Check out the WineMaker trip to Chile & Argentina during next year’s harvest in March 2027. Reserve your spot now as spaces are filling fast!
In our August / September 2026 issue we get ready for harvest with stories on preparing your backyard vineyard for harvest as well as preparing your home winemaking space for the incoming grapes. Plus, using kit concentrates as a base for your own unique wines, delestage, Petite Verdot, and more!
Home viticulturists should begin preparing for harvest well in advance. From ongoing vineyard maintenance to ensuring equipment is cleaned and operational, now is the time to get ready for a successful harvest.
Harvest season is the most important — and demanding — time of year for home winemakers, and it’s not something you want to leave to last-minute planning. Success starts with preparation long before grapes arrive on your crushpad.
We share the top winners and highlights of this year’s wine competition, which received 1,043 entries from 40 U.S. states, 4 Canadian provinces, and 5 different countries.
Juice concentrate can be used for more than making kit wines. It is incredibly reliable, balanced, and easy to work with, which makes it a great base for all sorts of wines, from country fruits to Skittles.
We recap and share photos from a recent trip former WineMaker Publisher Brad Ring led readers on, visiting vineyards and winery tasting rooms across New Zealand during their Southern Hemisphere harvest.
Harvest timing is the most important decision a winemaker will make, which means collecting accurate samples to base the decision on is critical. Learn how to get the most accurate samples from your vineyard so you are never left surprised by the numbers after it is too late.
Oak plays an important role in many red wine styles, but it is also one of the easiest elements to overdo — especially on a small scale, where mistakes cannot be reversed. The key is to use oak with restraint, allowing it to contribute subtle complexity and structure rather than dominate the wine.
Petit Verdot is most commonly used as a blending tool to boost color in red wines, though this unique, thick-skinned French grape also makes a terrific varietal wine.
Delestage is a multi-step “rack-and-return” technique intended for red wines when seeking brighter fruit character, softer tannins, a rounder mouthfeel, and deeper color.
Troubleshooting dandelion wines that carbonated in bottles or browned early.
The Wizard offers recommendations to boost the light fruit flavor in a red wine that is lacking.
The Wine Wizard explains how wines evolve in the bottle, which is not always linear.