Duck,
(Your name IS Duck, isn't it?)
I also started by home brewing, which I've been doing for more than 20 years. Just started winemaking last year. In both cases, I got started by reading several books on the subject then conversing with people who knew. Back then, it usually meant face-to-face conversation with a limited few. Now, It means groups like this one where you have contact with many people of varying degrees of experience.
My suggestion would be to go to one of the on-line wine supplies stores (or to a physical one nearby) and buy a book or two. Not only will you learn the various techniques and the science behind them, but you'll get many recipes that will take you immediately beyond the extract kits. My wines have always been from my own fruit picked in my own fields. There's something special in that.
I actually bought and read about 4-5 winemaking books, but here are the books I used most frequently: Winemaking Anderson, Stanley F. and Anderson, Dorothy, Harcourt, Brace & Co. 1989 Isbn: 0-15-68 plus 17095-3 (paperback)
First Steps in Winemaking Berry, C.J.J., G.W. Kent, Inc, 1987 Isbn: 0-900841-83-4 (paperback)
John Price
I the kit
