We'll be racking it into a second carboy tomorrow, and we hope to start on a red (perhaps a Merlot?) sometime soon.

I just wanted to say how glad I am that I found these forums! So much helpful information! Our friends have told us how forgiving wine making can be (especially when using a kit), but I can't help obsessing over the little details a bit (Must be the Aries in me?), and these forums are helping to calm me down.

We now have a small group of friends who are all making their own wines, and the plan is to hold a wine tasting/exchange party so we can try some different varietals and get some diversity in our cellars a little quicker.

I am personally looking forward to trying some of the recipes I'm finding on here. Especially DangerDave's Dragon's Blood! That looks amazing! Gotta get some more experience under our belts first.

Anyway, thanks for the helps. Looking forward to learning along with all of you!

 

[robie]

Welcome to the forum. Sound like you are already having fun.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[Brian]

Welcome to our obsession! Have lots of fun..

 

[tonyt]

Jump in, the water's fine.

 

[snowgirl812001]

Welcome! I just started myself and am already obsessed

 

[PrincessVintah]

Here's my lovely Johanna (that's what I'm calling our Johannesburg Riesling). Will probably wait to rack to the new carboy until tomorrow. Just no time for it today. Will top it off with a couple of bottles of another extra dry Riesling. Then we'll let her sit for a while. We'll probably bottle her before we leave for our vacation in Mexico at the end of October.

 

[snowgirl812001]

Looks great!

 

[joeswine]

welcome to the madness

It won't be long before you will be buying a lost more stuff,its a great hobbie,remember aways to keep it fun..welcome ....

 

[Wade E]

Is that a 6.5 gallon carbot? You are dangerously low on volume in that and may want to condider fetting a 5 gallon carboy and a few smaller bungs to fit in wine bottles like a 750 ml and say a 1500 magnum. Typically new wine makers leave too muvh behind when racking that could be brought over and left to settle out more giving you much less headspace thus protecting your wine better and giving you more wine but sometimes its actually not adding enough water to begin with. Or you can add some commercial wine to it to fill the void since you dont have any previously made home wine to do so like many of us have tbat option to do so. Glad you found us anf feel free to ask any questions you need!

 

[PrincessVintah]

Thanks, Wade. It is a 6.5 gallon carboy, and I only left that much airspace when racking from the primary fermenter after consulting with a good friend who's been making his own wine for over 10 years. In all his experience making wine, he says he's never topped off. Never. I know, I don't get it either. But his wines are delicious and I value his experienced advice. If I had found these forums before racking into the carboy I probably would have thought twice.

Hubby and I were gifted two 5 gallon and one 6.5 gallon carboys from a friend. I'm thinking of racking it into one of the 5 gal. ones tomorrow, or topping off with a similar wine into the 6.5 gal. one. Haven't decided yet. Advice?

 

[wvbrewer]

Welcome to the group.. I too would say get smaller (5 gallon) carboy or top it up with your favorite riesling. this will help prevent oxidation of your new wine.

 

[Runningwolf]

Hello Princess and welcome to WMT. Wade and WVBrewer are giving you good advice. I like the idea of racking down to the five gallon and put the extra in 750 ml wine bottles under airlock for future rackings/topping ups.

With that said I have no doubt about your friends wine. I also talk to folks that go against all the best practices to make great wine, but still end up with good tasting wine most of the time. There are often several different ways to achieve the same results and some ways that will achieve successful results most of the time. We will tell you what works for us and try to guide you, but ultimately it will be up to you which route is best for your application.
Once again welcome and we look forward to hearing how you make out with your wine. Keep us posted. BTW, we love pictures!

 

[bakervinyard]

Hi Princess, welcome aboard. Glad to see that your husband is in this "hobby" with you. I've been making wine for about 8 years and I have to buy equipment when the wife is at work. Seriously this is a great hobby and lots of info on this site, I'm still learning.

 

[PrincessVintah]

Thank you all for the kind words. We spent some time this weekend shopping for equipment for our new hobby. We are having a blast together. I suspect that Santa Claus will be bringing us both wine making kits and supplies for Christmas. If we're really good. (Fingers crossed!)

 

[Wade E]

I think Santa has a dble and uses him just for wine and beer making deliveries!

 

[g8keeper]

what dan, runningwolf was trying to say, princess, is that even though there is science at work to make wine, the actual processes used to make wine, in turn, actually turn winemaking into more of an art than a science....yes, there are certain fundamentals that showed be followed in order to achieve a desired product, but nonetheless the methods employed at times are as varied as thw wine makers themselves....

 

[jswordy]

(Scratching head trying to figure out how to get Most Beloved to start calling me Mr. Wonderful....)