Several years ago (2006 to be exact) I decided to try my hand in the how-to make wine at home arena. I’m not sure what the most frequent reason is for people to search for how to make your own wine, but mine was dual-reasoned … my father-in-law had a whole vineyard full of A+ grade Cabernet Sauvignon grapes and I was on a budget. Looking for how to make cheap wine was how I started. I’m still on a budget, and in today’s economy, it seems appropriate for more than one reason. 1) The economy sucks. 2) A lot of juice is being imported into this country and a lot of what we are buying over the counter that fits the budget-minded, comes from China, Chile, Argentina or wherever. My druthers? Find a way to fit my budget and still stay American.
I got lucky the first time out. My friend who owns a winery asked for a bottle to taste and I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was already set to tell me just how bad it was. To his surprise, I’d not only produced a drinkable wine, but one that rivaled anything he had made. And he honestly told me so.
Bolstered by that praise, I continued on the next year. Not so lucky this time … I threw out what could have been 25 cases of wine. Ouch. I’m sure I could have fixed it. Instead, I walked away without researching a way to fix it.
At any rate, my plan here is to detail out for myself, and anyone else who is interested in how to make wine at home the correct way, the tools necessary to make it happen and the proper reference tools to take the guess work out of the process. Wish me luck!
No wine before its time,
Jane Long
makewineathome.org