Betsy Parks

Article

Making Mozzarella: A primer on making cheese at home

Making mozzarella is fast and easy once you get the hang of it. Here is an easy guide to get you going to mastering the art of making your o

Technique

Blending Bench Trials

Get the basics of what goes into doing wine blending bench trials at home.

Article

Blending Basics

Technique

Making La Crescent Wine: Tips from the Pros

Article

Fermentation Temperature Control

For those that would like to start getting a better handle on the fermentation temperature of their wines, you’ve found the right spot.

Technique

Making Berry Fruit Wines:Tips from the Pros

Country wines come in all different styles and varieties, but berry wines are perennial favorites. Summertime brings with it a bevy of fresh

Technique

Wild Yeast Fermentations: Tips from the Pros

Lots of commercial winemakers let their wines ferment with wild yeast from the grapes and in the winery. Here we have two California winemak

Article

Small Batch Winemaking

Tips for beginners looking to make small batches of wine.

Technique

Oak Alternatives: Tips from the Pros

A lot of home winemakers make small batches of wine that aren’t enough for a whole barrel. Two experts discuss their oak alternative choic

Article

Prepping Your First Barrel

Tips for beginners on how to prepare their first barrel.

Technique

Going Pro RoundTable

Four assistant winemakers join us for a roundtable discussion on what they did to get their foot in the door.

Technique

Meadmaking: Tips from the Pros

Two master meadmakers share some insight for making your own mead at home, which uses the same equipment you already have for making wine.

Your First Mead

Tips for brewing your firs batch of mead.

Article

Home Winery Names

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

Technique

Making Riesling Roundtable

Riesling can be made into a variety of wine styles, from bone dry to icewine, and can be enjoyed early or aged for a decade or more. Five pr

Technique

Growing Riesling Grapes: Tips from the Pros

Technique

Controlling Grapevine Vigor: Tips from the Pros

If vines are too productive, or not productive enough, the grapes (and resulting wines) will suffer. Two grape growing experts share some vi

Volatile Acidity

An introduction into volatile acidity (VA) and how to avoid it.

Technique

Award-Winning Red Wine Blends Roundtable

Five top medal winners from the WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition share the secrets of their red wine blending success.

Article

Bottle Shock

If you’ve done everything right in the winery and your wine tastes great going into the bottle, you might scratch your head when you open

Article

2016 Best New Gear

Hot new winemaking products hitting the market in 2016.

Article

Make Your Own Wine Vinegar

Winemakers spend a lot of time and effort preventing acetic acid from ruining good wine. But to make wine vinegar, Acetobacter is actually y

Article

A Ranch In Wine Country: Dry Finish

Article

An Enology Education: Tips from the Pros

If you are thinking about taking your amateur winemaking to a more professional level, it might be time to consider taking some winemaking c

Technique

Award-Winning Red Winemakers Roundtable

Three amateur winemakers with shelves full of medals to their names for their homemade wines share advice for making great reds.