# Care to step up to the soap box?



## zember311 (Jan 25, 2008)

I always wonder why it is people do the things they do. And being here day after day snooping through the articles and tips, I can't help but to ask myself one question, Why do _*you*_make wine ? What was it that happened in your life that made you get into this hobby?


Care to share ?


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## PeterZ (Jan 25, 2008)

Back in theearly 80's I made wine with a club in Houston. When I moved to Memphis in '84 there was only one brew shop that concentrated on beer more than wine, so I just stopped.


In early '06 SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed - my wife, Virginia) got a high cholesterol test (turned out to be a bad test). Since we knew that red wine was good for that, I started making wine again. A new shop had opened in Memphis, still primarily beer, but with some wine stuff. I bought a starter equipment kit and a Merlot kit (10L RJS).


I also Googled red wine and health and found the "Wine and your health" thread on the forum here. Since then I get everything from George, and have made the Merlot (bottled, and not too many left), IM Strawberry White Merlot (for my daughter, but SWMBO's friends like it too), MM All Juice Amarone with raisins (Bottled), MM All Juice Chardonnay (bulk aging), WE Selection LE Mouvedre/Grenache (in secondary). I have another IM kit on deck, and am waiting for the arrival of the MM Meglioli Barolo to arrive in late Feb.


That's about it. SWMBO's cholesterol is fine, but now I'm hooked.


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## hannabarn (Jan 25, 2008)

I love that SWMBO!! I had a heart attack in 1997 and had quit drinking anything alcoholic since 1994. Last year I tried a glass of home made wine from a friend. Since red wine is supposedly good for the heart, I started wine making. Now here I am gleaning all I can while I can


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## peterCooper (Jan 25, 2008)

I have always loved wine, ever since my parents took me on a summer vacation down the Rhine valley, drinking young wines on the riverside. (I was 17 at the time).

I don't drink anything else. But... I prefer what I make at $5 a bottle than anything the stores have to offer. I enjoy the process, the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile (I also make my own bread, although if you want to check out someone who is hyperactive look at Stinkies threads) and I'm thinking about cheese.

I give half of what I make away at Christmas and get a lot of positive responses. I like people telling me nice stuff about me.


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## smurfe (Jan 25, 2008)

I remember helping my Mom make wineas a kid from the Concord grapes that grew all around the house. I didn't even drink wine when I started, my wife did. I love it now though. 


I was actually researching beer making as I love real beer. She had memories of the exploding beer bottles from her Grandmother's beer when she was a kid so I looked toward wine. 


Now I make both beer and wine and couldn't be happier. I keg my beer so the wife isn't worried about any exploding bottles.


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## NorthernWinos (Jan 25, 2008)

We grow all kinds of fruit and I was steam juicing the fruits into breakfast drinks...
Then came the timewe had too many jars of juice to use up, the steamers instruction book said the juice could be made into wine......we were drinking wine all along and finally a light bulb went off.....






Things haven't been the same since....the gardens have grown with more fruits, the root cellar has been rearranged, the rest of the house has wine making stuff in almost every room...I have learned so much from this Forum and met many OnLine Friends....and...


Life is Good!!!!


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## Tomy (Jan 25, 2008)

Growing up I followed my Granddad around like a puppy, and the first of the month he would allways go to a gathering of his friends at one place or the other for a mens night out taking me along. They would feast on wild game or fish from the last fishing trip someone in the group had made. The guys would allways make sure H.T. brought along one of his jugs. They would play poker, pitch horseshoes, or just sit by the fire smoking a big cigar or pipe and tell tall tails about how they rassled a grizz or struck it rich panning for gold. That jug would get passed around most of the night and I would allways get a taste. It might be strawberry, watermelon, grape, dandylion, or corn squeezins, and it was allways right smart tastey with a kick almost as hard as a Missouri mule.
When Grandad passed the family decided I should be the one to get his jugs as I was the one that seemed to spend the most time with him. Those jugs lasted quite a few years, but I never seemed to find the time to fill them again as I was busy with everything that life had to offer. Was only after I retired that I thought of filling up granddads jugs again. I gooled up how to make wine and got started. So hear's to you grandpa the family tradition continues with my grand kids and I.


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## Travisty (Jan 25, 2008)

A few guys at my church decided to start a beer brewing club. It's a lot of fun and it got me thinking about what else I could make. We only meet once every couple weeks which isn't enough for me.



I initially thought about making whiskey untilI realized the legality issues of distilling my own liquor. Then I found the FVW page. My mom is real big on tradition, especially around Christmas time so I decided to start a new tradition of starting a batch of wine on Christmas Eve and not opening the finished bottles until the next Christmas. Of course, once a year is still not enough for me as fun as this hobby has turned out to be, so now I have four different 1 gallon juice and fruit wines going and I started a WE Merlot to give to my church to use as communion wine!


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## corn field (Jan 25, 2008)

My Step son gave me a wine making kit for my birthday several years ago because of the concord grapes I had. He said "pops" you should makeus some wine out of those grapes. What started out as a hobby has gotten out of hand but no regrets. My 13 year old grand son helpes me with my wine making and will take over when I can no longer do it so I guess we are starting a tredition.


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## jobe05 (Jan 25, 2008)

I started making wine in Feb, 05........ Why???? Because it can be done! Thats why I do most of the things that I do (hobby wise), because I can, because it can be done. My wife and I don't really drink a bunch, maybe twice a year I'll have a couple Scotch's or a couple of beers, My wife would just have a couple of beers a year if that....... so it wasn't because of the alcohol effect.

My wife and I like a good Johannesburg Riesling, but they were hard to come by and to call 1/3 of them good was a stretch. So making wine kinda peaked my interest...... then I ran across a web site that had a Riesling Ice Wine and a Johannesburg Kit...... That sinched it, I was making wine a week later.......... and ever since............. Oh yea...... My wife and I are also learning to drink more................. thats fun too!

*Edited by: jobe05 *


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## Waldo (Jan 25, 2008)

Well I got started at a really early age, I was aout 9-10 I reckon when I snitched a glass full of strawberries from the bowl Mom was preparing them in to freeze. I snuck out back with em and when she hollered at me I got scared and hid the glass in the tool shed, forgot about itand found it about 4 months later...........NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY !!!


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## Wade E (Jan 25, 2008)

It all started at a wine tasting in Shelton, Ct. where they had a Black Currant wine that my wife loved very much. It was $14.50 for a 375 ml bottle and she was getting 3 of these a week which was really adding up so I looked into wine making and came across the Vintners Harvest wine base cans and decided to give it a go although made 2 Mist wines to get a better feel for it first. I started this endeavor early 2006 and cant stop even though both my wine cellar and wine making room runneth over!


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## swillologist (Jan 25, 2008)

We had a neighbor that made home brew. He had a book on making wine. I don't know what it said. I didn't read it. He just told us how much sugar and fruit we needed to make a gallon. Back then there wasn't as much spraying going on and the were wild grapes and elderberries everywhere. Most of the time that is what we made. It was nothing like we do today. We didn't add yeast or any of the other usual additives. Once in awhile it was almost drinkable.



But if you were a kid behind the barn who knew what it was supposed to taste like. That was nearly fifty years ago. Then I got to many grapes a couple of years ago and I'm back at it again. This time it is a little more predictable. Time to get down off of the soap box and let someone else on.*Edited by: swillologist *


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## rgecaprock (Jan 25, 2008)

I think ....the fascination came when I was about 9-10 when my Dad had me piciking dandelions in the churchyard for his wine. And I remember.... *the smell....*isn't it funny how smells are so memorable?.... of the cellar where he hadbarrels of wine (cherry, and others) that I remember watching him *check on*...maybe gravity...maybe just a taste... and the "wax" the pariffin smell....when he would seal the ...cork, bung....stopper...back up or what ever they called it back then. I don't know whybut the* smells* stuck with me. My Dad is 80 yrs old and still makes wine. 


That Cellar was scary, didn't want to go there except for the* "smells*" that were so captivating.....*fermentation, honey*.....memories that are always there... inthe front of my mind somehow.


I wanted to savor a very pleasant experience at a young age...*even though I didn't know why at the time.* 


Maybe it is a genetic thing.......none the less...it has been fantastic!!!


Ramona*Edited by: rgecaprock *


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## rgecaprock (Jan 25, 2008)

tomy, 
Glad you were able to carry on the tradition. It was hard for me being a "girl". There were 4 girls and no boys. It must have been a disappoint ment to my dad....back in those days, 50-60's, to have *only *girls...who were not acceptable in that time and place to pass on the wine making secrets to.As I look back ,I wonder...if I had been a boy...would I have been racking, and tapping and sipping and tasting?? Yes, I'm sure I would have. My other sisters didn't care about what Dad did....but maybe..... just maybe* one* of us would have loved to be involved.


So now...I carry on....and have a special bond with Dad...our converstions go on and on about wine......and he says....*you are better at it than me,, kid !!*

*The torched is passed !!!!*


Ramona*Edited by: rgecaprock *


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## zember311 (Jan 26, 2008)

*To everyone that shared :*














Those were some interesting stories, books could be written and movies could be made with those, some very entertaining, others very sincere and others with emotional connections .


It was so great to hear of your starting days.


I stumbled upon wine making by mistake, being into the hydroponics scene, I have spent almost 13 years now tinkering with plants and waters and chemicals and lights. But there were little to no forums that offered me an inside ( think outside the box ) place to ask, challange and create. But in the ( sub-culture) forums, there I found people that were always pushing the envolpe. We came up with good ideas, some that I now see are on the market, " so I wasn't able to cash in on my ideas like other took and banked now " at least it was great to be on the forefront of the designs.


So while they were hiding in their closets worried about the blue and red flashing lights, my apartments were covered in pipes, tubes , water bubbling tomatotes growing, so on and so forth. 


My nitch was catnip, one year at a christmas party I was visiting some friends and family and for some reason their cats were center of attention, I joked and asked if they ever bought their cats cat nip, and their responce was, my cats never liked catnip. I bet them I could grow some hydro catnip that would drive their cats wild, so the bet was on, that following christmas I came over with my catnip and their cats went ape crazy, every christmas after that it was an on going joke that everyone that had cats got catnip as a gift.


So while on the hydro forums, there was a post about how to make your jail house wine, the 1 gallon jug, 3 welchers concentrates and a ballon with holes. I tried it, liked it . but only ever made one batch, life was just crazy, with loses of family members, my divorce and the crazy speed of the northern mantaility, I just jumped in my car one day and headed to florida with no plans, no directions and nothing that couldnt fit in my car.


I got a chance to slow down, stop and breathe, and I slowly decided to get back into the tinkering with wines, now it seems to have calmed me. I have always had patience, plants grow at their own speed no matter how many high tech goodies you use, just as the wine takes it's good old time. it centered me a bit, taught me it is ok to slow down and just be for a moment in ones life.


And as I always liked to tinker every year with making new catnips as gifts with changing the flower colors, and cloning, and this and that just to keep it one step ahead of the year before, to hear people that try my wine tell me it's outstanding, well that just is the best moment, it's not that I do it to fish for compliments, but all the effort, reading, thinkng and patience that goes into wine, just to hear " I love this wine, you really made it yourself ? " is so worth the time spent.




Again, I was blown away with all the stories posted, I hope they keep coming !


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## joeswine (Jan 28, 2008)

GOOD MORNING ZEMBER311//I want on a service call (no COOLING) when I got to the house the basement doors where open and a man was out side,he walk over to me introduced himself and I proceed,to ckeck his aAC out then when into the basement,and seen those big vessels full of stuff,asked what was in the jars he said wine,ask if when the time came if he would take me with him and get me started.That following sept. bob called me and we met up with his fathers crew in coollingswood NJ// 55 strong,wouldn't of believed it if i didn't see it with my own eyes at 6:00am all standing outside his house waiting for the word to advance,his father came out and got in his truck and away the caravan went,accross the bridge to PHILLY,over to percattucci bros. produce,352 5gal. buckets and the parade went back accross the bridge,each exit we lost a few of the followers until back at his fathers house were they proceeded to show me how, 6 stops later we were at the last house it was bobs and then it was my turn and i was alone with my buckets,armed with onyl a little wisdom,but i had bob to call upon and i did,and that's history as they say 7 years later



Iwill never forget thatday for .it was great!



*Edited by: joeswine *


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## zember311 (Feb 1, 2008)

joeswine said:


> GOOD MORNING ZEMBER311//I want on a service call (no COOLING) when I got to the house the basement doors where open and a man was out side,he walk over to me introduced himself and I proceed,to ckeck his aAC out then when into the basement,and seen those big vessels full of stuff,asked what was in the jars he said wine,ask if when the time came if he would take me with him and get me started.That following sept. bob called me and we met up with his fathers crew in coollingswood NJ// 55 strong,wouldn't of believed it if i didn't see it with my own eyes at 6:00am all standing outside his house waiting for the word to advance,his father came out and got in his truck and away the caravan went,accross the bridge to PHILLY,over to percattucci bros. produce,352 5gal. buckets and the parade went back accross the bridge,each exit we lost a few of the followers until back at his fathers house were they proceeded to show me how, 6 stops later we were at the last house it was bobs and then it was my turn and i was alone with my buckets,armed with onyl a little wisdom,but i had bob to call upon and i did,and that's history as they say 7 years later
> 
> 
> 
> Iwill never forget thatday for .it was great!




Oh how that story made me miss NJ, Thought I would never say that when i lived next door in Pa,


But I MISS MISS MISS Tuckerton, Oh the crabbing memories !


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## Wade E (Feb 1, 2008)

Oh the crabbing memories ! I sure hope your talking about the normal size 1's


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## joeswine (Feb 2, 2008)

ZEMBER311 

never herad anyone say they missed n.jjjjjjjjjjjjjj.,thats a first for me! However I do call it home.



,I'am not to far from tuckerton,just down the road aways.









*Edited by: joeswine *


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## zember311 (Feb 2, 2008)

joeswine said:


> ZEMBER311
> 
> never herad anyone say they missed n.jjjjjjjjjjjjjj.,thats a first for me! However I do call it home.
> 
> ...




Hahah






Dont get me wrong, I don't miss the yonkers, jersey city, 78 into NY, well heck ANY THING NORTH OF 78








But seaside heights, Tuckerton, Cape May and even Wildwood !!!!!!!


Those were my growing up years,


Do you know of a camp ground byt he name of SEA PIRATE on route 9 ?


That was my yearly camp ground, and if you or anyone you know is a crabber , THAT is the camp ground, right in the back of the private property of the camp owners is the water ways to Little egg harbor ? so a walk from your tent with a case of beer, a camp lantern, and nothing to do but catch crabs at the tides peak. ABSOLUTE HEAVEN !


Oh yeah, NJ can have hoboken, princeton, hehoken, 


YUK !


I don't miss those service call days when I worked for a fire alarm company. 


HAHA


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## joeswine (Feb 5, 2008)

ZEMBER311//// 
I'am way south of all those points except,the crabbing spots,however it's been a long time since I've crabbed,seams like for ever,my life went in to a different dirrection ,those upper state things I don't go no were near!,



there are quite a few camping spots along route 9 and good crabbing spots also,my inlaws and ther family owned a big chunk of north cape may at one time ,do you know wrer the concreet shipis? along that roads a bird santuary across from that 2 square country blocks of land,,beautiful in the morning.



*Edited by: joeswine *


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## zember311 (Feb 5, 2008)

Concrete ships, 


CAPE May point ! I would go there to get all the cape may diamonds, well clear colored rocks.






There is a name for that beach, I wanna say summers point or something like that, whats the other name they use ? 


All I can think of is those two gift shops down at the enod of the parking lot.


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## joeswine (Feb 5, 2008)

DON'T NO NO OTHER NAME EXCEPT NORTH BEACH OR CAPE MAY DIAMOND BEACH,NOT IMPORTANT,IT WAS THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTED,GREAT TIMES DOWN THERE WHEN I WAS A LITTEL YOUNGER,AND ALOT OF WORK ON THE INLWAS HOUSE EVERY SUMMER,GLAD ITS GONE,YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?


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## zember311 (Feb 5, 2008)

Thanks for the trip down memory lane !


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## Poacher (Feb 6, 2008)

I use to help my uncle make muscadine wine every year. We made wine and home made sausage. It started out just me and him then my father started helping then my other uncles and so on. It became a thing for all the men of the to do together. Nothing against the women makers out there. This was just out male bonding thing. I always prided myself in have a very very close family. We got together every Sat. night for hamburgers followed up by wine or whiskey whichever was to your liking. About 7 years ago I moved away from the hometown and it was a little harder to get down there every weekend. But I would make it down there a few times a month. Well 3 years ago my Grandmother passed away. She was truly the bond that held us together. Because as soon as that bond was gone the family went its own way. I have been trying to get the family back together allot but there always seems to be some reason why someone can't be there. So now we get together once a year at Christmas. Which I guess is better than nothing at all but still not what our family was about. So anyway the other day I was driving from work on the interstate and saw a sign for the local Brew Shop. I went in there talked to the guy, and bought a kit. I guess I got into it to seem more back to normal? If that makes any since to anyone.*Edited by: bfletch13 *


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## zember311 (Feb 7, 2008)

That sure does make sense. I am the same way with some interests. 


1) I always find myself doin my hydroponics from november to about feb, my grandafther and I would make seedlings around those times to try out different tomoato plants and such for the next year. Seeing how we no longer get together and do this, for me to just be doing it, allows me the chance to remember the days as I still do the tradtion.


2) From about march to june, my father and I were big into radio controlled boats, so still to this say even after his passing, I keep those months open to build a hul from scratch, drop the gear in it, and run the boat at the bay. i stillfind myself laughing to myself as building these boats reminds me of the silly things my father would come up with for his boats.


3) from june to about august it's beach time, and from august to november it's making analo synths, My life seems to be on a schedule


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## scubaman2151 (Feb 7, 2008)

Well I was at a local gathering and I heard a lady talking about how she owned a wine supply store and she tought people how to make wine. So I was talking to her and I decided to email her that week to see if she would come and teach me how to make wine. Well I sent the email and while I waited for her reply I started doing lots of reading on wine making. Well she finally emailed me back about 4 weeks later and at that time I already had 6 gallons fermenting in the basement. I havent been making wine that long, maybe 4-6 months but I love every minute of it. My dad will come over and help me so its nice becuase its something we can share.


Scuba


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## Poacher (Feb 7, 2008)

Scubaman2151 said:


> Well she finally emailed me back about 4 weeks later and at that time I already had 6 gallons fermenting in the basement.




That is exactly the way I would have been. I couldn't wait that long for her just do it on my own. All the mess ups along the way will only teach me more.


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## joeswine (Feb 8, 2008)

well guys they call that progress and time marches on ,and so on,but nothing takes the place of family no matter how big or small,its the good time memories and the no so good its the fun and the not so fun,its the heartaches and the triumps,but it all boils down to family and when you look back aren't you glad you had them to remember,and laugh inside a little or not,you can also view this forum as a big family with brothers disagreening,or not, along with sisters shareing there thoughts,and questions,this is a good place to start


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## zember311 (Feb 8, 2008)

joeswine said:


> well guys they call that progress and time marches on ,and so on,but nothing takes the place of family no matter how big or small,its the good time memories and the no so good its the fun and the not so fun,its the heartaches and the triumps,but it all boils down to family and when you look back aren't you glad you had them to remember,and laugh inside a little or not,you can also view this forum as a big family with brothers disagreening,or not, along with sisters shareing there thoughts,and questions,this is a good place to start
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## joeswine (Feb 9, 2008)

YOU ALREADY HAVE,MY FELLOW WINO


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## R.E.T. (Feb 9, 2008)

You may have read this before, but it's good for a laugh - A Bottle of Wine


For all of us who are married, were married, wish you were married, or wish you weren't married, this is something to smile about the next time you see a bottle of wine: Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car. Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally. "What in bag?" asked the old woman. Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband." The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said: "Good trade....


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