Top 10 reasons to make your own wine

[Waldo]

Great Story! My gramma made wine -- particularly rose-hip and black currant. My dad said, "She made wine out of anything in the garden." Supposedly, I'm like a reincarnation of her - not because of the winemaking only, but in general. I freak my dad out sometimes because I even act like his mom (same gestures, same way of saying things), and I didn't really even know her. She died when I was 3 and a half. I had met her maybe twice (she in Germany, us in the States).





I spent the last day of 2005 doing this: I'm still not done, but I think it's the beginnings of my new rose-hip wine label.

My dad had tears in his eyes when he saw this (bad) photoediting.

 

[MedPretzel]

AHHHH!

THANK YOU!

 

[Waldo]

You are most welcome my friend

 

[PolishWineP]

Nice work, Waldo. It's great having friends all over!

 

[masta]

Nice work Waldo as always!!!

 

[MedPretzel]

I can't wait to meet you all. You guys have no idea how much I appreciate everyone!





Woohoo!

 

[Waldo]

Awww shucks, twernt nuttin

 

[ms.spain]

My father got me started in making wine.I've read all the health benefits, and think wine is a great addition to a healthy lifestyle.


I remember my father's 1st attempt at making wine(back in the early 80's)-a gallon jug and a balloon as an airlock.I remember thinking he was nuts!

He tried again a few years ago,the right way, and did a great job.We've both been hooked ever since!

 

[OilnH2O]

You all forgot this one: Because you get to talk to George!


In all seriousness, I'm starting this because my 14 year old son spent some time with his Godparents (who make wine in the basement) and started talking about "carboys" and "must" and "fermentation."


I knew he was serious when the next week he brought home several books from the public library (oh, I wish I could have seen the librarian's face at checkout...). And then, he said "You know, Dad, we ought to do this together...."


Soooo.... what would you do?!!

 

[earl]

Oil I know what you mean. I havea 7 and 4, soon to be 5, year old. They are both convinced they want to be wine makers when they get older. I told them we can brew a root beer together and they are really looking forward to that.


earl

 

[OilnH2O]

Great idea! We might try root beer too --our kids love it. I told my sonthat he may be able to "taste" our creation, but it willbe on the shelffor him (he's 14) --both he and the wine can age together for 7 years!

 

[earl]

The root beer has a tiny bit of alcohol. About the same as in orange juice, or Martinelli's non-alcoholic cider. I read it will take 1.5 gallons of homemade root beer to equal the alcohol content of 1 beer. That works out to about 1 four oz serving of root beer has the same alcohol content as .125 oz of beer. I still haven't convinced my wife that it is o.k. to brew it with my boys but I think it would be fine.


earl

 

[Vaughn]

My kids and I really love the root beer gig. Right now, my kids are a little peeved that I have something in the primary and they are having to wait to make their next batch. (I know, the answer is to get a second primary...)


I also researched the root beer alcohol content thing. I am very sensitive to what my kids are getting. You can avoid the alcohol by using a forced carbonation unit. I know George carries a very inexpensive unit that sits in your fridge. I'd give you a link, but I can't seem to find it. The nice thing about using the forced carbonation unit is that you get instant carbonation. The kids would like that. My kids have to wait a week for the yeast to set up the carbonation. That is because I am cheep.

I like the idea of earmarking wine for you and your son to share when he "comes of age". You have to be sure it's the right wine to keep for 7 years. Most all of the Reserve kits are not meant to be kept this long. I would ask the forum what they thought would be a good choice. You don't want to wait seven years to share a glass of vinegar with your son!

I gave bottles of wine to some co-workers as baby gifts (men don't do baby gifts well). I put a picture of the little tyke on the label and they just loved it. My thought was, what better gift for someone that has had to abstain from alcohol for 9 months?! But most have told me that they want to keep the bottles and share them with their kid when they "come of age". THAT'S 21 YEARS OF AGING! Considering the kit that I used (remember, I'mcheep), I advised against it. Even a good kit wine wouldhave trouble keeping for that long.

 

[OilnH2O]

Once again, good advice -- but they could keep the bottle/label and it would still be a laugh to share 21 years later! (The laugh being, "hey, raising YOU we needed to crack that bottle open!" ...or something like that.)


I'm not going to keep a bottle from every batch for him -- besides, as several have said,wine is to be consumed. Right now I'm looking at this as a learning experience (I'm on the first batch!) and want to get some feedback, which is why we went with bourgeron rouge first. I figure this is sorta like learning to drive.... Right now I'm thinking about every little step, and "clean and sanitize" keeps running through my head! It's like "let out the clutch...give it some gas... slowLY!!"


When it's right, I'll get some input on which kits are better to sit on the shelf, and we'll have at it! Have to admit, this is so much fun I might get that next kit sooner rather than later!

 

[trashy]

Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but..........

I'll blame our friend Joyce for all this. She worked for Republic Beverage until very recently and she was constantly giving us 'leftovers.' I can't begin to tell you how much free single-malt scotch, cognac, vodka, ice-wine and other assorted wines and champagne we have received from her over the years. Excuse me for a minute as it just dawned on me how tragic it is that she has a new employer

ok *sniff* - we have toured many of Texas' fine wineries (and a few not-so-fine) and finally ended up buying a small wine fridge. Unfortunately it was right about this time that we got serious about retirement savings and budgeting and getting out of debt, and our average wine purchase was coming in over $10/bottle. My contribution to this was to explore cutting costs on luxury items such as cigars and wine. I couldn't find any cheap sources for rolling cigars myself but I did find decent quality inexpensive cigars. But if I can make my own wine for around $2-$3 bottle then perhaps we can have our cake and eat it too!

Now, back to exploring how to convert closets to wine cellars..........

 

[PolishWineP]

Feel free to "dredge up old topics" any time you like. It's always good to revist things and see what the new folks think.

I think you should be admired and commended for taking up winemaking to save money. What a noble gentleman you must be! It's hard when folks quit jobs with no regard to how their friends could be affected!

Good luck on your money saving ideas!

 

[Wade E]

Hey Trashy, I to started into making wine to save money. We started
going to wine tastings at winerys and my wife and I fell in love with
the fruit wines, especially the Black Currant which was $14.50 for a
375 ml. bottle.Wow, that hurts,and it was'nt very far from our house.
We would go through 3 or 4 a week, OUCH. Now I make 6 gallons of this
at a time for about $2 a bottle, and now that I have this down it also
tastes better because we can sweeten it to our taste. Good luck with
winemaking and the funds, I'm in the same boat trying to get my head
back above water from a 2 1/2 back injury which put us behind in
all our bills.

 

[SB Ranch]

That is a good question. Another good question is why do I spend so much money on wine and supplies?


Social, I would say is the main component making our commitment. In our age group folks like wine. We wanted to have folks over to the house and have something to offer. Just buying wine is ok but making wine is a conversation...


Looking at all the charges for wine stuff we thought we were insaine, but seeing what others do we are mild in comparison.


I'm really not much of a wine drinker but I get a kick out of the making process. We have gone to great efforts to make the product look good with special made labels etc... Amazingly enough when I thought folks (my Gal) thought I was sick in the head for spending so much, she walked up to me and said "I'm proud of you" for doing such a wonderful job on the wine and bottling.


We like all the gadgets and tools to make the process more enjoyable. We are going to have our first showing in a week. 13 cycling members are comming over for a meeting and tasting.


This is fun and the reasons we are involved.Edited by: SBRanch

 

[Wade E]

I too prefer the making to the drinking SB, when I 1st goy into my wife
was buying black currant ine by the 375ml bottle for about $14.00 and
that was 2 or 3 a week and then my friend gave me a bottle of his W.E.
Island Mist and she enjoyed that almost as much as I did too. So I
looked into it and found the Vintners Harvest Black Currant kit and
fired her . That batch came out better then the commercial 1 and I
bought a few more and then another Harvset kit and that was all she
wrote. My wife pretty much stopped drinking as much as I guess I
overwhelmed her and now have approx. 478 bottles in the cellar and 30
gallons bulk aging, 6 gallons in the primary, and 6 gallons of the
Raspberry Port pre-ordered. Theres no stopping now but I can slow down!

 

[BonnieJoy]

The initial reason for making my own wine was to control the sweetness, as in more. ThoughI've come to appreciate the skill required to make a really fine dry wine.
I love the technical and creative aspects of winemaking. But, the most satifying thing about home winemaking is in the sharing of the fruits of my labor with others.


Now that retirement is just a few years away, along with a fixed income, I will need to keep spending in check. $3 - $5/bottle for homemade wine fits perfectly into a scheme to keep me active, fit, and well nourished both emotionally and physically.


Besides, how else could I meet such knowledgeable, helpful, creative people from accross the country?