About Smart Winemaking
The goal of Smart Winemaking and The Home Winemaking Channel is to spread winemaking knowledge so that we can all make better wine. This winemaking community is built upon helping one another and sharing knowledge so that we don't all need to learn the hard way when it comes to making wine. Each article now features a comments section at the bottom so that you can contribute anything that you may have learned or ask a question to be answered by a community member. Little by little we will be rolling out a few winemaking gadgets that have been deemed super helpful. Be sure to check those out if you want to help support Smart Winemaking.
Meet Rick Haibach
You probably know me from The Home Winemaking Channel on YouTube, but there is more to the story! I live with my beautiful wife, daughter, and my winemaking companion (Molly the Labradoodle). We live in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area which is home to some amazing food and amazing people, not to mention a few very well known sports teams. Pittsburgh has come a long ways from the old steel mill days. We now feature blue skies (in the summer), and have been reinvented with a focus on tech and healthcare. Summers in the Pittsburgh are incredible. If you ever get to a chance to visit, DO IT!
I am an Engineer by day with around fifty patents and patents pending in the medical device space. My true passion is wine though. I have been making wine since I was old enough to drink and have made over 100 different wines since I started. Things were a little shaky in the early days, but with the help of wine literature, local winemakers, wine conferences, and even some of the readers here, we are rocking and rolling bigtime these days. No matter how good of wine that I make, I always want to make it better. There is always something to learn or to try with winemaking and you don't exactly get quick feedback when you try something different. This is what makes it so much fun! When you can tame the beast that is a non-sterile pile of grapes, you have done something very special. The ability to share your masterpiece with good friends and family for years to come make winemaking more than just a casual hobby but a calling.
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There are some great wine regions within a short drive of Pittsburgh. The Finger Lakes are about five hours to the north, Virginia has great wine about five hours to the south, and Eastern, PA is up and coming in the wine scene. Modern farming techniques and grape clones and hybrids have made growing great grapes possible in places that were otherwise unsuitable. In my backyard, I am growing a vineyard for R&D purposes. I want to figure out what grapes are ideal for this climate and how can we make Pittsburgh into a great wine region. If you live in the area, and are also growing grapes, I would love to hear from you!
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If I am not making wine, you may find me out taking pictures or working on projects for the Cool Stuff Guys Like channel. One thing is for sure though... If you are into making wine, you have come to the right place!
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Here's to another great decade of great wine!
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Cheers!
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Rick