How much wine do you make? (2023)

[Nebbiolo020]

Made just over 50 gal last year. Thats typically what I do in the fall. But sometimes I’ll do several fruit wines in the summer of similar volume. Im also thinking about an Argentine Malbec this year in the spring. Blends from last year currently in barrels. Tried a few blends from members of this group.

50 gallons is a good amount of wine for a home winemaker. Argentine Malbec is a good pick solid wine.

I make the full 200 gallons that I am legally allowed to make at home but am licensed so technically I can make more if I needed to. But I have 300-400 cases in my wine cellar here at the house so I need to slow down on experimental blends as I am not going to be able to drink my wine collection fast enough and I have enough wine.

I have been trialing blend ideas at home so I can get an idea on if I like a blend before scaling it up commercially. Can’t afford to have a screw up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in grapes on the line.

 

[joeswine]

Made just over 50 gal last year. Thats typically what I do in the fall. But sometimes I’ll do several fruit wines in the summer of similar volume. Im also thinking about an Argentine Malbec this year in the spring. Blends from last year currently in barrels. Tried a few blends from members of this group.

Beautiful set up

 

[StimVino]

I have been trialing blend ideas at home so I can get an idea on if I like a blend before scaling it up commercially. Can’t afford to have a screw up with hundreds of thousands of dollars in grapes on the line.

Smart! I have a small home operation, but look at it in a similar way. I doubt that Ill ever go commercial, discovered winemaking too late in my career. If my kids ever take interest then Id be all in. For now, just trying to make the best wine from the best grapes that I can get. At a small scale, I can also be very experimental. Most of the time it’s paid off. Friends & family, including myself, really enjoy the wines that we make. I give a lot away. If Im going to go big on 1 style of wine, then I want to know that its going to taste great. I can imagine the pressure you feel starting a new wine project. If it doesn’t turn out for me, its just my pride that takes a hit. For a commercial operation, it would cost big money if the wine is a flop. With my recent winemaking, Ive had more success building off the experience of others. Id rather take a blend that I know works well and tweak it to my liking than try something completely new that could turn out to be a bad idea.

 

[StimVino]

Beautiful set up

Thanks Joe. Here are a few more photos of my setup.

 

[joeswine]

I have 48 gals going now and average 12 to 36 gallons ever 2 to 3 months for my people.
Sometimes it never ends

 

[joeswine]

This will be my last year for that time to slow down and enjoy my

 

[Nebbiolo020]

Smart! I have a small home operation, but look at it in a similar way. I doubt that Ill ever go commercial, discovered winemaking too late in my career. If my kids ever take interest then Id be all in. For now, just trying to make the best wine from the best grapes that I can get. At a small scale, I can also be very experimental. Most of the time it’s paid off. Friends & family, including myself, really enjoy the wines that we make. I give a lot away. If Im going to go big on 1 style of wine, then I want to know that its going to taste great. I can imagine the pressure you feel starting a new wine project. If it doesn’t turn out for me, its just my pride that takes a hit. For a commercial operation, it would cost big money if the wine is a flop. With my recent winemaking, Ive had more success building off the experience of others. Id rather take a blend that I know works well and tweak it to my liking than try something completely new that could turn out to be a bad idea.

My neighbors served my last batch at their sons wedding and it went down well with the wedding attendees so I am pretty sure I am going to make it next year,

 

[Nebbiolo020]

This will be my last year for that time to slow down and enjoy my

It’s fun to make wine but you have to slow down and enjoy what you make.

I tasted our 2023 batch last month it’s been aging in tanks with oak staves at the winery for the past nearly 12 months we are just 1 month shy of a year right now. It’s definitely basically ready to bottle and release. Which we are trying to do before 2024 fruit comes in it’s looking like end of August maybe first week of September at the latest and we’re in panic mode right now trying to bottle and empty tanks so we have them for 2024.

 

[StimVino]

My neighbors served my last batch at their sons wedding and it went down well with the wedding attendees so I am pretty sure I am going to make it next year.

What wine did you make for your last batch? As far as experiments this year, Im thinking about a 80 malbec / 20 cab blend, a 80 zinfandel / 20 merlot, 80 merlot / 20 cab franc blend, 80 cab franc / 20 alicante bouschet. Nothing set in stone yet.

 

[Nebbiolo020]

What wine did you make for your last batch? As far as experiments this year, Im thinking about a 80 malbec / 20 cab blend, a 80 zinfandel / 20 merlot, 80 merlot / 20 cab franc blend, 80 cab franc / 20 alicante bouschet. Nothing set in stone yet.

I got my hands on some Zinfandel, some Cab Franc and my hands on Alicante bouschet and blended them like 50% Zinfandel 30% Cab and then threw in 20% Alicante as a well I have a bunch of grapes what do I do with them blend. I like doing things people tell me not to because winemaking is a great experiment if you tell me not to try something I’m going to do it to prove you wrong. I love old vineyards where the vines are field blended and you don’t know what everything is. Which is why seeing Carlisle close is really bothering me. If I had the money I would buy the vineyards just so they don’t get ripped out by someone who doesn’t care.

 

[Daytona249]

I usually do 6 kits every fall, so 30 gal. Plus a couple fruit wines, this year a spring 3 gal. dandelion and this fall will make 5 gal blueberry and 5 gal. Oregon grape berry Grand total 43 gal.

 

[joeswine]

Made just over 50 gal last year. Thats typically what I do in the fall. But sometimes I’ll do several fruit wines in the summer of similar volume. Im also thinking about an Argentine Malbec this year in the spring. Blends from last year currently in barrels. Tried a few blends from members of this group.

An outstanding setup , really cool

 

[StimVino]

I have a very aggressive winemaking schedule that will include a couple gallons each of the following varieties of fresh grapes:

1. Cab Sauv
2. Merlot
3. Cab Franc
4. Petite Sirah
5. Petit Verdot
6. Carménère
7. Tempranillo
8. Mourvèdre
9. Pinot Noir
10. Syrah
11. Malbec
12. Chardonnay
13. Pinot Grigio
14. Sauv Blanc

Are you making these as stand alone varieties or do you have a plan for blending these?

 

[Christopher Anderson]

To all us wine afficionados, 30 years ago, I discovered a saying: all hobbies no matter how small or big, when done with a passion, cost $10,000 minimum.

 

[crushday]

Are you making these as stand alone varieties or do you have a plan for blending these?

The afore mentioned list are single varieties.

Here are my blends and the baseline quantities for a 30 gallon tank...

 

[StimVino]

The afore mentioned list are single varieties.

Here are my blends and the baseline quantities for a 30 gallon tank...

View attachment 114690

Thanks for sharing your Red Blends. They all look like they would be good. Have you settled on these for your baseline or are you still experimenting with these? Are you trying to avoid +75% Blends or just following your stylistic preferences? Do you feel like more components in your blend delivers more complexity? Personally, I’ve experienced a single variety Merlot that has more complexity than some Bordeaux blends, but that may have been because of the outstanding quality of the grapes that year. Cant say for sure why that was. Then again, I generally prefer blends because when varieties are complimentary blended together, they enhance complexity, primarily through taste buds and mouthfeel.