Winemakers come from many different disciplines. I’ve known English teachers, architects, plumbers and even philosophy majors who were all excellent winemakers. Another thing they all had in common was a weak knowledge of chemistry. While a chemistry background is helpful in winemaking, it isn’t a prerequisite. Even though nearly everything we do with wine deals with chemistry and biochemistry, we do not need to understand these reactions on a molecular level to make use of the results.