How much wine do you make? (2024)

[winemaker81]

During May of the last couple of years I've posted a poll about how much wine do people make. I thought about this in April ... but forgot until last week. So I'm posting the poll, if a bit later than normal.

This poll is open for 60 days.

I'm also requiring people to vote to see the results. Why? To get people to participate.

In 2022 we had 94 people respond. In 2023 we had 76 people respond. Let's shoot for at least 100 people responding.

 

[winemaker81]

In 2023 we made 96 gallons of wine, which is above my vote of 51-75 gallons.

Our average in the last 6 years is in the 51-75 gallon range and last year was an anomaly. The plan for 2024 is around 60 gallons.

 

[cmason1957]

My average for previous years has been in the 76 to 100 gallon area, but we are cutting back somewhat this year and probably even more. Retirement and extra travel means less to spend on other things. Oh well, we have plenty to last us a fairly long time.

 

[GSMChris]

So last year I made 254 gallons. 70 as part of one group and 140 as part of another group and 20 gallons with a good friend and then 24 solo with grapes from our vineyard. I had predicted in last years survey 200 gallons but I wasn’t expecting anything from the vineyard nor the batch made with the friend. He stumbled into a half bin of Mission grapes from 250 year old vines so we had to go for it. Btw I now know why no one makes commercial mission wines. Flavor less grapes make flavorless wine.

This year our backyard vineyard will be in its third year. I’m estimating 150 gallons from it and then a 70 gallon batch with a group of friends. We tend to make in multiples of 70 as that fills a barrel and leaves us with 10 or so gallons for top up.

 

[winemaker81]

For me, the poll itself is secondary to the discussion. Craig's and Chris' comments mirror my own in different ways.

I'm cutting back on production as I'm literally out of storage space.

How much we make and how much we keep for ourselves is a significant point, but nothing I can reasonably address in a poll. Of the 96 gallons we produced in 2023, 6 gallons is a Zin kit and 6.6 gallons is an apple/Metheglin which are mine. I purchased 130 lbs each Chambourcin and Vidal from @VinesnBines, and while I assumed that was mine, my son and niece are taking some. [I'm not complaining, as storage is already maxed!]

They are taking 1/3 to 1/2 of the remainder, which is ok, as I'm short on space.

The youngest wines I'm drinking are over 1.5 years old, and the remainder are 2.5 to 6 years old. Folks are wondering, "how do you do that?" It's actually easy. Make more wine than you can drink and be patient.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I'm planning on 50-60 gal grape wine this year, probably equal parts white and red pinot noir, plus a few gallons of elderflower sparkling wine and elderberry wine.

Elderflower is floral and fun, I think I'll always make a case or two as long as I have flowers on my bush.

Elderberry is still an experiment, it's just that it takes so long to see the payoff since it's notorious for needing long aging. My first vintage was 2021; it's honestly not great but OK for my first atttempt I guess. Second vintage was 2022, it's in the bottle but haven't tasted it yet since bottling. And the 2023 is still in bulk and wll be for a while yet, this is also the first one that I've added a significant dose of oak and I'm hopeful it will be the best yet.

For the grape wines I have a plan to make around 30-60 gal per year. Pinot noir every other year (since it's my favorite and I live in pinot country), sparkling every 3 years, various other whites and reds to fill in the gaps. Last year was ~45gal syrah which I expect to bottle some time in the next 4-6 weeks, before 2024 harvest comes in.

 

[NorCal]

“cutting back” to only do grapes from the home vineyard, 120 gallons expected and a small Viognier project..

 

[ChuckD]

I’ve been making 15 to 20 gallons of country wine a year. Last year I also got grapes from a friend. I’ll be increasing production when my 88 vines (and counting) start producing.

 

[mainshipfred]

I've had years where I made over 100 gallons but typically in the 60 -75 range. I still have to blend and bottle my 2021 wines, 2022 and 2023 are still in bulk and my cooler is full. This year I only plan on making 20 gallons each of PV and Tannat but I'm sure something will get added to that.

 

[Wineart]

I make about 50 gallons of wine per year. Trouble is, it's done in my apartment and storage is iffy. I'm not a paint by numbers kind of guy so I make scratch wine from spices, flowers and other things. Experiments are in one gallon size, then if it seems very worthy I make 2.5 gallon sizes, and when it gets really good and appreciated I make 5 gallon sizes. I also make some good kits for aging. I store a lot of wine in topped up gallon sizes to age, then put it in 6 bottles when it's ready. I have a bottle rack of 220 bottles made of 2x10 frame plus heavy cardboard tubing cut from flooring hardware tubes. Does not look great but it's in a closet.

 

[rhattin]

During May of the last couple of years I've posted a poll about how much wine do people make. I thought about this in April ... but forgot until last week. So I'm posting the poll, if a bit later than normal.

This poll is open for 60 days.

I'm also requiring people to vote to see the results. Why? To get people to participate.

In 2022 we had 94 people respond. In 2023 we had 76 people respond. Let's shoot for at least 100 people responding.

30 spagnol kits, all en primeur. mostly red . Have 800 bottles aging. Average agecisx2xyears.

 

[winechef]

I had made consistently about 50 to. 75 gallons a year the past4 years. but 2023 I attempted 4000 liters but lots of problems. couldn't control temperature during fermentation, seals didn't work and my peach mango Chardonnay oxidized. distilled 2 liters of the not perfect wines and made 400 liters of really good brandy. not a total loss but will have about 1500 bottles of wine to sell.
this year I went big and got a better control for fermentation jacketed tanks rather than open fermentation. made 1k liters of hibiscus wine 1500 liiters of mulberry and 1k liters of blueberry. will make 1000 liters of raspberry, and more Chardonnay this year.

 

[JBP]

I have made 5 kits plus a few gallons of countrywide the past couple of years - a bit down due to a few life complications. As I am now noticing that my stock is down (guess we have continued to drink wine through those complications - go figure!), next year's poll number needs to go up for me!

Sharing wine with friends and having a place for brief escapes (basement winery) are among the things that keep us resilient when the rest of the world weighs a bit more heavily.

 

[Cedar Hill]

distilled 2 liters of the not perfect wines and made 400 liters of really good brandy.

Not to be picky, but are your numbers correct?

 

[winechef]

2k liters

 

[Christopher Anderson]

All you drunks are weaklings. My biggest issue is making sure my bottles are returned!!!!!

 

[winemaker81]

2k liters

Is this personal, group, or commercial?

 

[winemaker81]

Oddly enough, the 2022 and 2023 polls have been getting traction. I abused my moderator position to update the title of the 2022 post to include the year.

Next year, when I post the next poll, I'm going to specify "non-commercial". Anything non-amateur skews the results. In the USA the production limit by federal law is 200 gallons of wine per head of household. I realize that other countries do not have that restriction, but it colors my thinking. However, if anyone is including commercial production, it skews the poll more.

I've also considered wording the poll to allow for groups, but everything I've considered is too complicated. So we'll go with KISS.

 

[winechef]

I had 2k liters of not good wine that I sent to a factory to distil into Brandy.

this is my first year to sell 2023 wimes commercially have about 2k liters but made 4k 2k weren't quite good enough to my standard. ,2024 will produce more than 5k liters.

but at home I make new recipes and experiment about 500 liters this year. I have 25, 50 and 100 liters batches of different wines started this year, that I'll test out give away and see if will make commercially.

 

[Obbnw]

For me, the poll itself is secondary to the discussion. Craig's and Chris' comments mirror my own in different ways.

I'm cutting back on production as I'm literally out of storage space.

How much we make and how much we keep for ourselves is a significant point, but nothing I can reasonably address in a poll. Of the 96 gallons we produced in 2023, 6 gallons is a Zin kit and 6.6 gallons is an apple/Metheglin which are mine. I purchased 130 lbs each Chambourcin and Vidal from @VinesnBines, and while I assumed that was mine, my son and niece are taking some. [I'm not complaining, as storage is already maxed!]

They are taking 1/3 to 1/2 of the remainder, which is ok, as I'm short on space.

The youngest wines I'm drinking are over 1.5 years old, and the remainder are 2.5 to 6 years old. Folks are wondering, "how do you do that?" It's actually easy. Make more wine than you can drink and be patient.

Make more than you can drink is easier said than done!

I only work with the grapes I grow and last year was a bad year so my wine cellar will be empty by before November if we continue our average consumption.

If weather holds I'm hoping for 60 gallons. We consume roughly 45 gallons per year so I'll need 4 good years to get a years backlog.

My wife gives me the evil eye when I mention planting more vines and I'm maxing production (probably over cropping the malbecs) so the only way to really get ahead is to reduce my consumption.

Although I'd like to reduce consumption, it is a struggle.

I might put more effort into second runs for early drinking this year.