This is the information about the next beginning winemaking course being taught this fall 2019.  We have a new venue this fall.  The classes will be in Lawrenceburg, Indiana at the town civic center.  The address is 311 West Main Street Lawrenceburg, IN 47025. All five of the classes will be on Tuesdays.  The class dates are:  10/29/2019, 11/26, 12/10, 01/21/2020 and 02/18.  This last class date is tentative and might be moved.  Each class should run from 7:00 PM to about 9:00 PM.

Each student is offered the opportunity to make a batch of wine during the course.   This is not required to take the course, but I feel it is more fun learning swimming in the water, and I think this applies to winemaking as well.  For this reason, the course dates are scattered across several months.  It takes this long for the wine to complete.  I’m estimating that the topics of each class will occur at about the time in the process they are needed.  In the case where friends (spouses, significant other, etc.) are attending, they may make one batch together, or they may decide to each make one.

The course will begin with the basics and follow with topics in the sequence of events where they occur in the winemaking process.  Most classes have a few students who have made wine, but most are beginners.  We attempt to cover both the basics and some advanced topics to meet the needs of both groups.

I charge a nominal tuition fee of $20.00 for the entire course.  This will help me cover the cost of materials.  As with any hobby, it takes a little bit of money to get into it.  If you are already a wine (or beer) maker, you may have most of the equipment.  If not, it takes about $100 for the basic equipment and it will also take money for the ingredients to make the class project.  As you go along, there are other items you may want that either make the process easier or help you make better wine. We will discuss basic and advanced equipment during the course.  Winemaking equipment and supplies can be purchased locally.  We will discuss this in the first class.

I envision the class project to be a wine made from a winemaking kit containing juice and/or concentrate or a bucket of juice.  We will discuss this at the first class. These can run anywhere from about $60 to $150, and probably higher if you want to look far enough.  In theory, the more expensive kits will make a better wine (at least according to the supplier of them).   I wouldn’t guarantee that, but I’m sure that is a general truth.  You can decide what kind of wine and what grade you’d like to make.  So far the wines made but the students using all levels of kits have been very drinkable!

Most handouts for the course will be distributed electronically via e-mail.

If you’d like to join in this winemaking class or have questions, please contact me at the phone numbers or e-mail address below.

Sincerely,

Walt Huber
H: 513-677-8468  (VINT)
E: [email protected]