Photo by: Savannah Smith Photography
It’s EASY to get into the routine and complacency of making the same wine year in and year out.
What if I told you there’s also an easy way to take your winemaking prowess to the next level that won’t cost you a thing, other than a bit of time?
Well… it’s here.
It’s time.
It’s a little thing called, planning. 😉
I know the end of the calendar year feels chaotic: there’s a rush to bottle wine, holiday events, preparation to ensure sales are made… and we all probably have lots of personal obligations, too. That’s why Denise Gardner Winemaking offers you TWO FREE end-of-year planning tools, available to all blog readers, that will help keep your winemaking focused and in a positive direction.
Tool #1: Review the Harvest Season
Taking just 30 minutes to review the past harvest season can save time and resources prior to starting the upcoming year’s harvest. With that in mind, I strongly encourage everyone to do some post-harvest assessments.
The Post-Harvest Review Checklist, which is available to everyone, is available to help head winemakers get their team organized for the New Year. Please feel free to use this guide to help you review how the 2024 harvest year went for your winemaking team.
Taking some time to document your winemaking goals may feel insignificant, but this practice can:
- visualize work for the upcoming season,
- help a winemaker identify opportunities for growth,
- focus on production areas of need, and
- reflect upon successes to build upon in the next year.
Tool #2: Set Annual Production Goals
Before you know it, pruning season will be long past, new green growth will be on the vines, and we’ll be counting down days to the start of the 2025 harvest… probably rushing to get last year’s wines bottled.
It is easy to get into the daily routine and forget to take some time and reflect. The mental reflection is so powerful that I do this at the end of each harvest season with my DGW Clients.
This included reflection practice can help you identify what new wines you want to make in 2025 (and plan for their creation now!), recognize cellar practices or operations that require improvement, and devote some time to those aspirations. Afterall, this is how winemakers improve year after year. Plus, considering the delays for some ingredients or supplies that are common in our industry today, planning keeps the winery in good working order.
The 2025 Winemaking Goals Worksheet offers you a space to reflect upon. This worksheet guides you in evaluating the 2024 harvest season, identifying the following details in one collective space:
• What winemaking challenges you may have experienced last vintage? (Examples: logistical bottlenecks, lack of enough personnel help, insufficient yield without adequate wine storage, generation of hydrogen sulfide in multiple tanks of wine, etc.) This gets the challenges written down to create the visual reminder of what needs accomplished in 2025.
• What current trends interest you as a winemaker? (Examples: produce a pét-nat with estate fruit, reduce wine inventory with new products, create a red sparkling wine, analyzing YAN or other juice/wine components, minimal input winemaking, etc.) This will help create focus for the various educational opportunities that may arise in 2025. Knowing what you need can help you identify where to allocate your time in the next year.
• What goals you may have for the new vintage? (Examples: empty 60% of wines stored in tanks, integrate off-season production of a fruit wine or hard cider, learn how to blend red wines in barrel, improve barrel storage conditions, integrate tank temperature control, etc.) Your goals are unique to you, but writing them down provides you with a focal point and can help communicate them to your team.
At the end of the worksheet, you will find a series of “Next Steps” packed with suggestions and resources that can guide you in the right direction through the remainder of the year. There’s also a table designed to organize a wish list of desired enology items or winemaking equipment you would like to look into for the near future.
Anyone can access and download the 2025 Winemaking Goals Worksheet, a tool to assist you in organizing your year ahead.
Turn Those Goals into Reality
I love getting an opportunity to turn my clients’ goals into a reality for them.
If you know you want to start conquering your winemaking ambitions in 2025, and become a part of a positive, growing, winemaking community, inquire today about our Membership and Client options by emailing info@dgwinemaking.com.
You can also review current Membership and Client package options, here. Don’t wait! Now is the time to get to work so that by the time harvest comes around, you’ll be on track for an easier, calmer vintage.
The views and opinions expressed through dgwinemaking.com are intended for general informational purposes only. Denise Gardner Winemaking does not assume any responsibility or liability for those winery, cidery, or alcohol-producing operations that choose to use any of the information seen here or within dgwinemaking.com.
