Why do you make wine at home?

[Kenneth Tucker]

I personally love experimentation. I used to breed racehorses and fish (cichlids) and loved the process of combining certain traits of same or like pedigrees (yes, fish have pedigrees!) and seeing what was in my head or on paper come to fruition. I originally made my first batch of wine (cali connoisseurs white zin) as a surprise birthday gift for my father. He suddenly passed away a little over a month before his birthday, 2 weeks before bottling. But it sparked a passion that has taken me from kits to sourcing local grapes to planting 60 vines (cab sauv, pinot, shiraz, chardonnay and albariño). The funniest part in all of this is that up until 6 years ago, I was a teetotaler!

 

[Boatboy24]

I used to breed racehorses and fish (cichlids) ...

What sort of creature did that produce??

 

[Johnd]

What sort of creature did that produce??

Amphibious

 

[mainshipfred]

What sort of creature did that produce??

Good one, it did take me a few seconds to get it though and it may have taken longer if not for John's relpy.

 

[sour_grapes]

What sort of creature did that produce??

Obviously:

 

[Kenneth Tucker]

Obviously:

Exactly, the famed Hippocampus, otherwise known as the common seahorse! Lol

 

[4score]

To me, it is a hobby. I enjoy creating something that is both scientific and artistic, that can be shared with others. However, if I could buy a better wine than what it costs me to make (not including my time), I would move on to another hobby.

I'm with @NorCal in that if I could buy a better wine at the same or lower price it may make it hard to keep funding this hobby. Luckily, not all, but a lot of the wine we make is pretty darn good. Then, there's the intangibles.....like sharing process and wine with friends and family, not to mention the family that makes wine with me. Just our racking yesterday of 248 gallons was a big deal and it brought all three families together to get it done. Between all the the work, it's just a lot of fun doing something together.

 

[4score]

I'm with @NorCal in that if I could buy a better wine at the same or lower price it may make it hard to keep funding this hobby. Luckily, not all, but a lot of the wine we make is pretty darn good. Then, there's the intangibles.....like sharing process and wine with friends and family, not to mention the family that makes wine with me. Just our racking yesterday of 248 gallons was a big deal and it brought all three families together to get it done. Between all the the work, it's just a lot of fun doing something together.

 

[GaDawg]

It’s a chemistry set for adults!

 

[BernardSmith]

For me there is something magical about transforming honey or fruit into wine, grains into bread or beer, or milk into cheese. We live in a very engineered world, an incredibly materialist world, but being able to touch that mystery, that magic and bring it in your kitchen highlights how enchanted life on our planet really is. That's my motivation for fermenting at home

 

[heatherd]

I also like being able to control what's in my wine, like using time rather than chemicals to clear. I have found that I can really streamline the process down to just yeast, MLB, and kmeta for most of my red batches. For the whites, it's yeast, kmeta, and sometimes tartaric acid. I can always do more, but am aiming to keep things simple. I was inspired by the winemaker at Harford Vineyard (Kevin), saying that he doesn't do any adjustments pre-fermentation, and few post-fermentation, to allow the wine to really express itself. That's been my thought process for about the last two years and the wine is turning out well.

 

[joeswine]

The above statement I will ditto because that's what wine making is its crafting you need to take your time , use some intelligence and have fun.
If the hand on approach to self doing can I enjoy and the learning no matter what the outcome.

 

[KevinL]

Hobby for me. I did my first batch when I was deployed to Iraq. I didn't even drink. I just thought it would be fun to do. Continued in college once I got back to the states and haven't stopped. Like Norcal said, I do love that this is an easy hobby where you can share the result with others, even if they're not into the hobby. Building models or hobby along that line is usually only appreciated by other hobbyists, whereas just about everyone I've met has an opinion on wine, one way or another.

I'm doing it wrong if it's supposed to be cheaper. It'll be a few years before the vineyard pays me back.

 

[beano]

I do it for the cost. But also, it's fun and I can be creative. The big plus is I get to enjoy my efforts.

Beano Joe

 

[kemikbey]

I live in Istanbul, Turkey. Making a bottle of homemade wine costs me around 3 USD. I need to pay at least 15 USD for a bottle of wine with the same level of quality. I drink around 10 bottles a month, so cost was quite a reasonable motive for a poor, 3rd world alcoholic to produce (at least half of) his wine at home.

But unintentionally, the greatest gain turned out to be the experience and the knowledge. I learned what happened if I macerated the must two days longer, what became if I had fermented the juice with wildies, what oaking and overoaking did to the wine. After all the forgeries, all the mistakes, once the stringent and bitter juice became a miracle for me, i learned to differantiate and understand better, and every bottle became a source of new excitement and happiness.

 

[Obelix]

Hard to really pick one option.
I's a good fun, you know what you put in it (less poison as you care), tastes good and saves money.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

I'm not sure I got into any of the options given lol.

I guess I'm just a DIYer and right now I'm interested in wine again. I'm a hands on, anything you can do, I can do better sort of guy. I enjoy the art and the science of it. I love sharing with friends and family. The looks on faces when they try their first skeeter pee is priceless lol

 

[sour_grapes]

Why do I make wine at home?

Because they frown on it when I make it at work.

 

[NorCal]

Why do I make wine at home?

Because they frown on it when I make it at work.

Now that was funny.

 

[mainshipfred]

Why do I make wine at home?

Because they frown on it when I make it at work.

I do make wine at work because my wife frowns when I make it at home.