Hello from NC

[FABulousWines]

Hello,

My name is Frank and I live in the central piedmont of NC. My wife and I have been long time wine enthusiasts. When we discovered there were something like 150 wineries in NC we started visiting. We've been to something like 30 different ones so far and frequent our favorites quite a bit. As a result, we've been exposed to quite a bit of the wine making process and terminology. A couple of weeks ago I met a gentleman on one of the tours who shared with me that he has made several batches of his own. I have always wanted to do this, but always assumed it was very expensive to do (I don't know why, just ignorance). When he told me he got started with equipment for around $150 I was hooked.

Long story short, I have been reading everything I can on the subject and plan to start my first batch this weekend. We are planning to visit some wineries in Hendersonville. The vintner at Faderal winery teaches a class on wine making and I wanted to speak with him about his class and see if he had any initial advice before I get started.

My equipment and juice kits are out for delivery and should arrive today. It is very exciting.

 

[Julie]

Welcome to winemakingtalk.

 

[winemaker_3352]

Welcome aboard!!!

 

[oldwhiskers]

Welcome to the forum!!!!

 

[seth8530]

Welcome aboard and welcome to a very great hobby!

 

[robie]

Sounds like you are ready to go!
Welcome to the forum.

 

[Sammyk]

Where are you in NC? I am in Newton, half way between Hickory and Lincolnton.

 

[bakervinyard]

Welcome to WMT. loads of information on this forum. Great "bunch" of people here also. Bakervinyard

 

[FABulousWines]

Where are you in NC? I am in Newton, half way between Hickory and Lincolnton.

Not too far from you; near Charlotte.

 

[olusteebus]

You will most likely love this hobby, especially if you and your wife participate.

 

[seth8530]

Not too far from you; near Charlotte.

Thats quite cool. I am moving to Fort Mill this summer. Is that nearby?

 

[Julie]

Thats quite cool. I am moving to Fort Mill this summer. Is that nearby?

Dear Lord, you have a place already in Fort Mill? And when are you moving? My step son has a place in Tega Cay (Seth that is right up against Fort Mill) and he is in the process of selling that place and the place he bought that I am going off about with the wine room and muscadine grapes is in Monroe.

We are headed down there over Memorial weekend anyone want to get together for dinner? I'm telling you right now we will be at the Flying Saucer Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.

 

[FABulousWines]

Thats quite cool. I am moving to Fort Mill this summer. Is that nearby?

Probably about 40 minute drive from my house. I work in Charlotte; not too far from there.

 

[seth8530]

Dear Lord, you have a place already in Fort Mill? And when are you moving? My step son has a place in Tega Cay (Seth that is right up against Fort Mill) and he is in the process of selling that place and the place he bought that I am going off about with the wine room and muscadine grapes is in Monroe.

We are headed down there over Memorial weekend anyone want to get together for dinner? I'm telling you right now we will be at the Flying Saucer Friday afternoon, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.

I will be moving in around the 15th. I need to finish this semester at the UT and then I will stay there for the summer while I intern with URS. So it is kind of a temporary gig... If we can work out the timing I would not mind meeting up for some kind of dinner. BTW what is the flying saucer?

@ FAbulous,
ahh, so kind of far away but not way too far.

 

[FABulousWines]

Kits are here! Yay!

FIrst off, thank you all so much for the very kind welcome. You can tell a lot about a forum by how well you are initially received and first impressions so far are very good!

UPS was a bit late in delivering my kits, but they did manage to show up during dinner. They didn't even ring the doorbell, what's up with that?

I may start a thread to document my progress and give more experienced folks an opportunity to comment and keep me straight. But here it is. The juice kit is Tropical Reisling; I wanted to start low end until I see if I can produce anything above box wine quality. The starter equipment kit is also from Amazon. It seems to be missing a few bits like the plastic spoon and brushes. I was also disappointed that the kit did not have a hydrometer test jar. So I will be making a trip to the LHBS and pick a few items up. Not picctured but I also bought an acid test kit; maybe not necessary with a kit like this, but I want to start acquainting myself with the whole process.

I may start this tonight...

 

[ShelleyDickison]

Seems like everybody in NC is in the western part of the state. I am over by Camp Lejeune/Jacksonville area. Welcome to the insanity.

 

[Sammyk]

I have made many of the Cornucopia kits - our daughter buys them for us to make. I have 2 in primaries right now and 2 more to make when I move these to secondaries.. I bump up the sugar or they are too sweet. I add between 4 to 5 pound of sugar to the primary to get a OG of 1.080 and 1.085. Make sure to allow for the extra water for inverting the sugar. If you read the Amazon reviews most complain as made per directions they are too sweet but many will talk about bumping up the sugar.

I thought about the Tropical Riesling but could not find any information on what fruit or the taste is.

What I do is after I add the bentonite, I add 1 gallon of water with the 4 to 5 pounds of sugar that is inverted and then the juice. If you wait until the primary is full to 6 gallon mark you will have diluted the juice too much. Done that the first time so now I add it first.

I started small and rapidly added more carboys and another fermenter pail and have 2 batches going at one time.

PS. We sell plants at the farmers market on Yorkmont every Saturday for 10 weeks in the spring.

 

[Dylan]

Hello Frank!

 

[FABulousWines]

I have made many of the Cornucopia kits - our daughter buys them for us to make. I have 2 in primaries right now and 2 more to make when I move these to secondaries.. I bump up the sugar or they are too sweet. I add between 4 to 5 pound of sugar to the primary to get a OG of 1.080 and 1.085. Make sure to allow for the extra water for inverting the sugar. If you read the Amazon reviews most complain as made per directions they are too sweet but many will talk about bumping up the sugar.

I thought about the Tropical Riesling but could not find any information on what fruit or the taste is.

What I do is after I add the bentonite, I add 1 gallon of water with the 4 to 5 pounds of sugar that is inverted and then the juice. If you wait until the primary is full to 6 gallon mark you will have diluted the juice too much. Done that the first time so now I add it first.

I started small and rapidly added more carboys and another fermenter pail and have 2 batches going at one time.

PS. We sell plants at the farmers market on Yorkmont every Saturday for 10 weeks in the spring.

Thanks, that was very helpful.

I started a thread on the Paklab kits forum. I'll post my impressions there when I get to a point of tasting.

As a matter of fact, I work just down the street from the Farmers Market. We should meet up sometime. I don't think it would take any arm twisting to get my wife to make a trip over to the FM on Saturday, LOL.

 

[FABulousWines]

Alternative Beverages in Belmont, NC

I stopped by my LHBS, Alternative Beverages in Belmont, NC. I gotta say, these guys are awesome. The location is more of a warehouse than a retail outlet (they do have 3 retail stores in the area), but these guys just kept stopping by and asking if I needed any help. One fellow spent about 45 minutes talking with me about the various kits and other general advice. I was very impressed. I will definitely be spending a ton of money there!