The classic way to record favorite wines is to save the label. Otherwise the vineyard, type, and vintage is the wine's "name, rank, and serial number." But keep in mind that wines are affected by age and storage conditions, so a wine may not taste the same when it's older or if it's been stored differently. Be careful not to lay down more of any particular wine than you will enjoy. In addition to changes in wines, your taste in wines is also likely to change over time. We are blessed with an ideal wine cellar so at one time we tried laying down cases of fine wines. We found that the better (and therefore more memorable) the wine, the more likely we'd get tired of it before we finished the case. Meanwhile, we didn't like passing up new and interesting wines. So now we look for places that give a mixed case discount and really mix them up. The only exception would be if we ever found an incredible bargain. It hasn't happened yet, but we've heard those stories of top-quality wines being offered as Two Buck Chuck. Unfortunately, Trader Joe's doesn't sell wine in our area. One way I particularly like to try out wines is restaurants that offers flights of wines. That way I get to taste them with the kind of food I would ordinarily have with wine and get to compare several side by side.

Hi mydaniella23elton, Hope this one would help you a lot. Here it is: Obviously, our aim when following the how to homemade wine directions with Ribena will be to reduce the amount of sugar to about three and a half pounds per gallon, by using half Ribena and half water. In doing this, we shall reduce the SO2 preservative to around 175 parts per million. This amount is unlikely to prevent fermentation, though it could do so. ***All water used in the process was first boiled and allowed to cool naturally. STAGE 1 Two bottles of Ribena were diluted with twice the amount of water (four Ribena bottles full). Yeast in the form of a nucleus was added and the mixture allowed to ferment for ten days. STAGE 2 After ten days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one bottle of water were added and the mixture allowed to ferment for a further ten days. STAGE 3 After a total of twenty days' fermentation, two bottles of Ribena and one more bottle of water were added. Fermentation was then allowed to carry on to completion, taking, in all, three months. The result was a good, round wine flavored delightfully but not too strongly of fresh blackcurrants. At stage 3 it was borne in mind that, while most of the SO2 would have been driven off during fermentation by adding those last two bottles, it was, in effect, bringing the total SO2 content up to 175 parts per million. Fearing that the yeast might be just a little weakened at this stage, it was decided to drive off the SO2 in the last two bottles by raising the temperature of the to 70 deg. C. If you want to include this in your how to homemade wine recipes and have no suitable thermometer, stand the bottles in a saucepan of water and during your how to homemade wine endeavor, slowly raise the temperature until the Ribena in the bottles has increased in volume enough to reach the rims of the bottles. The temperature is high enough to drive off the SO2 and the heat should be cut off at once. The caps of the bottles must be removed before heating. The whole of fermentation was carried out in narrow-necked bottles plugged with cotton wool, fermentation locks being fitted after ten days. Racking was not carried out until one month after the last addition. Monthly racking followed until fermentation ceased. Even at this early stage the wine was nice to drink, but it had improved vastly at the age of six months.

I have had no problems either. My wines make in the kitchen where it's warmer. I don't put them in the cellar until I bottle them. I have never had a problem with the CO2.

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I, too, have wondered about dust getting into a cabinet that had chicken wire. But I guess, as Allison said, if you were in that cabinet frequently, getting plates, glasses, etc., dust may not build up. By the way, Allison, I've seen your kitchen before and I never tire of looking at it. It's gorgeous! I'm wondering if any cabinet manufacturer might make doors that have glass and then the chicken wire behind the glass so that you get the look, but don't have to worry about dust. So it sounds like F&P are still basically the only show in town as far as dish drawers. I remember seeing them when they first came out years ago, and liking them. I was thinking that maybe other companies had wandered into that territory by now, but as the one poster said Kitchenaid's dish drawers are still basically F&P, so I will likely just go with a single F&P if I do a full remodel. Any advice on which brands of wine fridges are the best?