Articles

The first year of vine growth is meant to establish a strong and vigorous root system and build stores of nutrients to hasten growth in subsequent years. Learn how to ensure this happens in your home vineyard.

In the old days of winemaking, equipment came in many shapes and sizes. An old pickle crock here, a discarded water jug there and maybe some whiskey barrels that fell off the

In Spain, where many historians claim the variety originated, this versatile grape is called Garnacha. The rest of the world calls it Grenache … and home winemakers call it a great grape

The grapes and apples are picked, crushed and pressed. Everything is a go for fermentation. Except it’s too hot! You want a cool fermentation, around 60 °F (16 °C), but the coolest

It was early August 1988. My mother lived near Temecula, California on a property with 100 Cabernet Sauvignon vines. My husband and I were bringing the small vineyard back to life after

Build a cart to roll your fermenter around easily, a stainless racking cane, and cap plonker.

If you are like most home winemakers, you’ve been making great wines from concentrate and juice, and you also may have experimented with small batches of grapes. Now you want to increase

Ah, spring! The trees come into leaf, plants bloom again and the green lawns are covered with … dandelions. Dandelions, whose scientific name is Taraxacum officinale, are a member of the aster

Establishing a vineyard is an exciting and rewarding adventure. Like all of life’s challenges, your success or failure will be dictated by the amount of research, planning, effort and perseverance you exhibit

The modern wine kit, with its gleaming plastic bag in a jazzy-looking box, didn’t start out as a miracle of modern technology. Arguably, the first wine kits were actually used in ancient

Marechal Foch, named after a famous French general in the First World War, has proven to be a worthwhile red grape variety for many colder regions of the world. Technically identified as

Winemaker: Greg Pollman started working at Fountain Wine Cellars in Cincinnati in 1974 and went to Sublette Winery in Cincinnati in the late 70s. He joined Valley Vineyards Estate Winery in Morrow, Ohio

The wine tasting technique that I describe in this article was developed over the last fifteen years out of sheer frustration. As a wine sales representative, I’ve made hundreds of wine presentations

In the early days of the California wine industry, growers found that Zinfandel was a good “workhorse” grape that did well in a variety of climates and that could, under hot and dry conditions, be forced to accrue a high concentration of sugar.

I can still remember the days when my father served his wine straight from the “cellar.” It was really a cold room, which meant the temperature of the wine would follow our

Blending different grape varieties to make a better finished wine is a bedrock practice in the commercial wine world — and one often overlooked by home winemakers. If they do it in

Back in my grad-school days, I loved hanging around the lab to watch Dr. Olmo taste wine. I spent so much time there that his technician said he should charge me an

Easy Electric Bottle Filler If you’ve ever used the Buon Vino automatic bottle filler, you know how easy it is to bottle a batch of wine. Buon Vino has made the job

Plate filtration systems are popular among home winemakers. These systems use disposable filter plates with a filter selectivity that usually ranges from 0.5–6.0 microns. The filter plates must be changed every so

Where are a lot of wine kits out there today, and their variety and quality is improving. Kits wines are designed to be easy to make, but they’re not foolproof. Even kit

A phrase we’ve often heard in recent years is, “A. B. C. — anything but Chardonnay.”  As many consumers set down the Chard and start searching for alternative white wines — and

Learn what goes into breeding a new grape variety.

Detailed steps every home viticulturist should take before planting their first vineyard.

Somewhere, buried deep within the psyche of almost everyone who makes his own wine, there is a grape grower trying to get out. As someone who once successfully ripened Seyval Blanc grapes

“Mark? Don’t you want to take a look inside the house?” Hmmm. Check out that land. “Mark? The house?” Yeah … sure. The house. I take one last, inclusive look at the