Articles

In 1955, at age five, my grandparents taught me to make French/German/Native American mead wine. After finishing two days of hot grueling work canning fruit, Grandpa asked me if, “I could keep

“Quantity has a quality all of its own.” -R K Ratch Someone once said, “good things come in small packages.” I’m pretty sure this was a shopkeeper who sold very small consumer

Pro winemakers share their best advice for amateurs looking to make the leap.

Your hydrometer shows that your must has a specific gravity of 1.100 – but how do you know that’s accurate? Learn how to calibrate your hydrometer and all your winemaking tools, so you can be sure.

It may be plonk, but – our grand prize winner shows – that doesn’t mean the label can’t be cool. See all the winners of WineMaker’s annual label contest.

Call it a midlife crisis before mid-life, but at the age of 29 I was four years out of graduate school and faced with the prospect of working 30 years at a

You know from art class that red and white make pink, but is the same true for wine? Often rosès and blush wines are made from red grapes that are briefly exposed

The first thing you notice when someone hands you a glass of wine is its color and clarity. We all expect wine to look clear and appealing and there are many ways

Overlooking the San Pasqual Valley is our winery, established solely for the enjoyment of friends and family. Designed to make the best of our 200-gallon allowance, the 303 Syrah vines entertain drivers-by

Are press cuts scientific or subjective? What about combining the free run with the press runs? Do different cuts get different treatments? If you’ve ever wondered about concerns like these, take some

For winemakers, grape harvest is a period of intense activity. Important decisions and preparations need to happen well in advance of crush day in order for things to go smoothly. These decisions

What could vacuums have to do with wine kits? While there have been times when a wet/dry vacuum would have been very helpful in my wine cellar, there is a specific benefit

Ken Korando came to winemaking by way of entrepreneurship. Educated as an electronics engineer, he and a colleague patented technology used to decline balance debit cards – the sort of technology that

From April 20–22, 2007, a record total of 3,422 different wines were judged at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, Vermont. The 2007 edition of the WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition represented the

This article originated as I was explaining to my son Christian the differences in the way I make wine and the way his grandfather used to make it. It all began in

‘Talent Borrows, Genius Steals’ -attributed to Oscar Wilde As I set out to structure this issue’s “Backyard Vines,” I revisited previous articles to see what vineyard subjects I’d neglected. Surprisingly, I found articles

I’m sure many a home winemaker has thought, “I wonder what it would be like to make this a full-time job?” Well, I took the plunge and that’s exactly what I did.

At the end of the year when I’m contemplating new topics for “Backyard Vines,” I like to go through and look at all the subjects I’ve covered previously and ask myself: “What

Deeply saturated in color and crimson red is the first impression to hit your senses when glancing at Carmine. After a few swirls of the rich liquid in the wine glass, aromas

Karl Kaiser is co-founder of Inniskillin Wines of Niagara, Ontario. He was born in Austria and attended a monastery school where winemaking and viticulture was a tradition. He later received his B.S.

Learn about the different ways to make sparkling wine at home.

In Champagne, the French make bubbly using the méthode Champenoise. In your home, use this method.

See the winning labels from the 2006 WineMaker label contest.

Wine and grape juice is a naturally acidic solution. A pH reading has an inverse relationship with acidity, in that, the lower the pH measure, the higher the acidity. While a wine’s

Mead is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey. In fact, it’s sometimes called honey wine. Mead tastes like honey and can be made to be sweet or dry, sparkling or still