A beginner's guide to making your own wine
Imagine making your own bottle of tasty wine. Curious about where and how to start? From short courses to hands-on experience, these winemakers share their tips on launching into the wonderful world of grapes.
There's no denying the allure of winemaking. It's enough to make some people turn their back on a successful career in order to chase vinous dreams.
That's what happened to Vas Sekerin. The 25-year-old winemaker was a graduate pilot before fixing his sights on vines. "I went into it without ever having made wine before," he says. "It was literally clean slate. It's a miracle I've made it as far as I have."
Originally from Eastern Europe, his family migrated to Australia in 2005 and, after settling in Adelaide's suburbs, bought a plot of land in Piccadilly Valley in 2016. There, they dreamt of producing their own organically farmed food. Their new home just happened to include a premium chardonnay vineyard.
"We didn't have any background in viticulture or oenology," Sekerin says. "But Dad and I decided to try to look after the vineyard ourselves. It took us almost four months to prune it because we had no idea what was going on."
It is a labour of love. I put every single dollar into wine because I love it so much.Vas Sekerin
Rather than use poison, they walked through the vineyard, crushing troublesome insects with their hands. "If you told that to any conventional viticulturist, they'd look at you like you're mad."
For the first two years their fruit was contracted to Petaluma but when the wine company ended the relationship, the family found themselves with excess grapes.
Sekerin's first attempt to make wine in his family's shed was just for fun. He used grapes salvaged from the end rows after harvest. "I didn't even know what a basket press was, so I certainly had no idea what to do with it."
The result was bad. "I made a great batch of vinegar and threw it out."
Meanwhile, he completed his aviation studies and 200 hours of air time. After clocking up a $104,000 HECS debt, he was ready to hit the sky as a commercial pilot. Then, in 2019, COVID hit. It was a catalyst, of sorts. "Suddenly, my career as a pilot got pushed back," he says. "My plan was to fly planes for 10 years, then buy a vineyard of my own."
With flights grounded and more time on his hands, he took on a hospitality job at natural wine bar and restaurant The Summertown Aristologist. He was inspired by what he tasted there, and decided to give wine another crack.
His second attempt was more successful. This time, he and his dad were armed with Sheridan Warrick's book The Way to Make Wine, a few demijohns, a hand-cranked de-stemmer and a creaking basket press. "The amount of information I had going into it was catastrophically small. If I knew as much about wine then as I do now, I probably wouldn't have started making wine."
Friends and family loved what they made and with that, his little wine brand State of Nature was born.
"Dad and I had so much fun crushing the grapes. Rather than thinking about making money from this, we just really wanted to have fun. We promised each other we wouldn't continue if it wasn't fun any more."
Things escalated quickly. Sekerin ploughed his savings into their little project and works full-time at other wineries to fund his obsession.
"It is a labour of love. I put every single dollar into wine because I love it so much." He pauses. "I probably won't take any money from the venture for another couple of years because I'll reinvest it into new equipment, bottles, labels, you name it."
A backyard batch is one thing, but if you plan to sell your creation commercially there's a lot to think about. Buying fruit (if you can find it), equipment, a place to make the wine and the people to guide you through the process can be challenging. Then there's branding, bottles, labelling, corks (or closures), temperature-controlled storage, packaging, marketing and shipping. You also need a liquor production and sales licence. Still keen? Sekerin was.
It's a good thing, too. The current State of Nature wines (made with organically farmed fruit and minimal sulphur) are stunning. His 2021 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay, 2021 Kuitpo Riesling, 2021 Skin-Contact Chardonnay, 2021 Oakbank Pinot Meunier and 2021 McLaren Vale Shiraz are exciting. He is one to watch.
In Victoria, Castagna Wines' Julian Castagna also took things from curious to serious. Castagna and his wife Carolann (a writer) ran one of Sydney's most successful film production houses before turning to winemaking and certified biodynamic viticulture.
"I was always wine-obsessed," Castagna says. "I worked as a film director in London when fine wine was still affordable and spent a lot of my time, money and energy on it."
The couple bought their dream Beechworth property in 1996. "It got to a point where I felt that I was working for money rather than for fun," he says. "I'd watched people make wine, helped people make wine during trips to France and Italy, and tasted with great palates, so decided yes, I was going to have a go at it. I'm not a scientist so it was the wine that attracted me."
Finding the right place to grow and make it was essential. "I believe there are only 10 places in Australia that have the potential to make world-class wine. I kept coming back to Beechworth, where there was this amazing piece of terroir producing interesting, incredible wines. The land was still affordable so that's where we went."
The couple planted shiraz, viognier and sangiovese (they later planted nebbiolo and chenin blanc) and Castagna studied a year-long winemaking course at Melbourne University's Dookie campus.
"I don't know how much I learnt but I found it valuable," he says. "We are obsessed by science in Australia – sometimes to our disadvantage. All I am interested in is making magic. You pick the grapes, you squash them, you let them ferment naturally and you then put them into barrels, you leave them there for about two years and it should taste good."
From the outset, Castagna was firm in his biodynamic, zero-addition approach and focus on the vineyard. "I make wine without mucking around. I have a simple philosophy: I make wine that I would like to drink and I sell it at a price that I think I would buy it for."
These days, Castagna wines are coveted and intimate tastings (by appointment) happen on their porch. "Beechworth is magic. We live and work in a place where people are generous with their time."
DIY advice
New, innovative producers are the lifeblood of the wine-making industry. No matter how serious your ambitions are (from backyard dabbling to full-time pro), great contacts are essential.
Without a vineyard of your own (let's face it, few have that luxury), sourcing grapes can be challenging, especially during difficult seasons.
That's where an amateur wine club comes in handy. Amateur wine is defined as any fermented beverage not made for commercial purposes. There's plenty of it out there.
Adventurous dilettantes make wine in sheds, garages and backyards across the nation, purely for home consumption.
Formed during the 1970s, Victoria's Frankston Amateur Winemakers Guild now boasts 130 members, many of whom meet monthly to listen to guest speakers, take part in winery tours and learn to make wine, liqueur, mead or cider. They even make wine with vegetables.
The club is devoted to education, winemaking craftsmanship, mateship and the invaluable connections that come with it. If you want advice on equipment, fruit sourcing, and the basics of fermentation, this is a good place to start.
"Being a part of a club means you get access to good-quality grapes and members' buying power," says guild president Glen Fortune.
Members also take part in winemaking competitions with sister club (and light-hearted rivals) Eltham and District Winemakers Guild.
"All levels are welcome because you never know where the next bit of useful information is going to come from," Fortune says. "The industry is just so vast."
You don't have to make a lot of wine to be a good winemaker. "Many of our members might only make, say, 25 litres a year, while others make 500 litres. Some make 30 different wines in one year and others make none. It's all good fun."
Mistakes are all part of the learning process. "You won't always make a great wine but you will have a great time."
Where to start
From backyard hobbyist to full-time pro, these resources will help you on your way.
Read all about it
- Tim Patterson's Home Winemaking for Dummies ($39.95, buy now ) does what it says on the cover: teaches basics for beginners.
- For a science-packed page turner, A Complete Guide to Quality in Small-Scale Wine Making provides foundational information in chemistry and sensory science for novice to intermediate-level winemakers ($75.95, buy now).
- Meanwhile, the mind-bending Wild Winemaking ($34.25, buy now) goes beyond the grape and provides insight into making wine with other fruit, vegetables, flowers and herbs.
Join an amateur wine club
The likes of Sydney Amateur Winemakers Club, Frankston Amateur Winemakers Guild, Eltham and District Winemakers Guild, and the Amateur Winemakers and Brewers Club of Adelaide (AWBCA) welcome all levels of wannabe winemakers. Members catch up regularly to soak up wine education, knowledge and craftsmanship. Above all, it's fun.
Play for a day
Just want to make a few bottles? Tick winemaking off your bucket list with a short stint at a winery.
- On March 26, Austin's Wines in Geelong runs a Rosé Academy event where participants pick and footstomp pinot noir grapes and learn from experts ($325/day pass or $1290/year including your own bottled wine, 6ft6wine.com).
- On April 23, Coonawarra's Raidis Estate hosts their day-long Living the Dream 2022 experience, where participants pick their own fruit and make wine (for release in 12 months) with the help of pro winemakers ($1200/person, raidis.com.au).
- Hunter Valley's Brokenwood Wines hosts an annual Get Your Hands Dirty event which allows participants to pick grapes in the iconic Graveyard Vineyard and footstomp them back at the winery, followed by a long lunch with the winemakers. It's free for Brokenwood wine club members (but requires a minimum purchase of two dozen wines per quarter, brokenwood.com.au).
Take things up a notch
- Sydney Wine Academy helps hone your senses with their day-long Wine Sensory Evaluation Boot Camp ($155, sydneywineacademy.edu.au).
- TAFE NSW Kurri Kurri Campus teaches winemaking in a Hunter Valley setting. TAFE's two-year Certificate III in Wine Industry Operations covers bottling and packaging, cellar door sales and operations, laboratory work, warehousing and wine grape growing. tafensw.edu.au
- In Victoria, University of Melbourne's Vine to Wine intensive subject teaches participants how to create wine from harvest to bottle. Students visit vineyards in the King Valley, Nagambie Lakes and Goulburn Valley regions to learn how wine is made. It usually takes place during February and does not assume any scientific knowledge or study. unimelb.edu.au
- Alternatively, Melbourne Polytechnic runs an eight-week introduction to winemaking course for which no previous experience is necessary. melbournepolytechnic.edu.au
Need kit?
From small fry to big guys, national wine kit retailer Winequip sells everything from yeast to sulphur, buckets to tanks and everything in between.
Make a career of it
Got three to six years to spare? Charles Sturt University's bachelor of wine science, the Melbourne Polytechnic's bachelor of agriculture and technology, viticulture and winemaking degree, Adelaide University's bachelor of viticulture and oenology, and La Trobe University's viticulture and winemaking (as part of the bachelor of agriculture and technology degree) are for serious winemaker wannabes. Be prepared to hit the books.
Handy hints for would-be winemakers
Advice from wine educator and Fall From Grace winemaker Gill Gordon-Smith
- Know what style of wine you are aiming for and taste widely.
- Arm yourself with knowledge/education, do your research and read widely.
- Find a great mentor or mentors.
- Get vintage experience and get your hands dirty in the vineyard and winery. Listen and learn.
- Park your ego. This is a journey not a destination and you'll gain a lot if you listen to people in the know.
- Cost everything.
- Do it anyway.
- Stay humble – someone's always going to do it better and has done it before.
