To tell the truth, I was having flashbacks to my own experiences as an amateur winemaker.

It remains a favourite among amateur winemakers and gardeners because of its ease of cultivation and its value as a shade plant.

So many amateur winemakers buy grapes from local wineries instead.

Jim Waters, a longtime amateur winemaker who jumped into the big leagues, showed his opening wines - a 2000 chardonnay, 2001 Meritage (a Bordeaux-style red blend) and a 2000 merlot.

(He is a self-taught, longtime amateur winemaker who turned professional and opened his commercial winery in 2003.)

With encouragement and advice from his uncle, Alex Golitzin began making one barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon a year as an amateur winemaker from 1974 through 1977.

Berry was instrumental in this phenomenon as one of the founders of the first British amateur winemakers' circle in Andover, Hampshire and three other English counties in the 1950s.

A burly, unpretentious man who likes to laugh, Mr. Figgins started as an amateur winemaker, inspired by holiday visits to California vineyards.

Wine was an artisanal trade until the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Italian immigrants in the late 19th century, most of them amateur winemakers, more than a few of them professionals.

Paul Holm, above, has been a home-brewer and amateur winemaker for about 12 years.