What was the first wine you made?

[mjrisenhoover]

I have yet to make my first wine, but I have bucket of 2012 frozen cabernet sauvignon grapes on reserve and I am working on my backyard wine trellises. I'll let you know how things work out.

 

[pappyross]

Met the step father of a friend and he was a Prof. at local college teaching a class Wine Making 101. showed me the steps, ( even sent me a DVD ) made my first batch of Concord wine. That was 10yrs ago haven't stopped making since.

 

[Dend78]

my first attempt was 1/2 gallon of peach and 1/2 gallon of blueberry, basically prison wine, I used can of peaches in syrup and bakers yeast, then i blended fresh blueberries and bakers yeast again. blueberry turned out okay but the peach was flavorless and really needed a lot of work to make it drinkable.

 

[soccer0ww]

Way back in 1982 made a crab apple wine. Wasn't too bad but gave my sister in law one heck of a headache and hangover. Stopped making wine for a long time now back at it for the last 4 years. Glad I found this forum. Learning more all the time.

 

[pappyross]

Made a one gallon batch from Welch's frozen concentrate, that was 10 years ago and I have been making wine since.

 

[babered]

My first wine

What was the first wine you made and how did the process go?

The first wine I made was a Riesling from a kit...I topped it off with waaayyy to much water and it is really bad. However, I recovered with another kit wine and 3 batches of skeeter pee that turned out fantastic!

 

[mwestern]

We started in 2009 with a concord/cataba grape mix from our own grapes grown in our small 5-row vineyard then bought 6-gal kits off ebay,Angel Blanco,Liebfraumilch,Acai Raspberry Cabernet Sauvignon,Seville Orange Sangria and cherry from Vinters Reserve plus a batch of hand squeezed peach wine which was the most trouble.Brewing now is a 6 gal jug of Gewurztraminer.We have 2011 and 2012 grape crops frozen of our grapes to still smash for 2 new batches but not in any hurry.Having fun and enjoying the new tastes....

 

[derunner]

My first is was a WE Mist Pomagranate Zinfandel. It is sweet and wine like so a success. I haven't bottled my next batches yet, but have a pinot Gregio and Reisling/Traminar kit wines aging and plan to start a 4th, a chardonnay/semillon next weekend. Hopefully these taste more wine like.

 

[TODDO]

WE Vintners Reserve Shiraz.

Not Good. Very thin, mostly because of novice rackings and topping with water.

Learned a lot on the cheaper kits first !

 

[vernsgal]

I don't remember the brand but it was a Barolo and it came with raisons. The store wasn't going to carry the brand anymore and it was over a year old and I got it for $10.00.

 

[Tess]

Dragons Blood. I wasnt happy with it at first but it or I came around after a couple months in the bottle

 

[dwhite53]

Been brewing beer since 1989. Started doing mead 2003.

Starting my first grape wine today with a can of Alexanders Pinot Noir
concentrate. Going to do 2.5 gallons adding some white grape
juice concentrate and dextrose. Want something a little more
than medium bodied.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[LoveTheWine]

Crab apple wine!

Came across these pictures of me fermenting it 15 years ago.
I think the non-food grade garbage bins and broom handle added a special taste to this one!

It ended up being rocket fuel as I followed some recipe and didn't own a hydrometer back then!

 

[seth8530]

Heh nice pics ( :

My first "wine" was made of water+sugar+baker's yeast... I fermented it for a week or two I think and then drank it. It was very hard to keep down. I would like to think that my palate has improved since then.

 

[Runningwolf]

Great witches brew! How did it come out, looks like a lot.

 

[LoveTheWine]

Great witches brew! How did it come out, looks like a lot.

Ha HA.. all I remember is that a buddy and I would drink a bottle each in a night and we would be messed right up.
Pretty much what a 20 yr old is looking for right?
Funny, since then I've stuck to making hard cider if I have extra apples apples!

We were renting a 3-400 sq ft bst suite where it was made and the backyard had tons of crab apples. The nice part is that I actually quite enjoyed making the stuff and it got me going.
The next year we made a lot of decent stuff out of cherries, raspberries, peaches etc... all measured with a hydrometer first. We even started using campton tablets, pectic enzimes, etc...

 

[refinedmechaninc]

Ha!! LOL, my first was a crabapple rhubarb. I would have to say, anyone who had a "good" batch the first time around is either lucky or lying!!! Mine was so bad is want even good enough to be considered just bad!!!

 

[Runningwolf]

LMAO These are the kind of stories I love to hear. It's great to see where you were and now where you are. I started off with kits, so I cheated and it's a good thing. My wife was not pleased with me going into this until she tasted the wine. If I had screwed up the first batch or two it would have been all history.

 

[reefman]

Hahahaha...I can relate to that. I secretly told my kids I wanted a wine kit for Christmas about three years ago. Then I went out and slowly bought the equipment I needed. Fortunately the wife liked the kit.... and then the second batch as well. If she didn't, the hobby never would have lasted past the first bottling.

 

[refinedmechaninc]

Hahahaha...I can relate to that. I secretly told my kids I wanted a wine kit for Christmas about three years ago. Then I went out and slowly bought the equipment I needed. Fortunately the wife liked the kit.... and then the second batch as well. If she didn't, the hobby never would have lasted past the first bottling.

I have a wife that dont like wine so, it doesnt matter if it turns out or not!!!