Finally Talked Her Into It!.....Kinda

[Hoppopotomus]

I have been a member of HBT for a couple of years and have really enjoyed my journey with home brewing thus far. I have learned so much from the HBT members and have had the opportunity to build some really cool brewing related stuff. Unfortunately, my wife is NOT a beer drinker and although she supports my hobby, she does get a bit irritated with my obsession from time to time. My wife loves wine (I'm learning to), so for the past year or so, I have brought up the possibility of getting into wine making as well. My HBS carries wine making equipment and the full line of Winexpert kits, so I brought home a brochure a month or so ago. She showed an interest in it, but had a less than favorable experience with wine making in the past, so is a bit paranoid. Basically about 5 years ago, we went to a place called Fieldstone Brewing company in Rochester Hills, MI where you can make craft beer and wine. She made wine (Chardonay) and I made beer. The wine did not turn out well, so something went wrong in the process of fermentation/storage/ etc., which the facility handles for their clients. After a couple of months the wine was really oxidized and it eventually turned to vinegar.

I have been assured by the manager at the HBS that their kits are of very high quality and he knows that I am a very careful, by the book, brewer, so he claims that the wine will be fantastic. Anyways, My wife turns 40 today and I bought her everything to make wine for her birthday, including a Premium Interational Select kit, which is an Australian Cabernet. I hope she is into it, because I would love to eventually make wine from scratch. Wish me luck! Maybe if she is really into it, she will be more tolerant of my brewing project and support me in going full steam ahead with my dedicated brewing room. I'm sure we will have questions along the way. Thanks guys and gals!

 

[Dicky]

Good luck!

Couple of quick bits of advice. Wine kit quality generally improves with the price. And it takes a much longer amount of time to make wine than it does beer.

Have fun with it though.

Dicky!

 

[Hoppopotomus]

Thanks for the feedback. We are both aware of the length of time it takes for wine and we are both very patient, so not an issue there. I build a cold storage wine/beer cellar that stays a constant 55 degrees year round. I have the layout for the wine racks complete.....just need to find the time to build the racking and beer shelves. The cellar will hold 150 bottles of wine, numerous carboys (if we elect to condition/age in a carboy) and a sh*t load of beer. The kit I purchased was one of their more expensive ones that has won numerous medals in competitions. I hope it is as good as they say it is, because I need to counteract my wife's bad experience with wine making a while back. We will not touch this first batch for at least 4 months. In the meantime, we may purchase one of their value kits, which evidently is ready much soon, but may not be of as high a quality? Thanks for the feedback!