- When did you first start making wine? - What type of wine was it? - What wines do you make/prefer now? - Why do you do it? I started making wine for a roomate. It was a simple grape juice, raisins and bread yeast wine. I now make Chinese style, medicinal rice wine. I do it because it's healthier for me, and I greatly prefer the quality. My favorite wine I ever produced was a gallon of Beet & Blood Orange Melomel. I poured shots for people at a party. As soon as they drank it, I would ask them to tell me what I made the wine with. The response was 'Berries?' from every single person. At 15 seconds (timed on my watch) I would ask them what they taste now? I could see the flash in their eyes as they went to respond and changed their answer. At 15 seconds, the flavor changed and a flash of strong orange would cross your tongue. LOL Freaking amazingly delicious, and then the furnace would start in your belly. I swear it was over 18% ABV. :D

If I'm honest, I've struggled with these in teh past. The ones that aren't naturally low feel overworked and cooked whereas the naturally low ones often have a ton of residual sugar to make up for it. What have you found out there? Do share some good ones, please!

I had always loved the idea of knowing about wine, but in the beginning, it felt massively unwieldy as a subject. One day, a chance visit to an Italian wine bar gave me a roadmap for learning about it: The first step they taught me? Start with the grapes and ignore everything else. For now. It was my eureka moment. I started to get to know the personalities of the world’s most famous wine grapes and then the rest sort of fell into place. Have you had a eureka wine moment? Please share! Helena x