I am an avid home winemaker in Boulder, Colorado and I like sharing my opinions and what I learn with others.  My interest in wine began while living in Wiesbaden Germany, which is the heart of Germany's white wine region.   My real appreciation and knowledge of the intricacies of wine came later while living in the San Francisco Bay area through multiple tasting  at wineries in the Monterey Central Coast region and Napa Valley.   I help out when I can at two wineries in Boulder.  I make about 20 cases each year of Bordeaux and Italian style wines for my family and friends.  In addition to the wine, I make red wine vinegar aged with French oak, apple and cherry wood.  I also published an article on oak cubes in the February 2004 issue of Winemaker Magazine.  There are multiple books, magazines and web sites dedicated to winemaking.  Unfortunately, some of the information contained in these sources is incomplete or outright wrong.  If you are planning to use malolactic fermentation, sorbate or bentonite, see Beginning Winemaking Tips on the left to avoid costly mistakes. 

The purpose of my site is to provide simple explanations without all the fluff, to fill in the missing gaps and to correct common misconceptions.  This web site contains references, links and email addresses for the reader who wishes to dig deeper on a particular subject, buy equipment, books or wine kits.  I hope you find this site useful and I invite you to share your experiences and opinions with me through the email link at the bottom of this page.

The picture on the left above is my bottling equipment in use.  The stainless steel tanks are variable volume 100 liters each.  I use the CO2 tank (blue topped cylinder secured to the bench leg) to purge the oxygen off the wine at various stages in the winemaking process.  Next to the CO2 tank is my red floor corker.  I suggest that you don't bother buying a hand corker because they are too hard to use.  Spend the extra $30 and buy a floor corker, you will be glad you did.  The Buon Vino Automatic bottle filler (red device with a tube attached to the tank on the left) works great, you need one!  The capacity of this setup is about 10 cases per hour. 

The picture on the right above is bottling in progress at one friend's winery with commercial equipment.  The device in the foreground is a 6 bottle gravity feed bottle filler.  The device behind it is an electric bottle corker with gas purge.  The cone on the top is filled with corks and CO2.  The person in the blue shirt to the right of the corker is holding a heat shrink gun to apply the sleeves to the bottles.  Just out of sight to the right of the picture is the labeling machine.  The capacity of this bottling line is 60 cases per hour.

Contact Information
Electronic mail address jimalexander2@comcast.net