Yet Another Web Page - Wine Making

Wine Making - bordering obsession?

Yep, I make my own wine. It started out as beer. Figure that one out.

I never used to like wine... I was a Blue man, back in my late teens and early 20s. The only wine I used to drink was that funky flavoured Mateuse wine, from Portugal - I loved that stuff! But oh, the hangovers when mixing it with tequila! Then I went to Europe, and discovered wine for the first time. I discovered that it wasn't just the drink of old folks. I guess it being incredibly cheap and readily available had something to do with it...

So I get back to Canada, and once again, I am appalled at the taxes we pay on our booze... it is absolutely ridiculous. Your typical bottle of wine costs about $12, with good quality wines costing as much as $40+ dollars. And beer was even worse. I'd been to places in Europe where a six pack of good quality beer could be had for about $3US. In Canada, a six pack of good quality beer (microbrewery) runs you about $9 and up. When I got to Vancouver, a friend made a batch of beer at a U-Brew store, and I tried it and liked it. I was hooked.

I first started making beers, then I tried making a wine at the U-Brew. It cost me $90 for 24 bottles of a Reisling white... not bad. But I saw the conditions in the shop, and thought I could do better. So I bought a beer and wine making kit (carboy, primary fermenter, other doo-dads) and made my first batch at home. The kit cost me about $50 CDN, and the winekit (concentrated juice) cost about $45. I made it, and about 7 weeks later, bottled it. I tried my first batch by then (from the U-Brew), and it was ok, not great. I then tried my first homemade batch about two months later, and it was excellent! I was extra careful about sanitary conditions, and it really paid off. My wine tasted great!

wine and grapes

I then moved on to making more exotic stuff, like plum wine (we had a plum tree in our back yard), and making wine from fresh juice, which is usually available in September and October. Almost all my batches have turned out great, and now, 4 years later, I have over 70 bottles of wine of various types and ages, sitting on my wine rack (its a big one - holds 60 bottles... and I pile up the rest). My wine's a hit at most parties I bring it to (although occasionally, you get a bad bottle), and everyone seems to enjoy it at our Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas dinners.

As for the types of wine I enjoy, well, I'm more into the slightly sweet and fruity german style wines. I'm not a connoisseur by any stretch, but I know what I like, and concentrate on making those types of wine. I've also made some excellent batches of red wine. So far, this is what I have in my collection: Medoc Blanc, Johannesburg Reisling (2 types), Gurwertstraminer, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Merlot, and a nice dessert wine of my own modification, a Reisling at 1.5 the amount of juice, with a halted fermentation (for those that don't know, you get alcohol and other chemicals from sugar when it is fermented, using yeast).

Now, when I make my own beer, it costs me about $0.30 per bottle, and most of my wine comes in at under $2 per bottle. On top of that, it's a pretty interesting hobby. I am always on the lookout for someone to trade bottles with, in the Vancouver area, so if you make you own wine at home, give me a shout via e-mail, and maybe we can sample each other's wares!

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