Do any of you make your own wine?

I apologize if this has been covered before...

I've spent the last few months learning as much as I can about wines. I've come to the conclusion that I really like a Merlot, and I also enjoy a (gasp!) Lambrusco. In my opinion, Lambrusco is underrated and a great bargain. However.....

I really want to start making my own wine and I'm interested in your experience with wine making. With each bottle I drink I think to myself "This would be perfect if it....."

I'd like your opinions on wine making equipment, kits, etc. Any thoughts? Good or bad?

Hi Mike -

There are a number of us here who make our own wines. I've been doing so for the last 7 years or so with a group of friends. Living in Northern California, we have access to grapes, so I've not tried the kits.

I would highly recommend going through the process, whether you do it via kit or grapes or purchased must. If nothing else, it's a great learning experience. You really get an appreciation for what it takes to make a fine wine.

Where are you located?

Mike

I've been making wine at home for over 30 years. In fact, a couple of years ago, on the old WLDG page, I had an on-going thread for about 8 months where I discussed all my winemaking steps and procedures and others contributed suggestions and opinions. There are several other home winemakers here. My philosophy has always been that I can make wines as good as or better than ones I can buy. Sometimes I actually succeed. Over the years, I've made reds, whites, sparklers, dry, sweet, sherry, dessert, and used vinefera, hybrids and labrusca. A couple of rules that I have are "Rack early and rack often" and "Keep the containers full" to prevent exposure to air. If you can get fresh grapes, they make the best wine. Otherwise, get fresh juice or must from a reliable presshouse. Kit wines don't live up to expectations, but can make sound, simple wines. Buy "Grapes Into Wine" by Phillip Wagner and download Home Winemakers Manual, by Lum Eisenman, which is an excellent resource. These books cover every aspect of home winemaking. Also, keep posting and reading here. There are some very knowledgable people here, and most of them don't make wine, but can be very helpful.

Hey Mike,

I've been making my own wine off and on for about 10 years. For your first couple of batches, I'd recommend going with a cheap kit just to learn the basics. The wine won't be stellar from a kit (particularly the lower-end ones) but it's a good learning experience and it won't cost a lot if you make mistakes.

I've had OK results with some of the better kits, but the best wines are made once you get away from them. I live in a location where fresh grapes are out of the question, but I've made some incredibly good wines from fresh fruit (i.e. apples, blackberries) grown here.

You might also want to consider a subscription to Winemaker Magazine. The layout and writing are poor (sorry to anyone here involved with the magazine, but really . . . it's true ) but there are helpful tips for beginner to advanced home winemakers.

Mike, I've been making wine for only 5 years but it has turned into a yearly tradition. Mostly I have focused on Vitis labrusca (American native grape) varieties because I feel that much better wines can be made from them than has historically been the case with many commercial producers in the U.S. and Canada. I am one of the few vocal advocates of making labrusca wines dry, advocating disciplined crop control in the vineyard, skin fermentation and cold stabilization to bring the acidity into balance, thereby warding off the need for sugar being added in later to try and achieve the same thing. The results have been very good - enough that I have friends routinely asking me for bottles of dry Niagara, which they call "that wine that smells so beautiful" (jasmine, lemon candy and oil usually).

I think that winemaking is a great hobby and the best part is that once you've made wine yourself "from vineyard to glass", you gain a fuller understanding of wine as a living, evolving thing.

Best of luck to you.

Mostly I have focused on Vitis labrusca (American native grape) varieties because I feel that much better wines can be made from them than has historically been the case with many commercial producers in the U.S. and Canada.

This raises a question for me that I've never figured out . . . what is the relation between Vitis labrusca and Vitis aestivalis? And which one does the Norton of Virginia and Missouri fall under?

Norton, also called Cynthiana, is vitis aestivalis. The better known vitis labrusca grapes include Concord, Niagara, Catawba and Delaware. They are very different. Another important native American species is vitis riparia, upon which many hybrids and phylloxera resistant rootstocks are based.

See the Big Winegrape Glossary