Welcome to Small Batch Wine Making!  My name is Dennis Samuelson and I have been making wine at home for several years now.  It’s a hobby that I really enjoy; both the process and the end result.

I’ve been a consumer of wine for some 40+ years.  I might even describe myself as a ‘avid consumer’ as since my college days I have enjoyed visiting wineries, hosting wine tasting with friends and traveling to out of the way wine mom & pop shops looking for dusty bottles from vintages of year’s past.  Today I still have some excellent Cabs & Bordeaux’s in my wine storage that I purchased back in the 70’s & 80’s.

Wine making began for me as a curiosity to see if I could make a ‘drinkable’ wine.  I purchased the basic supplies in an all-in-one kit and bought an inexpensive white wine kit understanding that it would be drinkable sooner than making a red wine.  I followed the directions to a tee and to my surprise, it tasted pretty good!  Maybe not quite as good as the store bought wine, but it was certainly drinkable.

I began to research websites and join wine making forums to learn all that I could.  I made a decision to continue with juice via wine kits but to up my game by purchasing the higher quality kits.  Winemakers always told me that it all starts in the field .. it you want a great wine, you need to start with great fruit.  I also quickly understood that the more expensive wine kits costs just a couple dollars more a bottle when you spread the added cost across the 25-30 bottles you get from a six gallon batch.

Over the years, I have learn a lot about small batch wine making by making dozens of batches of wine, six gallons at a time.  I’ve moved my operation from a corner in the garage to a 12’x12′ outbuilding (shed) which I have set up to be temperature controlled.

While I enjoy consuming the wines that I make, I enjoy them more with friends and the opportunity it provides to share my wine by giving it away.  I still primarily make kit wines as South Carolina doesn’t produce wine grapes worthy of making a great wine. The kits allow me to let others select quality grapes and press them into juice which is the base for my wine making efforts. It also allows me to start batches at any time during the year.

This website is dedicated to sharing information about the process of wine making, but also to share what I and others have learned about the equipment and supplies used while making wine. Some of it is what I think it the best, yet reasonable cost, of conventional wine making equipment and some of it is thinking outside the box.

I’ve searched Amazon.com for the best prices hoping that it will provide you with a quick way to read what other have to say about the products and making buying easy.  Note that should you purchase, I earn a small referral from Amazon as a member of their affiliate program.  Please know that my efforts here are not for the referral payment but more about the love of wine making and the desire to share with others in hope that they will give it a try.

Wishing you great success with your wine making endeavors!