How much do you engage others?

[vinny]

Yup!

Or I'm your punishment

Nah, I still remember one of my first posts. I had a few helpful replies, but one of them was more topical. They finished with Bryan should chime in soon.

I learned to wait for it. Everyone on this forum is great, and everyone has their unique piece to add, but you are one of the few that can look at the same (ish) question, tailor it specific to the beginners mind and be thorough and helpful time and time again.

I am always grateful for your responses.

AHHHH... Feelings!

Where's my wine?

 

[Gilmango]

Picking is a whole different ball game. I picked for the first time last year and it's hard, hard work - definitely time to call in the crew. With appropriate snacks and libations as incentive/reward of course...

My first time picking was 2 years ago and it wasn't too bad, although I think it wasn't too bad as the grapes had been watered just before picking time. So it was easy to get fat bunches and pick the 160# I was going for, and they (Michael - CA wine broker) had a crusher/destemmer on site for an extra $20. Easy Peasy.

Fast forward to last year - also at a Michael pick, teeny tiny clusters of Cab Sauv grapes with plenty of raisins, also lots of others picking the same acreage, meant I tired out and also ran out of non-raisined clusters before I could pick the 200# I was going for that day (wound up with another 160# instead). Would love to have had a buddy there that day.

 

[GSMChris]

I took up winemaking three summers ago and joined a local wine club. My main interest at the time was in growing grapes which I then vaguely planned to sell and perhaps keep a little bit to make into wine.

Well, one of the leaders of the club told me he was putting together a beginners group. Four or five people would work with him to pick grapes and proceed through the process collectively in his garage until we had wine in the carboy and which point we’d take it home to babysit until bottling. I had a blast, learned a lot, and made something that was marginally drinkable.

Year two I joined in with two other similar groups, learning by doing. With this group, we bought the grapes rather than picking and then kept the wine in carboys in one place until bottling, doing all tasks as a team.

Then last year, took off the training wheels and co- led a similar group, hosting the crush, fermentation and press at my house before transferring the wine to another group members house for barrel aging. Again, all major tasks are being done with multiple members helping. In this case, the group was formed out of necessity. Each member had a period of time during the fall when they weren’t available for a week or more - and as a result felt like they couldn’t make wine that season. For example, right after crush was my dad’s celebration of life and burial at sea. I was going to be gone for four days. No problem, two other members stepped up and did the punchdown twice a day while I was gone. Other members had medical procedures, vacations, etc.

All three years have been a blast. I’ve learned a lot, gotten some drinkable wine (the latest one is turning out to be something special - tasted it yesterday) and most importantly made some really good friends. Will I make wine solo in the future? Probably when the vineyard kicks in to production - but even then I suspect I’ll still do the big steps in some form of collaboration.

 

[Darkroom]

I have been producing wine since 1979, by myself. In 2000 I moved to a and invited some friends to help with bottling. They all left that evening saying they wanted to make their own batches. I told them to sober up and think it over.
Fast forward 20+ years, and these 4 guys are still involved, plus 2 others have joined. Each person chooses what batches and amounts they want to be included in. We get together for every step of the process. The "wine nights" which include beer drinking, snacks, wine sampling, and constant BS.
Lately I have been mentoring a BIL on wine making. He lives 4 hours away, and started making wine in my cellar. Now he has his own production area. He has told me how jealous he is of my Wine Guys group as he is producing solo.

 

[Rocky]

My bride and I do all the wine making ourselves. Bev does the cleaning and sanitizing and I do the rest. I have found that unless I can get experienced wine makers to help, I am better off doing it alone to avoid errors and accidents. Using kits and juice buckets makes this possible. Were I still making wine from grapes, which is much more labor-intensive, it would be a different story.

Still, I recall very fondly the wine making weekends of the past with family and friends doing the work on 50-75 lugs of Zinfandel and Muscat while my Mom and Aunts maintained a steady flow of Italian delicacies as sustenance. A great way to spend the weekends in mid-October when the grapes "came in."

 

[Denden5136]

My first time picking was 2 years ago and it wasn't too bad, although I think it wasn't too bad as the grapes had been watered just before picking time. So it was easy to get fat bunches and pick the 160# I was going for, and they (Michael - CA wine broker) had a crusher/destemmer on site for an extra $20. Easy Peasy.

Fast forward to last year - also at a Michael pick, teeny tiny clusters of Cab Sauv grapes with plenty of raisins, also lots of others picking the same acreage, meant I tired out and also ran out of non-raisined clusters before I could pick the 200# I was going for that day (wound up with another 160# instead). Would love to have had a buddy there that day.

This year let me know when/what you are planning on picking! I am in the area and likely picking the same grapes.