Articles

There is no more critical step in winemaking than picking at the often-fleeting correct moment. Yet ripeness determination is poorly understood and the associated picking logistics are often incompetently executed.

Hundreds of home winemakers gathered in San Luis Obispo, California for WineMaker’s conference, where they took part in educational seminars, hands-on workshops, and shared their passion for wine.

No matter how much you plan, the grapes received at harvest are not always as expected. It’s time to adjust on the fly, and there’s also a plan for that!

A group of winemakers create eight wines from the same grapes to explore the impact of each process.

Live chat with Maureen Macdonald, which took place June 29, 2022.

When a young hobby winemaker finds out it is illegal to make wine at home in her city and county, she takes the next obvious step: She gets laws changed and starts her own commercial winery.

Some people have called Zinfandel “America’s grape,” others say it should be Concord. Chik Brenneman is here to make the case for the first true North American wine grape variety: Catawba.

Bottling is typically the final step towards producing wine where a winemaker can foul things up. Get some recommendations from the Wizard on when and how to bottle your wines. Also get some pointers on proper etiquette of being a wine judge.

It’s a dirty phrase in most winemaking circles, but volatile acidity is found in all wine and having a little can actually add complexity to a wine. Get the scoop on volatile acidity.

Q I am using Flextanks and oak chips for my wine and am really liking the results. However, I put the oak chips in loose and they clog up the tubing and

From April 22-24, 2022, a total of 1,772 different wines were judged at the Mount Snow Grand Summit Lodge in West Dover, Vermont. This year’s competition was again the largest wine competition

Live chat with Pat Henderson, which took place May 25, 2022.

Limoncello is the most popular citrus-flavored liqueur, but they can be made from other citrus fruits as well. Learn to make four citrus liqueurs: Limoncello, limecello, arancello, and mandarincello.

As an agricultural product, the steps to make that perfect wine may be unique every year due to differences in the fruit. The most challenging growing seasons really force winemakers to test their skill as they face tough, on-the-fly decisions. One winemaker takes us behind the scenes during one such vintage.

When a wine comes up lacking, the solution may just be blending a totally different type of wine with it. Grape wines and wines made from other fruits often have complementary characteristics that lend themselves as a key ingredient in the other.

Looking to advance your winemaking knowledge? Check out these wine education programs to start your journey down the path to a higher education in winemaking and the business of wine.

A winemaker and his brother team up to create a boysenberry wine. Join along on their adventure to crafting the perfect summer sipper.

A hybrid grape that came out of Cornell University’s breeding program in the 1970s, Cayuga White has found great success while being made into a wide array of wine styles. Learn about its qualities plus a recipe to craft your own at home.

Malolactic fermentation can be finicky even for professional winemakers, but there are protocols winemakers can follow to help avoid the headache (and heartache). Learn those along with best practices for a post-fermentation acid adjustment.

Also known as drupes, stone fruits offer some advantages over some other types of fruit for making wine. Learn some basics of making stone fruit wines.

Live chat with Wes Hagen, which took place April 25, 2022.

Live chat with Jenne Baldwin-Eaton, which took place March 29, 2022.

A group of wine lovers in Kenya turned to traditional winemaking when the world around them slowed to a crawl and imports of wines from Europe and the U.S. nearly stopped. Check out the story of muratina wine — a wine made from a potentially poisonous fruit.

Many of us in winemaking were trained to trust Saccharomyces yeast and not leave our wines to chance with wild strains. But winds of change are in the air and yeast companies are now turning to many non-Saccharomyces yeasts for certain purposes.

Vineyard netting is often critical to protect your grapes from birds and other predators; however, applying and removing it can be a real pain. Here is a solution for home winemakers with a utility vehicle that allows netting to mostly be installed by just one person without the net ever touching the ground.