Dec 31 2008
The Five Golden Rules for Making Your Own Wine
Hello all!
First a sincere and happy holidays to every single one of
you. I’ve written a special holiday blog post with one aim
in mind…
To help you get what YOU want in 2009 and to share
some of the secrets that have helped me make the best wine possible…
I’ve broken this down into the five golden rules for making your own wine
As we enter 2009 I will have been making wine at home for 22 years.
WHERE I’VE COME FROM AND WHAT MAKES MY
POINT OF VIEW WORTH LISTENING TO?
Turning 49 years old (in 4 days) I’ve achieved what many people would
typically classify as unattainable at this “young” age – a respected maker of fine wines…
- Produced 3 Award Winning wines in 2006 and 2007
- Conducted not one but six home made winetasting events.
- Bottled my first “Bordeaux” in 2007 (had to import the grapes from France).
- Traveled throughout Europe and sampled homemade wines in Italy, Turkey, Greece and France. I was given “back room” tours in many restaurants and shown exactly how these restaurants made their own wine and then served it to their customers.
- Toured and examined 20+ vineyards and wineries in Sonoma and Napa Valley in California
In March of this year I hosted and Set up the first live conference call with some of the top names in Home Winemaking from around the world. (I’ll share this with you later!)
I guess you could say I’ve done a little “Homework”.
Here we are in Greece (this was just after 2 restaurant tours and a lot of “tasting”):
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GOLDEN RULE OF MAKING WINE #1 – Getting Your
Mind in the ”Giving” Mode - the cornerstone of it all
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Now here is the *KEY* difference between me and the
majority of people out there.
The way people’s brains are traditionally engineered
is as follows..
“If I give you money/my time what are you going to
do for me”
And this mindset goes deep into everything we do in
our daily lives from..
Getting a job – what are my benefits, my perks, my
salary
Dating – I’ll take you out for dinner if you spend time
with me, if I gain favour with you
Now think about this for a moment…
What happens if you were to do the opposite?
When I take people out to eat I don’t say
“Please give me money for the food”
When I had a great bunch of people round for
a wine tasting event after I didn’t say “Please give
me $50 a head”
I focused solely on ONE thing only..
To make sure people enjoyed the day and to
give back to everyone.
To have fun, to network and to chill out.
And taste some amazing wines…
So if we revert back to the question..
After the event I had people asking “Well
was it worth it – do you think you will
get anything out of it?”
I can safely say now that if I ever need advice,
have a question on a chemical, or just want some
new ideas to make a new variety of wine, those
who attended my event would bend over backwards to help.
You gotta program your mind to GIVE!
Help people get more out of life, and trust me
it will come back 100 times over.
————————————————————————-
GOLDEN RULE OF MAKING WINE #2- Break
the rules, decide what you want to make and set
a date to bottle it.
————————————————————————
The trap that most people fall into is the “Next week
I’m gonna do this, next month…”
Everyone is guilty of this.
Including myself!
For the last few months I’ve been meaning to add
2 more videos and 4 more books to our Inner Circle
Winemaker’s Library…
But I’m just been darn lazy!
However I will have done this by the end of January
1, 2009 at the latest.
I’ve been reading a lot about
‘incremental’ steps to success.
To lose 10 llbs you must lose the first lb first.
To make a million dollars it all starts with the first
$1.
To make 1,000 gallons of wine, first you have to make one gallon.
It’s a very simple philosophy but incredibly
powerful!
For example if you want a to make wine from fresh grapes, you can start
smaller. Just get enough for a gallon to start. Later – get more.
You see the point.
We all have to start somewhere, so aim and PLAN
to start your own first batch and set a starting date.
Stick to it as closely as you can.
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GOLDEN RULE OF MAKING WINE #3-
Follow the ‘right’ people and learn from real
life mentors
—————————————————————
I’ve always had a very simple philosophy in life.
“Follow the people that are successful in what you
want to achieve”
For example if you want to learn how to invest
in property, listen to someone who has done it
over YEARS the hard way, made mistakes and
learn from their advice. I only listen to
people I trust 110%.
There nothing more I hate than ‘fly by nighters’
who try to claim they are an expert in wine making
but really don’t have a clue and are just trying to
empty your wallet.
In wine making, one of the best guys who has
generated so many success stories is Jack Keller.
A great man and a guy who has a terrif site with some VERY
high quality winemaking information.
———————————————————————————
GOLDEN RULE OF MAKING WINE #4 – Be
willing to invest in yourself and take action
on what you learn.
———————————————————————————
Over the recent months I have purchased..
- The Way to Make Wine -About how to make excellent table wines
- Windows on the World Complete Wine Course
- The Wine Bible - Just a pile
of rubbish but very entertaining (Just kidding
Karen macNeil’s stuff is really on the cutting edge and worth
every penny)
Here’s the most important lesson to
take away..
Even if I put the material in my computer
watch it and think “Whoah that’s cool Karen how you used that crusher to process 400 lbs of grapes″.
IT WILL NOT MAKE ME A SINGLE GLASS OF WINE!
You need to take action on what you learn
and implement it in your winemaking.
If you buy an ebook on how to make wine
with different fruits then take action on it
and try it out!
Which leads me on to the ULTIMATE lesson..
————————————————————————-
GOLDEN RULE OF MAKING WINE #5 – Take
responsibility for your actions and answer
to yourself
————————————————————————–
This is one thing that REALLY bugs me.
And it’s probably the #1 difference between
people who are successfully making wine and those that seem
to get no where and never even start.
When you buy a new product or guide…
You need to take action and use/read/watch the
item you have just purchased to get a
result.
It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work.
In fact the scary thing is nearly all
home winemakers try things that DONT work!
But they take responsibility say “Ok cool -
I’ve tried that it didn’t work so well so lets move
on”
Rather than the attitude “Nothing ever
works for me – I can’t do this”
Even at 15 years old I always told my
school teachers “I am going to be really good at something”.
They laughed and thought I was crazy.
But I took responsibility for myself and what
many thought was nothing more than a
pipe dream turned into reality.
Because I accepted the consequences of my
actions and when things don’t work out,
I held my head high and kept going.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the
Five Golden Rules of making wine and got
something good out of it
COMPETITION TIME TO WIN a Complete Home Winemaker’s Chemical Pack and a FREE copy of the Complete Home Winemaking Video Course (Genuine $197 Value)
I’ll be releasing my new Video Course in January
of 2009. (Inner Circle Members will get it free)
It’s a very space limited ‘Complete Winemaking Course’
and I’m sure you will love it!
If you’ve enjoyed my blog post then
comment below and let me know…
1) What you liked most about it…
2) What action YOU are going to take in
2009 to achieve your personal winemaking goals?
I will select someone in my next blog post
as the lucky winner
Happy Holidays to you and your family
and talk to you all soon!
Take Care,
Mike
(Enter Comments Below)
