My Love For Wine (And Why You Should Care)

When I saw a Groupon for a wine making class, I bought it. And that was that. I left the class a soon-to-be, self-proclaimed winemaker!

I started drinking wine much like everyone else. I never liked the wine at holidays growing up but the fruity, sweet wines always tasted yummy. I went from Boones Farm to Moscato, and then I met my husband.

Nick liked all the wines when we met and thus my push into wine life began. I tried everything white and blush. I soon realized I liked a semi sweet Reisling almost as much as a Moscato. It took me a while to come around to the reds, but I soon did.

The first red wine I really enjoyed was a full-flavored, smokey Zinfandel. Well I'm still not sure how I went from not liking any reds to a smokey Zin, that's what happened.

After the wine class, Nick bought me a deluxe wine making kit as a gift and I was ready. The first (33 bottle) batch of wine I made was a Cabernet. I was nervous but I meticulously followed the directions (SO hard for a non rule follower!) and it turned out tasty. However, the batch was huge and because it was a Cab, the longer I waited to drink it, the better it tasted.

I wanted to do something else. I wanted to make wine that was in smaller batches with more flavors. I wanted a way to test flavors and additions and not spend months on end for each batch.

This is when I started making fruit (juice based) wine. Store bought juice mixed with granulated white sugar and then topped with a 1/4 teaspoon of champagne yeast. Less than two months, and it was done.

And the flavors, oh the flavors! As long as you get a 100% fruit juice (or juice with only other juice or sugar added) you can mix and match almost anything together and see what you get.

As much as I love to try things, I also hate to waste batches or even parts of batches based off of "doing it wrong," possible sanitation issues, or just not liking the taste.

So this is my story and here's why it's awesome: because I'm going to teach you how!

Do you want to make your own fruit wine from home? Follow my blog for a step by step guide. (emmyrokke.com)

This article is only part one of the series. Watch for more (and videos) including what you need to make wine, the steps, the timing, the how-to's, the DONT's, and more!

Happy Friday and Happy Wineing!