From beginner to expert

Sektflaschen mit Kunststoffstopfen und Drahtbügel liegen in einer Holzkiste im kühlen Herbstkeller, daneben Waage, Drahtbügel, Hohlstopfen, Zange und Schutzbrille.
Sparkling wine from your own wine: planning bottle fermentation safely
If you want to open a bottle of your own on New Year's Eve, you bottle it in mid-October. Here you will find which base wine works, why no more... Read more...
Gemaltes Stillleben: Glasballon mit trübem jungem Met und Gärspund neben einem Krug mit klarem Met, davor heller und dunkler Honig, ein Leinensäckchen, Zimtstangen, Nelken, Muskatnuss und Ingwer
Mead for the holidays: what you can still manage by Christmas and what takes time
A mead you start now will at best have finished fermenting by Christmas; it won't be clear until spring. What you can still do before the holidays: clear, spice, sweeten... Read more...
Glas mit Kombucha-Ansatz, Teepilz an der Oberfläche und Baumwolltuch mit Gummiring, daneben Starterfläschchen, Zucker, Teekanne, schwarzer Tee, zwei Bügelflaschen, Ingwerscheiben und ein halber Apfel
Brewing your own kombucha: how 100 ml of starter grows a SCOBY
Kombucha doesn't start with a ready-made SCOBY, but with 100 ml of sour starter liquid per litre of sweetened tea. Here you'll find the quantities, the right warmth, the line... Read more...
Gouache-Stillleben: Emailletopf mit sanft dampfendem, dunkelrotem Glühwein mit Zimt, Sternanis und Orangenschale, daneben ein zweiter Topf mit hellem Gewürzsaft, ganze Gewürze, Honig und eine Hand mit Schöpfkelle.
Mulled wine from your own wine: which one belongs in the pot and why it never boils
Which homemade red or fruit wine belongs in the mulled wine pot, how much spice a litre needs and why it stays at 70 to 75 °C instead of boiling.... Read more...
Glasballon im Weidenkorb mit Schleife, eine Oechslewaage in einer Holzschachtel, ein Standzylinder, Hefetütchen, ein leeres Kellerbuch und Hände, die ein Geschenk verpacken
Gifts for home winemakers: what beginners and experienced hobbyists really want
Measuring instruments, a yeast sampler set, a second glass demijohn or a voucher: what home winemakers really need, sorted by budget, and what you are better off not giving. Read more...
Glas mit Beeren im Ansatz, drei kleine verkorkte Flaschen Fruchtlikör in Dunkelviolett, Rubinrot und Goldgelb, davor Schlehen, eine Quitte und Holundersaft; zwei Hände pressen den Ansatz durch ein Tuch
Fruit liqueur from your own fruit: start it in autumn, give it at Christmas
Elderberry, sloe, quince and berries become liqueur with shop-bought Korn, vodka or rum and sugar, without anything fermenting. How much fruit the alcohol can take, which fruit has to become... Read more...
Glasballon mit trübem Apfelsaft unter Gärspund, halb in eine Wolldecke gehüllt, daneben eine Starterflasche mit Wattebausch, Saftflaschen und eine Oechslewaage vor einem vereisten Winterfenster
Apple wine from shop-bought juice: the winter batch for when the apples are gone
Once your own apples are used up, shop-bought apple juice will also ferment into a clean apple wine. What matters: juice without preservatives, measured sugar, a yeast with a starter... Read more...
Frisch gefüllte grüne Weinflaschen mit Kapseln auf einem Eichentisch, daneben eine Schale Naturkorken, lose Flaschenkapseln und ein Heberschlauch mit Hahn, dahinter ein Regal mit liegenden Flaschen
Bottling and corking like a cellar master: from the demijohn to the bottle on its side
Five questions before bottling, clean bottles that are low in germs if needed, filling with a siphon while letting in as little air as possible, 1 to 2 cm of... Read more...
Den Keller einwintern: Jungwein, leeres Fass und die Frostgrenze
Wintering the cellar: young wine, the empty cask and the frost line
What needs doing in the cellar between October and March: measuring the end of fermentation properly (shake out the carbon dioxide, correct to 20 °C), topping up the vessel as... Read more...
Schlehen und Holunder nach dem ersten Frost
Sloes and elderberries after the first frost
Late autumn at the hedgerow: sloe, rosehip and elder ripen at the same time but demand three opposite approaches. The article explains why tannin ties the sloe to frost on... Read more...
Quittenwein ansetzen: warum die Quitte Enzym, Geduld und eine Bürste braucht
Making quince wine: why the quince needs enzyme, patience and a brush
The quince is the most difficult fruit of autumn: rock-hard, rich in pectin, heavy in tannin. The article explains why the fuzz is brushed off, why the book prefers cold... Read more...
Böckser, Kahmhefe, Essigstich: Weinfehler erkennen, bevor sie den Jahrgang kosten
Reduction, film yeast, acetic spoilage: spotting wine faults before they cost you the vintage
By Magnus von Kageneck, cellar master · Updated: August 2026 Something smells odd in the cellar — now what? The good news first: of the three most common wine faults,... Read more...
Säure im Griff: Most entsäuern und ansäuern, ohne den Wein zu verbiegen
Getting acidity right: deacidifying and acidifying must without bending the wine out of shape
By Magnus von Kageneck, cellar master · Updated: August 2026 Of all the adjustments in winemaking, acidity is the one where the most damage is done — usually for one... Read more...
Wein aus eigenen Gartentrauben — was die Lese im Hausgarten wirklich braucht
Wine from your own garden grapes — what a home-garden harvest really needs
By Magnus von Kageneck, cellar master · Updated: August 2026 Every year in September I get the same question, usually over the garden fence: “Magnus, my grapes — can you... Read more...
Federweißer selber machen — vom Saft zum prickelnden Glas in fünf Tagen
Make your own Federweisser — from juice to a sparkling glass in five days
By Magnus von Kageneck, cellar master · Updated: August 2026 There is exactly one drink in the wine year that you cannot buy without it getting worse on the way:... Read more...
Historischer Weinkeller mit altem Weinbuch, Hefetuetchen und Glasballon
Arauner Kitzingen: what became of Germany's oldest wine yeast manufacturer?
By Magnus von Kageneck, cellar master · Updated: August 2026 On a shelf in my cellar sits a tin in which I have been collecting yeast sachets for decades. The... Read more...
Glasballon mit Gaerspund, Oechslewaage im Messzylinder und Abstichschlauch im Weinkeller
Stopping fermentation and sweetening wine — safe and stable
By Magnus von Kageneck, cellar master · Updated: August 2026 In the summer of 2004 I heard a sound from the cellar that no winemaker ever wants to hear: a... Read more...
Der Kreislauf schließt sich: eigenen Essig ziehen mit Essigmutter
The circle closes: drawing your own vinegar with a vinegar mother
For four stages acetic spoilage was our enemy. Now we deliberately invite the bacteria in and draw our own vinegar, with a vinegar mother, an open vessel and weeks of... Read more...
Klären wie ein Kellermeister: erst warten, dann Kieselsol
Fining like a cellar master: first wait, then Kieselsol
A wine goes bright not through haste, but through waiting, a clean racking and, in case of doubt, a few millilitres of Kieselsol. Why vegan fining works, when pectin is... Read more...
Schwefeln ohne Angst: Was SO2 im Wein wirklich tut
Sulphuring without fear: what SO2 really does in wine
Sulphur has a bad reputation, yet it has kept your wine clean since Roman times. I show you what SO2 really does, when to dose it and why unsulphured is... Read more...
Messen statt raten: Was Oechslewaage, Vinometer und Acidometer dir wirklich sagen
Measure, don't guess: what the Oechsle hydrometer, vinometer and acidometer really tell you
Sugar before fermentation, alcohol after, acid always: Magnus explains which measuring device tells the truth when, where each one lies, and why an alcoholometer has no business in your wine... Read more...
Gärung stockt? Der Notfallplan in richtiger Reihenfolge
Fermentation stalling? The emergency plan in the right order
The airlock is silent and you already want to tip in new yeast? Stop. That's exactly the mistake. Five steps in the right order bring back most stalled batches, entirely... Read more...
Met ansetzen: Honigwein selber machen, mit Geduld statt Kitsch
Setting up mead: making honey wine yourself, with patience instead of kitsch
My first mead smelled of rotten eggs, because honey lets the yeast starve. What really counts: honey choice, the right ratio, nutrient and months of patience. This is how you... Read more...
Das Kitzinger Weinbuch: das Buch, mit dem Generationen Wein machen lernten
The Kitzinger Wine Book: the book that taught generations to make wine
A pharmacist, a pure-yeast-culture institute and over 750,000 printed copies: why the Kitzinger Wine Book taught generations to make wine, why the Arauner company closed after 127 years, and why... Read more...
Kirschwein: Von der Sauerkirsche im Juli zum Weihnachtswein
Cherry wine: from the sour cherry in July to Christmas wine
In July the morello cherries hang, at Christmas the wine stands in the glass. Why the sour cherry is the better choice, how to handle the stones safely, and which... Read more...
Der ehrliche Hefe-Kompass: welche Reinzuchthefe für welchen Wein
The honest yeast compass: which pure-culture yeast for which wine
Wild fermentation is a gamble — in 1998 my first wine turned to vinegar. Which pure-culture yeast suits which wine, from Steinberg to Champagne: the honest compass through ten varieties... Read more...
Dein erster Apfelwein: in acht Wochen vom Saft in die Flasche
Your first apple wine: from juice to bottle in eight weeks
Clear apple juice from the shop, a demijohn, the right yeast: your first wine needs no more than that. In eight weeks I take you through every step, from setting... Read more...