Topic: Home Winemaking Stories

  There are five items that are considered essential by geologists for true happiness. To wit: a loaf of crusty bread, a block of cheese, a skin of wine (preferably red), a

Not long after I got started making wine I realized I was relying more than I had expected on core sensory concepts like sight, smell and taste to guide my winemaking activities.

Chris Henry in his San Diego “Urban Microvineyard.” The yard looks great. What are those?” inquires a woman from the sidewalk, looking in the direction of my four vibrant green grapevines. “Those

When I was first asked to interview a certified wine judge at the 2011 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition, the largest competition of its kind, I will admit that I felt a

My winemaking career all started with an issue of Wine-Maker. Seven years ago, I was working in high-tech marketing and business development in the Silicon Valley. One day I stumbled into a

It was February of 2009 when our fascination with winemaking began. My wife Jan and I had planned on making rhubarb as our initial batch. The fruit had been waiting patiently in

Take part in any home winemaking gathering and you will find that winemakers have a lot to say. When it comes to one subject, however, we all agree on one thing —

I enjoy making many kinds of country wines, but one of my favorites is made from fresh juice pressed from the sugar cane as it is processed into sugar. It is used

During the day, I am a drywaller and I own my own business, but in my own time I have been making homemade wines for 20 years. I started out making Concord

Joy Neighbors and her husband Brian “Stop the press!”       It’s a phrase any journalist over the age of 40 still longs to hear. You can just picture the dusty newsroom,

Patalkot, a 3,200-foot deep valley with an area of 79 square kilometers, is situated in Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh in India. The valley is a home to the local tribes of

Last summer, as I was leaving for work, I looked at our peach trees, which were bearing some of their first ripe fruit and thought, “They’ll be perfect by Friday!” Unfortunately, I

My first encounter with wine was when my Aunt Mary, took her nieces and nephews to California.  We were in San Francisco and the adults were drinking red dry wine and, at

After retirement from the military I spent my GI Bill learning to make pottery. For ten years I breathed, ate and slept pottery (timrobertspottery.com). With total immersion, even in something as pleasant

My hobby may be winemaking, but by day I am a commercial artist. I use house paint on a daily basis at my job,  so when I have the opportunity to create

In the fall of 1992 Rich Schell noticed a heavily-laden Concord grapevine in the backyard of his best friend, Dave Ruzzo’s house. He casually remarked, “We should make wine with these grapes.”

It’s a sunny Wednesday morning in Montecito. And in a home nestled off a quiet tree-lined street, a bunch of wacky guys are making wine. They call themselves Los Cinco Locos. The

I have a confession: my father was a life-long university chemistry professor who was never proud of his eldest son’s chemistry grades. Sure, I could play “Chem-O” with the best of them!

My husband Dene and I fall into the category of gourmet food aficionados. We started raising cattle after moving to our place 40 miles northeast of Denver, Colorado and got our first

In 1955, at age five, my grandparents taught me to make French/German/Native American mead wine. After finishing two days of hot grueling work canning fruit, Grandpa asked me if, “I could keep

Overlooking the San Pasqual Valley is our winery, established solely for the enjoyment of friends and family. Designed to make the best of our 200-gallon allowance, the 303 Syrah vines entertain drivers-by

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

The first year Tam Cloer experimented with planting grapevines on his 18-acre property in Apex, North Carolina — just southwest of Raleigh, the state’s capital — a late spring frost killed every

On January 29, 2005, the Fort Mason in San Francisco will be transformed into a wine lover’s paradise. Nearly 300 wineries will be offering their Zinfandels to thousands of samplers. All of

When Philip Hanyok pulled up to Melancy Hilltop Vineyards in Perry County, Pennsylvania, early last October, he found Mel Heffley, the vineyard’s owner, already deep in discussion with another home winemaker. Heffley