Discover the Thrill of Creation with a Wine Making Club
Wine Making Clubs... Mastering an Ancient Craft
Wine clubs come in all shapes and sizes. There are wine tasting clubs, like the ones run by the
Tasters Guild
and clubs focused on wine education, e.g.
The Wine Society,
wine clubs for connoisseurs and wine clubs for beginners.
Some wine clubs offer international wines, while others specialize in wines from a certain region or country, like the
BC Wine Club
or the
Washington State Wine Club
Most Exciting...
However one of the most exciting options you can find, the wine making club proposes a much more practical approach to wine appreciation.
Clubs that offer wine making basically offer you the opportunity to learn the secrets of wine making, not by reading about it in a book or a newsletter, but by actually doing it yourself.
The Thrill of Creation
When I think of wine making, the first image that comes to my mind is that of the green bottles we used to fill with the rather unsavory wine we used to make in my grandma's backyard when I was a child. I don't only remember the bottles, of course. I remember the way we used our feet to press the grapes, my grandma's smile, and the joy of summer in the air.
In a way, I think anybody who is passionate about wine has to feel a little bit like the child I was, if they ever get a chance to make their own wine as part of the club experience.
I believe this is because wine making resembles the work of the ancient alchemists; turning grapes into great wine can seem as magic as turning random metals into gold.
In fact, anyone can, by following simple instructions, make something that can be called wine. But what makes great wine great? This is a question that is never easily answered.
A wine club that focues on wine making can give you a few ideas, and you can draw your own conclusions. Though nobody can teach you the magic... you will learn the ABCs of wine making.
You will learn what is a good vintage, what processes and storing conditions make wine age well, what varietals can be combined to make a great mix, and which ones should never cross each other's paths.
North America is home to some of the most popular clubs for wine making, such as the BC-based Vawa Winemaking Club, the Californian
Bacchus Wine Making Club
and the amateur wine making club at Cellarmasters LA.
Wine Making for Dummies
If the idea of bringing home a bottle of wine you made with your own hands sounds exciting to you, then you should consider joining a wine making club.
Although wine clubs exclusively dedicated to wine making, like the ones I mentioned above, are scarce; you can also choose from many well-known wine clubs that offer wine making seminars or excursions either regularly or on occasion.
While it is unlikely that one of these clubs will turn you into a brilliant winemaker overnight...
...you can be sure that the hands-on experience will boost your wine knowledge in a way that definitely beats hearing about it from an expert or reading about it in a book.
