On Making Good Wine

We’ve often said that making wine is easy. But making good wine … well, that’s another question. When we started the Yellow Farmhouse Winery we made a list of the things we liked and did not like about other wineries.  No sense making the same mistakes others have made, and why not learn from their successes? Making good wine was at the top of the list.

We knew that the quality of Missouri wines was on the rise. Some Missouri winemakers were making some pretty good stuff – and it seemed to be getting better. We wanted to be among those who were advancing the art and science of making good, maybe even great, Missouri Wine. We had been making wine in our basement for twenty-five years, and thought we knew the basics of making good drinkable wine. What we did not know was that the jump from a five gallon carboy of basement wine to a thousand liter stainless-steel tank was like going to the moon! The making of quality wine in large batches is a science all its own.
Our first vintage was 2006, made with purchased grapes. It was so bad we had to throw it away. Believe me, it wasn’t the grapes! Since then we’ve tried to learn from our mistakes, and by all indications we are making some progress. We don’t judge our successes by medals won at the State Fair. We take our signals from our customers who freely give us their comments and criticisms and return (or don’t) because they like our wines.

Occasionally we get a clear signal that we are doing something right.

One such signal came early on a Saturday in April. A wine club (not the YF Wine Club) entered our Tasting room unannounced without any reservation or notice arriving in a procession of three SUVs. There were twelve of them and they were pretty serious onephiles.  Some of them made wine and even grew their own grapes; they were of a serious note swirling, sniffing and sipping with furled brows and studious scows.  They were skeptics of the first degree. They did not ask a lot of questions, but went about their tasting in a sort of professional way, whispering among themselves, comparing and commenting.  Some even made notes. We felt it best to shut up and listen. Sometimes you really can learn if you keep your mouth shut!

They told us they were hitting four wineries that day (a pretty ambitious afternoon!) and had allotted an hour for each. As the tasting went on they seemed to concentrate on our Biker Bar Norton and Drop Dead Red Barbera. In about an hour they paid their $5 tasting fees and left. From a sales standpoint their vote with their wallets was pretty harsh.  They bought three bottles among them. Oh well, it was interesting.

The afternoon wore on. We got busy and we just forgot about our group of visitors. They would not tell us the other wineries they were visiting and we did not expect to see them again.

About 4:30 the procession of SUV’s returned and the club piled out. This time was different.  They were full of compliments and wanted to taste again. This time it was more than a tasting; it was like a cocktail party. They awarded us their highest compliment: “best wine we tasted all day”. And they bought wine – lots of it.  Mostly Norton, and Barbera, but a smattering of Edelweiss, Traminette and Vignoles.

Our chests swelled; our egos soared, but after all, isn’t this what it’s all about – making good wine?

Our winery isn’t big. We didn’t have millions to invest. We didn’t have a great chef or a winemaker with an accent. We just have the quest to make good wine, consistently and reliably so that by plunking down $18 to $24 you are going to get a good product that you can take home and drink with a meal or enjoy in the Wine Garden or on the back porch.

By most indications we seem to be succeeding. At least we are not throwing out so many batches! Most important you seem to be liking our wines. And that is why we are here. That is the award we seek. When you come back, enjoy a bottle in our Wine Garden or join our Wine Club we know that we are doing something right.

At the heart of it is good, drinkable wine.