History

I was born and raised in east-central Wisconsin, in the rural countryside between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago. For as long as I can remember (and perhaps even before that), my family have been making homemade wines.

Some of my earliest winemaking memories are of the times my siblings and I braved the brambles and persistent yellow jacket wasps to pick wild grapes growing on stone fences in the nearby fields or elderberries at the edge of the woods; taking the fruit to be pressed at a local orchard; the smells and sounds of proto-wine fermenting in stone crocks; and of course the tiny fancy glasses of tasty wine we got at the dinner table on special occasions (Thanksgiving, Easter, etc.) — I know at least one batch of dandelion wine was made, but for some reason, I don’t remember picking the dandelions for it. (I do, however, remember catching cabbage moths in the garden for a $0.01 per moth bounty… This fortunately has nothing to do with winemaking!)

Over the years, many batches of wild and tame (I’m guessing Concord) grape, elderberry, cherry-raspberry, strawberry, apple, rhubarb, pear, and other wines were made and shared with friends and family. And during that time I grew up and eventually moved to Milwaukee to go to university and work for a “super-regional mom-and-pop” Internet Service Provider (ISP) during the dot-com boom (and during the dot-bomb bust that followed). “Buchholz Cellars Midwest” was only a couple hours’ drive away, and I almost always made sure I brought a little bit back with me to Milwaukee to hold me over until the next visit.

Raiding Mom and Dad’s cellar became much more difficult after I moved to Seattle to work for a major Internet company — I didn’t get back to visit very often, and there’s only so much wine one can safely pack in checked-in luggage…

Then, in the Spring of 2010, as my supply of midwest wine was dwindling, a friend who had just made their first batch of mead offered me the use of a fermentation bucket and a 3-gallon carboy. I figured it was high time that I learned how to make my own wine. Strawberries were in season, and after a little online research, I soon had my very first batch of homemade wine in the works!

And the rest is (uhm…) History? 😉