Today, you can surely find several big brands selling organic wines of all varieties. Organic wines are derived from grapes that are grown naturally, without the use of chemicals. An advantage of purchasing organic wines is that you eliminate the possibility of taking in chemicals from fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, which are commonly used in grape vineyards. Also, organic wines become the choice by many people who are allergic to some contents of the above mentioned chemicals.

Organic wines do not necessarily have to differ in alcoholic content when compared to regular red wines or white wines. Generally, according to organic farming standards in the US, a wine must be made up of at least 70% organic grapes before it can be labeled in the market as “made from organic”.

There is, however, a notable difference when buying regular wines and organic wines. The cost of producing the organic variety can be higher, so you can expect such wines to be slightly more expensive. Take the time to sample some organic wine varieties, and find out for yourself if there are any significant differences when it comes to body and flavor. Today, organic wines are still popular among wine connoisseurs, and are also great for giving as gifts. You can find many brands from the US and Europe that produce and ship these special wines.

My favorite place to buy organic wines is The Organic Wine Company.

Do you enjoy wine? Many people love this beverage because of its soothing flavors that make any party a special occasion. Wine also complements many dishes quite impeccably, making this drink a must-have for connoisseurs and gourmands alike. But besides knowing what to pair your wines with, you should also know the right methods of wine bottle storage.

In the olden days, wines were precious commodities, and they had to be stored in dark caves or huge wine cellars to maintain their flavor. This trend for wine bottle storage has not changed much over the centuries, as the optimum conditions for keeping wine properly remain the same. In general, you want your wines to be in a place that is dark, humid, and cool.

First of all, there is a reason why wines are stored in dark-colored bottles, and that is to keep UV light from penetrating the glass and quickly aging the liquid. In this same regard, wine cellars are intended to have as little light as possible. This helps preserve the flavor of the wine. Secondly, an appropriate amount of humidity or air moisture is needed, so that the corks will not dry out, and the wine inside will not easily oxidize. Just like the conditions in caves or basements, the air temperature must be cool, as warm temperatures encourage the growth of bacteria, fungi, and also affect the taste of stored wine.

Remember to always keep your wines stored lying down. This keeps the cork moist, making it seal the wine more tightly, locking in the flavors. If the cork dries out, it can allow oxygen to enter the bottle. At the same time, avoid agitating or moving around the bottles constantly. Keeping bottles still will help sediments settle on the bottom, so they won’t get poured out into your glass.

Homemade wine making is fast becoming very popular across the world. There are several reasons for this.

The biggest one is that the cost to transport that yummy nectar from where they grow, harvest, and ferment it is going up right along with the cost of fuel. There’s no two ways around it - we are about to see bottles of wine at the grocery store and wine shops double.

In the last year, there has been a flurry of “How To” guides crop up around the internet. All of the guides are helpful and at least can get a beginner started. My favorite is The Complete Illustrated Guide to Homemade Wine.

The truth is, you can make high quality wine, award winning wine, at home, in a 5 gallon food bucket.

Some preparation and materials are required. You have to at least have a hydrometer. You need at least the 5 gallon bucket. AND - you need some kind of near air tight secondary fermentation vessel. In the industry we call this a “carbouy”.

There are very inexpensive airlocks and some plastic tubing to round out the equipment.

Some chemicals may be required as well. Yeast is an obvious first one (not really a chemical but a dormant microbe). Citric acid, potassium sorbate, metabisulfate, campden tablets, pectin enzyme and a few others are pretty common.

The biggest secret in home wine making is: get the good stuff to start with.

There are actually vineyards that will sell small quantities of grapes or even crushed grapes and juices, fresh from the vineyard. Although these are hard to locate, they do exist. I have found at least one wine making guide that lists these sources.

Aside from the money savings (you can make wine for about 25 cents a bottle), there is the actual enjoyment of making something that you can drink! If your batch comes out really good, you will be calling all your neighbors and friends to come and give it a try.

Cheers and happy wine making! Be sure to read The Complete Illustrated Guide to Homemade Wine for detailed instructions on how to make quality wine at home for less than $1.

So - you have decided that you want to try your hand at making some wine. This article will describe the basic steps and some of the pitfalls to avoid to make sure your first batch turns out good enough to drink.

First things first - how much do you want to make?

I recommend at least 5 gallons. Why? Because beginning home wine makers just cannot wait to taste what they have made. In addition, 5 gallons is only 25 bottles. So you’ll get the batch finished, and then you will try a bottle or 2 or 3. Then you’ll wait a week and try a few more bottles. Sooner than later, it will all be gone before it has a chance to age and get really good.

If you just want to do something quick and simple, you could do a gallon in a plastic milk jug. The drawback is, once you have tasted it a few times - it’s all gone and you’ll have to start over.

With 5 gallons - you just might be tempted to let a few of the remaining bottles age. Believe it or not, the biggest mistake beginning winemakers make is not letting their wine age in the bottle. The difference in taste is, to put it mildly, AMAZING.

The next step is to decide which type of juice you want to ferment. Grape juice, cranberry juice, muscadine, and cherry are all good starter choices. The first 3 should produce a rather normal tasting wine while cherries usually will give you a sweeter wine. Of course, you can always add sugar to sweeten your wine after it is stabilized and has stopped fermenting.

The next step is to completely sterilize all of the containers and equipment you will be using. Some people use extremely hot water, others recommend using a sanitizer. I like the sanitizer because you do not have to scald yourself with the hot water. The sanitizing solution should be poured over everything and should make contact with all surfaces. Then you just rinse everything off with hot water.

Put your juice in your 5 gallon bucket - that’s the next step. BUT - it’s not time to put your yeast in yet.

We first want to sterilize our “must” or our juice. You can do this with 4 Campden Tablets. These are sulfite tablets that will get rid of any type of bacteria that could be present in the juice. Crush the tablets and then dissolve them in some warm water and then pour them in your juice or “must”. Let this sit overnight while the sulfites do their work.

24 hours later, you are ready to sprinkle in or “pitch” your yeast.

The type of yeast you decide to use is really a question that is beyond the scope of this article. However, I’ll say that there are hundreds of different yeast strains for literally thousands of different uses. For our first batch, we can just use the bakers yeast that you can easily find at the grocery store. Later, and after some research, you will probably want to use one of the specialized strains.

Now - wait 7 days and watch. you will want to cover your bucket with a cloth towel or even put on a lid with an airlock in place. The wine will be perfectly safe during the fermentation stage because it will give off lots of Carbon Dioxide. The Co2 will protect your wine from the oxygen in the air.

Once the 7 days has passed, siphon off the wine from the bucket into another bucket or into a glass “carboy”. These can be found online or at your local wineshop. When you are doing the siphoning, you will want to get as little of the gunk on the bottom of the bucket as possible. This gunk is called “lees” and is made up of dead yeast. Wine that sits on top of the dead yeast sometimes can develop an “off” flavor.

Once your wine has been transferred into what is called your “secondary fermenter”, then you will want to put an airlock in place and just let it sit for about a month. There’s a song about this part - “The Waiting is the Hardest Part”. It’s true. Every budding home winemaker just cannot wait to taste the stuff - but - don’t do it. It surely won’t hurt you but during this month it is still fermenting. The wine isn’t finished yet. Be Patient.

After the month is up, you will want to transfer it back to your bucket, again making sure that you leave the gunk on the bottom. The process of transferring the wine from one vessel to another is called “racking”. Why? That’s something I am going to research for another article.

You are just about there. Theres only one thing left to do and that is to add a “stablizer” to your wine. A stabilizer inhibits yeast reproduction. In essence, it stops yeast from doing it’s thing. Part of what happens during yeast growth and reproduction is that it releases Co2 gas. If that is happening after you bottle the wine, you will get popped corks or exploded bottles or both. So - put in the stabilizer, stir the wine well, and then return it to your Secondary Carboy fermentation vessel. Be sure and clean out the secondary and sterilize it before you do.

Now, all you have to do at this point is wait until the wine clears. Gravity is your friend here. Of course, it won’t hurt a bit to bottle cloudy wine. But if you wait another month, it should be crystal clear. The clearing process is another subject that you can find a great deal of information on in other guides and books and I suggest you read up on this subject when you get a chance.

Bottling time! All you have to do is make sure your bottles are clean and sanitized and just siphon the wine into the bottles. Corking the bottles can be a little difficult and i highly recommend you get some king of corker. Again, these are available online or at your local wine shop.

Now - BE PATIENT and let the wine sit in the bottle for 6 to 9 months. The longer the wine ages, the better it will taste - I guarantee it. Happy winemaking!

Want to learn more about making wine in your own home? Be sure to read The Complete Illustrated Guide to Homemade Wine for detailed instructions on how to make quality wine in your own home for less than $1 a bottle.

If you want to learn more about making wine from home, please join our newsletter.

Wine tasting events can be an entertaining and astounding experience, especially when it is your very first one. Unfortunately, there are many people who will never take the plunge and partake in one because they are afraid they won’t know what to do, wear, or say; they are afraid of the unknown. Wine tasting is not something to be weary of; there are just some basic things one needs to know before showing up to one of these events.

First, you should expect for the women to be served before the men; this is completely normal. When handed a glass of wine, it should always be handled by the stem of the glass so the temperature of the wine is not affected. Often times, there will be bottled water and different basic snacks such as crackers offered between tastings. This is offered to normalize the flavors in the mouth, clean it out, and prepare to fully experience the flavor of the next wine.

The wines are always served in crystal clear glasses to allow a complete review of the wine, including the colors. Table cloths are a simple white to further enhance the ability to examine the colors. The name of a wine does not always correctly describe them, so never assume anything from their name.

More advance wine tasters will likely be seen gently swirling the wine around in their glass. Swirling the wine is not an odd fascination, or people being weird. It is common because doing so lets the wine release the full aroma and flavor that it is intended to provide. Wine is carefully aged, and can be stored for very long periods of time.

There is a sort of ritual that unfolds during a wine tasting, and it is well proven to be effective. When tasting at these events, the wine should gently be handled by the stem, and be carefully observed by sight. Next, the unique aromas that abound from the wine are thoughtfully inhaled. The aroma of wine is an integral to the overall enjoyment, and full experience of tasting wine. Before taking that delightful taste, it should be gently swirled around in the glass.

Finally, the wine is ready to slip onto the taste buds. Tasting the wine is an art in itself. It should be swished around in the mouth for a few seconds because it needs time to effectively awaken both the taste buds on the front of the tongue, and in the rear. After it is swallowed, it’s amazing how the true flavor is still finding the way to all the senses.

It should be apparent, but before going to a wine tasting, there should be as much research as possible as to the types of wines that will likely be served. This will aid in understanding what to look for in the wine. Fear should not prevent anyone from attending one of these extraordinary events!

If you want to learn more about wine and wine tasting, the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Wine will teach you all you need to know to host a wine tasting party with your friends.

During these hard economic times, it is becoming increasingly
difficult for consumers to make ends meet. The majority of people are
no longer able to splurge on expensive decadence and luxurious items
such as vintage wine. Well, you may be excited to learn that you don’t
have to give up your evening glass. There is a wide selection of
affordable quality wines that you can choose from, if you know where
to look.

When selecting your affordable wine, you must be sure that you are
truly getting a bargain. If the wine is poor quality, then it’s low
price will not make up for the disappointment. You must find quality
wine at prices that you can afford. Your best bet is to move away from
familiar wine labels. You will have to search for brands that you do
not immediately recognize, as this will be where the bargains are.
When selecting a new brand of wine to try out, be sure to look at the
following factors. Consider the wine’s color, grapes and region of
creation. Look for overseas regions that are perhaps underrated such
as South America, Spain and Chile. Be sure to stay away from bland
labels with high acidic content. A good way to quickly check your
selection is to research the wine’s rating, and perhaps read a review
done on it. There are many online resources to help consumers select
affordable quality wine. You may also wish to seek out second tier
wines form high-end brands as the price will be cheaper, however the
quality will still be there.

If you are still unsure of your selection just ask your wine merchant
to suggest a wine that tastes more expensive then it costs, or for a
wine that received a best value rating. Your salesperson is sure to
have this question asked of them frequently, and will likely be able
to guide you in the right direction. You can also find great wine
deals at wine tasting events through a wine or liquor store. This will
give you the opportunity of tasting your wine first hand before making
your selection.

So remember when you are searching for that perfect bottle follow
these steps. Look for undervalued wine from overseas regions, talk to
your local salesperson, read reviews and taste test at a local wine
exhibition. This way you will be sure to find affordable quality
wines.