Articles

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

The heat of summer can lead to problems when it comes to winemaking. When the temperature of your fermenting wine becomes excessive, your resulting wine could develop off flavors, off aromas or

It had been a while since I had visited the Sunshine State. When I returned, it was still as warm and sunny as I had remembered growing up with in my youth.

One of my favorite Chinese proverbs is: “Many hands make light work.” It’s as true in the vineyard as anywhere. The vineyard is a place that traditionally brings people together — to

Fresh, floral, citrus flavors with crisp acidity at a value price are the benchmarks for Colombard (pronounced Cole-um-bar or kahl-um-BARRD). It was the most widely planted white grape vine in California until

Summertime is the season of fruits and berries. For winemakers on the professional and amateur levels, it is also the season for fruit and berry wines. There are as many country wines

Learn about Norton grapes, an American original, plus how to make Norton wine.

If you want to grow a new varietal, you have the option of grafting cuttings onto your existing rootstock, saving you the time of establishing a new root system. Also, if your

Home winemaking continues to gain in popularity. The quality of wines kits has greatly improved over the past several years and, as a consequence, the first experience of many folks curious about

According to academics and professionals, if you want to pick the right yeast for your grape juice, knowing what questions to ask is essential. “I view it more as not who do

Wine yeast — or Saccharomyces, which is Latin for ‘sugar-fungus’ — converts sugar into alcohol. While alcoholic fermentation is the most important aspect of winemaking, yeast does more than just bubble out

If you have not tried making country wines — i.e., non-grape wines — this article’s sole purpose is to entice you to try. To do this, we share 10 sure-fire recipes just about guaranteed to yield good to great results.