The title of this article is a quote from Kellie Harvey, one of the participants in our fall 2023 wine class held at Urban County Farm at the Road & Bridge 1 District Office. All 13 participants were highly engaged, energetic, and involved in the classes held over 4 Saturday afternoons in September and October. One participant, who grew-up in a family that made moonshine and other spirits, was able to share experiences, knowledge, and some equipment that  were helpful. Others had tried making wine once or twice, but just didn’t feel secure in their knowledge, while several had never made wine but thought taking the class sounded fun and educational.

Michael Cook, the always helpful and entertaining Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Viticulture Program Specialist for North Texas, kicked off the first day of class with information about the art and the science of winemaking. But very little time was devoted to speeches or lecturing. Instead, there was a focus on experiencing the process of winemaking. Grapes were de-stemmed and crushed, and sugar and yeast were added to begin the fermentation process.

Over the next three Saturdays, Dallas County Master Gardeners Sherrie Walker, Kathy Lyon, Honey Prestage, and Glen McGee provided the participants with hands-on experiences pressing, racking, sweetening, filtering, bottling, and corking the wine. Participants were even able to visit the vineyard and sample a few of the grapes straight off the vine. Erik Davis stated, “These were the best four Saturdays of my year.”

Participants were also introduced to many of the fun experiences available in the Master Gardener Program and how it helps spread knowledge about good gardening practices. One day they took a full tour of the gardens at the Urban County Farm which include vegetables (grown for both production and demonstration), Texas native and adapted plants, pollinator plants, herbs, a vineyard, an Orchard, and an apiary). Fonda Boyd stated, “More than a wine class, a toast to planet enrichment.”

This year the class was able to make four wines (Dry White, Sweet White, Dry Muscadine, and Sweet Muscadine) and participants took home one bottle of each. According to participant Emily Winn, “This class was so unique and informative. I love that I was able to put my hands on every part of the winemaking – from tasting the grapes in the vineyard to corking the bottles. Ten out of 10 would recommend.”

All participants in this year’s class, along with the public and any Master Gardener are invited to the follow-up class which will be held in early 2024. The topic will be “Grapevine Pruning and Propagation.”