Wine Making Sites of Interest to Beginners

About a year and a half ago I started looking into wine making. As part of that continuing journey I've explored wine making, wine tasting, winery sites, wine clubs, wine terminology, wine snobbery; I thought it, I looked it up; Wine not?

I thought that like a kit to get started I might share with you sites just for looking and dreaming into the world of amateur wine making. If you're at all like me I am a very visual person. If I can grasp a picture of the concept in my head, I always do better.

So, the first site that I will share with you is along those lines and has to do with the process of wine making; i.e. the chemistry of wine making. Take a look at this site:

The Chemistry of Wine Making


I know you won't be memorizing the diagrams but it will give your mind a picture's perspective. You will realize that reds and whites have a similar yet different process; why temperature can make a difference; the purpose of yeasts, etc..

Once I had the picture of the process in mind, I found myself running across words or terminology that I wanted further explanation about. So I found myself looking for a source of wine terminology. The best one I've come across is Wikipedia's Glossary of Wine Terms. This source can be found at:

Glossary of Wine Terms

Another area that I found myself interested in was wine tasting; how to approach it. The first thing that I was made aware of was my little knowledge of the vast vocabulary used in this area of the description of wines. Now it has never been my intent to become a sommelier (wine expert/wine steward). For those of you who know me, I am an "A Type" personality. What does that mean? It means I have to dot all the "i's" and cross all the "t's" when I do anything. In other words, I try to be as thorough as possible. Ana has a more concise word for me, she says I'm anal (anal retentive: a person who is excessively orderly and fussy). I can tell you she says this in a carinos type manner (with all the loving in the world).

What I found was there are many sites having to do with wine descriptors; the language of amore in describing the aromas, the color, the taste of wines. Here are a few:

Wine Lovers Vocabulary

Wine Tasting Terminology

Glossary of Wine-Tasting Terminology


The last area I want to mention is the area of wine equipment. When I first looked at these sites and saw the articles contained in a starter's kit, it dawned on me that I had everything already at home. I'm certain most of you can find all you need at home to get started as well. For those of you who want to check out equipment, here is a list of sites to check out: (Note that I am not endorsing any of these and I encourage you to do your own search on the internet.)

Wine Making Equipment Sites

• The Let's Do Wine web site
• The Wine Maker's Depot web site
• The Midwest Supplies web site

If you have sites that you've found especially helpful in any area of wine making, please forward it to me. Look forward to hearing from you.

Anthony