The World’s First Virtual Winemaking Event by WinePod
Last week we did something very unique at WinePod. We hosted the world’s first virtual winemaking class with our Club Ferment, a group of dedicated individuals who come together to create great wine. Together with twelve aspiring winemakers and their WinePods, our team embarked on a synchronized, guided wine fermentation using the same Cabernet grapes from the same vineyard block.
As far as we know, this could quite possibly make it into the Guinness Book as the largest, simultaneous custom crush ever!
How did we do it? We shipped each of our winemakers their grapes (Rancho Sarco Cabernet), so that everyone would receive their fruit on the same day.
On Saturday, May 17th, we all started our ferment at the same time using our WineCoach™ software, online videos, conference calling and web conferencing. Our WinePod team then guided the winemakers through the process for the remainder of the week.
Many of the participants were completely new to winemaking. We think that’s great! We’ve always said about WinePod that just about anyone can use it to make excellent wine—and Club Ferment is the fastest way to learn. What our winemakers may have lacked in experience, they made up in enthusiasm. Just what we like: people who are passionate about wine!
With this first Club Ferment class, everyone involved is benefiting from the knowledge and advice of our WinePod team. It’s like we’re giving them Wine 101. Also, having professional winemakers like John Kelly on board to support everyone is key. I suspect, though, very soon these folks will be taking off their training wheels and going it on their own, and that they’ll pass on their knowledge to future WinePodders through our winemaking community.
I also realized last week that we’re doing more than just helping people produce custom wine with WinePod. We’re actually producing winemakers. To know that individuals can now experience the making of wine, not just watch someone else do it, is very cool.
We’re going to continue with Club Ferment and WinePod’s Virtual Winemaking classes every month. Our next class is scheduled for July 11, so if you’re interested, contact us for more information through your WinePod customer service representative at customerservice@winepod.net.
Next week John Kelly and I are going to talk about interventionist winemaking, and how it does or does not affect the body, quality and character of your wine. Until then, ferment on!