Topic: Home Winemaking Stories

Twenty years ago his dad was featured here in the pages of WineMaker magazine. But now that he has joined the ranks of home winemakers it’s his turn to talk about his drive to make his own wine.

Port wines are famous for being able to last for decades, even centuries. But what about a failing country fruit wine that a winemaker tries to save by fortifying it? Here is a story of being reunited with such a wine 36 years later.

Having your wines judged at a competition can provide meaningful feedback, although it may not always make you feel great about your skills when the comments are critical. One man polled his winemaking club to get their feedback about entering wine competitions.

Shelter-in-place orders have been a challenge for many folks. But one winemaking club has found a way to keep their meetings going while being socially responsible. Welcome to the age of the virtual club.

What would you do if your kids brought home Juicy Juice boxes every day, but never drank them? One man decided to ferment it all!

Many of us in the Western Hemisphere can take wine and winemaking for granted. But for those folks living under extreme Islamic law, the consequences of being caught with it can be dire. But one Iranian man isn’t going to be deterred.

Featured in the February-March 2023 issue: Kent Nienaber • Ham Lake, Minnesota Our Love Sick Marquette label was born out of a difficult situation that arose during COVID. In early September of 2021,

When hundreds of people with a similar passion converge in one place, it’s not surprising that new friendships are forged. Such was the case with several winemakers finding each other at the annual WineMaker Conference.

Winemaking roots can run deep in some families and those roots can often get intertwined. The Walker family from Connecticut shares their appreciation of how their roots have ties to several other winemakers near and far.

An invasive cactus plant native to the Americas has caused decades of massive economic hardships for many pastoralists of Kenya. Explore how one permaculturalist turned this scourge of the region into a nascent wine industry.

A vineyard located in the middle of Manhattan? We had to investigate. Learn about Latif Jiji and the unique vineyard that he planted and has managed now for 42 years in Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

I’d never seen my father drink a glass of wine — until he became a winemaker. He retired from a full-time sales career and besides golf, gardening, and a part-time job selling

The culinary world and hobby winemaking collide in an upstate New York college campus where one man’s mission is to introduce the winemaking hobby to chefs-in-training.

Home winemakers are living in the golden age of the hobby. One reader sits down to reflect on the great resources that are available to those of us who appreciate the joys of crafting wine at home.

Crush day can be a roller-coaster ride of emotions: Excitement, anxiety, joy, frustration, and of course, exhaustion. A reader tells of his own personal crush day magic and why he does it year-in and year-out. (Hint: Because he can.)

With the holiday season approaching, presenting your homemade wine to friends and family should be a point of pride. Bob Peak offers readers several pointers to take a fun and festive approach to an evening pairing of your wine with guests.

I recently combined my winemaking hobby with the reverence I have for my ancestors who served in the military. Specifically, I made a batch of wine as a tribute to my three

A reader’s basement renovation takes shape.

Meet the Blue Bulls Wine Company, a group of New Jersey-based career first responders who also like to dabble in the art of winemaking. If you mess with these bulls, you may get a horn . . . of wine?

A reader starts a vineyard in New England. “It is great to wake up in the morning, make a cup of coffee and walk out to the vineyard to check on the vines, training off shoots as I go along.”

When we are together bottling, corking and labeling the wine, we are all eager and happy to complete the project at hand, so we can enjoy the finished product.

What’s in a name? If it’s a homewinery, it could be almost anything. Home winemakers explain their winery’s name.

A New World home winemaker retires to Spain and gets in touch with the Old World ways of winemaking.

Winemaking and the Olympic sport of skeleton racing have more in common than you might think.

William Ruting of North Carolina has two hobbies: winemaking and house cats . . . 25 house cats, that is.