Why Be Patient? New Folks this is for you.

[Scooter68]

Not a week goes without somebody posting on here a question or comment that demonstrates that the biggest key to good wine making is not the perfect recipe, or primo fruit for the wine.

It all comes down to one word PATIENCE.

Wine making is one of a number of hobbies or endeavors that in the end comes down to patience. There are no magic ways to start with grapes/fruit and the rest of the components of a fine wine and then have a fine wine in 4 weeks or even 6 weeks.
You can produce an alcoholic beverage in that time but that's all you really have.
All the chemicals on the market or in the labs, all the special processes that one can dream up, still won't result in a truly fine wine or even a really good wine without patience.

Anyone on this forum who has been making wine for longer than 2-3 years can tell you that all the chemicals and special processes cannot do for virtually any wine what time can do for no cost at all. Exceptions exist, they are almost always exceptions for every "Rule" in wine making. BUT if you are looking for the easiest way to make great wine - time and PATIENCE are the two biggest parts of making great wine.
Dusty bottles of wine that sell for hundreds of dollars didn't earn those prices by using hurry-up techiniques. It took people time and patience to get that wine to that level of quality, and of course skills learned of years of work and much hard earned patience.

So to all launching out into this hobby please understand that if you really want to please your tastebuds and wow friends and family with your new hobby of wine making - Start this Christmas and you might be ready to tease them all with some "New Wine" next Christmas and then WOW them the following Christmas.

On this forum you will read about "Quick Drinkers" and some other wines but other than the Quick Drinkers like Skeeter Pee and Dragon's Blood, you need to plan on a minimum of 9-12 months from the time you start that fermentation until that first bottle of wine is really ready to drink.

You'll also read kit wine advertisements and labels that claim you can be drinking your wine in 6 weeks - and that is correct, you can drink that wine in 6 weeks but chances are, you and your friends will disappointed if you all like good wines.

Patience has been to me and many others the biggest and hardest part of making a bottle of wine that one can truly share with pride to friends and family.

(I may come on like grouch on this site at times but that's because I too keep learning patience, with my wine, and with folks who keep asking the same questions without having the time and patience to do a little research on this site. There is a wealth of information in almost every single forum thread on here if you just take have the patience to look for it. Doing that will certainly surprise you because you will find answers to questions you didn't even know you had.)

 

[salcoco]

standing ovation!!!!

 

[BernardSmith]

I agree that time and patience are two of the four most important factors but the other two are superlative ingredients and good protocols. Time will only make a poor wine older , not better and the best ingredients(top quality fruit picked when perfectly ripe) plus all the time and patience in the universe won't transform a frog into a prince if your practices are sloppy.

 

[user 32114]

Not a week goes without somebody posting on here a question or comment that demonstrates that the biggest key to good wine making is not the perfect recipe, or primo fruit for the wine.

It all comes down to one word PATIENCE.

Wine making is one of a number of hobbies or endeavors that in the end comes down to patience. There are no magic ways to start with grapes/fruit and the rest of the components of a fine wine and then have a fine wine in 4 weeks or even 6 weeks.
You can produce an alcoholic beverage in that time but that's all you really have.
All the chemicals on the market or in the labs, all the special processes that one can dream up, still won't result in a truly fine wine or even a really good wine without patience.

Anyone on this forum who has been making wine for longer than 2-3 years can tell you that all the chemicals and special processes cannot do for virtually any wine what time can do for no cost at all. Exceptions exist, they are almost always exceptions for every "Rule" in wine making. BUT if you are looking for the easiest way to make great wine - time and PATIENCE are the two biggest parts of making great wine.
Dusty bottles of wine that sell for hundreds of dollars didn't earn those prices by using hurry-up techiniques. It took people time and patience to get that wine to that level of quality, and of course skills learned of years of work and much hard earned patience.

So to all launching out into this hobby please understand that if you really want to please your tastebuds and wow friends and family with your new hobby of wine making - Start this Christmas and you might be ready to tease them all with some "New Wine" next Christmas and then WOW them the following Christmas.

On this forum you will read about "Quick Drinkers" and some other wines but other than the Quick Drinkers like Skeeter Pee and Dragon's Blood, you need to plan on a minimum of 9-12 months from the time you start that fermentation until that first bottle of wine is really ready to drink.

You'll also read kit wine advertisements and labels that claim you can be drinking your wine in 6 weeks - and that is correct, you can drink that wine in 6 weeks but chances are, you and your friends will disappointed if you all like good wines.

Patience has been to me and many others the biggest and hardest part of making a bottle of wine that one can truly share with pride to friends and family.

(I may come on like grouch on this site at times but that's because I too keep learning patience, with my wine, and with folks who keep asking the same questions without having the time and patience to do a little research on this site. There is a wealth of information in almost every single forum thread on here if you just take have the patience to look for it. Doing that will certainly surprise you because you will find answers to questions you didn't even know you had.)

finally,,, you figured it out grasshopper,,, hehe,, now don't use both barrels on a poor old hillbilly
Dawg

 

[winemaker81]

@Scooter68, Excellent post!!!!

I may come on like grouch on this site at times but that's because I too keep learning patience, with my wine, and with folks who keep asking the same questions without having the time and patience to do a little research on this site.

What helps me is remembering that for every thing I've ever done (and will ever do), I started as a newbie. I find that helps with my impatience and intolerance with others.

It also helps to understand that search works only as well as the criteria entered -- if ya don't know what keywords to use, ya ain't gonna find much.

Yeah, sometimes it feels like I've answered the same question 20 times. OTOH, that makes it 20 times more likely that the next beginner will find one of my answers, right?

 

[Scooter68]

Can't use the old double barrel Dawg, got a ding in one barrel of the old side by side 12 guage and you know what a slug in dinged barrel does. So you are plenty safe.

Thanks.

 

[Raptor99]

I just started the wine I plan to drink for Christmas next year.

 

[Scooter68]

I'm thinking about seeing if my peach wine from July 2019 is ready to bottle yet. Might get around to it before January. That's the good thing about having several hobbies, wine aging are no longer a issue for me.

 

[justsipn]

I used to do BBQ competitions. When I first started learning how to BBQ, I thought it was horrible that I had to wait 8-10 hours to enjoy it. I learned to enjoy the process.

Now, I’ve started making wine. I’ve really had to learn that lesson all over again.

I keep telling myself that it’s going to be worse at the beginning. At some point in about 6-9 months I’ll at least have some wine to enjoy while the next batch is aging.

Sad thing is, I’m usually not a patient person.

 

[Rocky]

 

[cmason1957]

Don't have patience, don't want to wait for your wine to age. Well that's fine also, just change what you are making a little bit. Make quick drinking near wines like skeeter pine or Danger Daves Dragons Blood, make in six weeks start drinking week seven. Make some of the Island Mist, Orchard Breezin wine cooler styles, but add about 4 lbs of sugar to them to increase the alcohol from 6-7% ABV to 10-12%. They benefit from about a month in the bottle, but still you can be drinking almost as soon as you bottle. So you make your long term aging wine and then drink this until that's ready.

You probably need a few extra carboys as well, but that's a minor thing really check out Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, any of the local swap meets used carboys go for $15-25 depending on the area you live in.

 

[Handy Andy]

I think you all are forgetting for a beginner to make good wine, we need good luck, as well as good advice. Ive had both this year and my wine is aging well. Thanks to this forum. Merry Christmas to all

I have friends here in the azores, who thought they might follow a traditional fermentation with no added sugar, or nutrients, or Metabisulpate, their wine is already only good for cooking, and will likely be distilled and turned into aguadente.

On this Island we dont have covid at the moment so parties are still allowed. I had a house full last night, and my wife had been extolling the virtues of my wine, so my friends demanded to try my new wine, as opposed to drinking the shop bought stuff, I had hoped to give them. They all approved, but I am down 5 litres of good wine, and left with some box wine which does not keep. This year is a learning year for me, do I need to find new friends?.

Next year I will hopefully produce a lot more wine via making less mistakes, and have plenty left over to age for a year or three afterwards, this year I dont think it is going to last past April at the current consumption rate

 

[Scooter68]

View attachment 69667

I'll second that one. I've always loved this way back when I first saw it on a blacklight poster in the 60s. Yeah that far back.

 

[Scooter68]

... Sad thing is, I’m usually not a patient person.

Me too. I bottled my first batch at 4-5 months and drank the first bottle about 2 weeks later. (Bluerberry) It was OK. That was a 1 gallon batch. 6 months later I had another bottle and it was so different. That was enough to push me into waiting.

But yeah, I found that now after 5 years of this I have gotten into some other things and and I'm able to wait because I'm plenty busy. In fact I have to force myself to go up to the other house and check on the wine Airlocks (every 2-3 weks) and then rack every 3 months. So find another hobby to distract you and you should do fine.

 

[justsipn]

Me too. I bottled my first batch at 4-5 months and drank the first bottle about 2 weeks later. (Bluerberry) It was OK. That was a 1 gallon batch. 6 months later I had another bottle and it was so different. That was enough to push me into waiting.

But yeah, I found that now after 5 years of this I have gotten into some other things and and I'm able to wait because I'm plenty busy. In fact I have to force myself to go up to the other house and check on the wine Airlocks (every 2-3 weks) and then rack every 3 months. So find another hobby to distract you and you should do fine.

I did, it's called "Remodeling spare room into wine cellar and building wine racks".

 

[user 32114]

I used to do BBQ competitions. When I first started learning how to BBQ, I thought it was horrible that I had to wait 8-10 hours to enjoy it. I learned to enjoy the process.

Now, I’ve started making wine. I’ve really had to learn that lesson all over again.

I keep telling myself that it’s going to be worse at the beginning. At some point in about 6-9 months I’ll at least have some wine to enjoy while the next batch is aging.

Sad thing is, I’m usually not a patient person.

it gets much easier when you build your stash,
Dawg

 

[winemaker81]

Can't use the old double barrel Dawg, got a ding in one barrel of the old side by side 12 guage and you know what a slug in dinged barrel does.

Buckshot?

Sad thing is, I’m usually not a patient person.

You'll just have to learn! [Make some quick drinking wine to distract yourself while the other(s) are aging!]

I had a house full last night, and my wife had been extolling the virtues of my wine, so my friends demanded to try my new wine, as opposed to drinking the shop bought stuff, I had hoped to give them.

It's too late, the cat is out of the bag, your friends already know ... get new friends or hide the good stuff and tell 'em you're out!

 

[Scooter68]

Buckshot?

Actually I did use some #00 in the side-by-side before I saw the ding. Kinda took the wind out of my sails for a few minutes to realize I was lucky. Put that gun away and I don't know what eventually happened to it. (It was my Father-in-laws) Think when I told him about it he sort of chuckled.

Anyway I don't have too many folks come calling for my wine these days. Moved away or I could tell they were either High-Faluting Red Wine drinkers or Boone's Farm folks I just don't offer, especially if they don't give me feedback yea or nay they ... can do without. Just left more for me and those who do like Fruit wines.

Ok for now Oscar the grouch has left the building for the day.

 

[user 32114]

Buckshot?



You'll just have to learn! [Make some quick drinking wine to distract yourself while the other(s) are aging!]


It's too late, the cat is out of the bag, your friends already know ... get new friends or hide the good stuff and tell 'em you're out!

hey now,,, easy,@Scooter68 don't need no help. lord have mercy ,,lol
Dawg

 

[balatonwine]

One way to learn patience, is to plant a vinifera vineyard.

Wait maybe three to five years to get a first decent harvest. Then maybe have to wait a decade for the vines to mature, so you can start to get a really good wine from the vines.....

I've been doing this for "only" two decades, which in the scheme of my nearly 2000 year old wine region is nothing. And that helps keeps me in perspective whenever I start to feel impatient.