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Well, we're still keeping our day jobs and overhead at this stage is minimal -we're using the garage. Our plan is to make some distinct and interesting wines and talk to restaurants and other retail location about carrying them, and offer retail on the web and potentially through Amador 360. In...

Hi all, My spouse and I have been making wine from grapes since 1995 and have (naturally) always wanted to go commercial. We finally achieved that goal a few weeks ago and got our license to make wine and have a winery. Last year was the first year we made wine in California and got to know our...

Thanks for this -I have no experience with this line. I've heard they were bred to not produce sulfides, which is great. I was worried it would be like EC1118, easy to use, but really neutral. In your experience which Lalvin strain would you compare this to, character-wise? -Aaron

Hi all, Last year I tried some newer strains for my whites (QA23, D254 and GRE), in addition to my old stand-by D47. I really expected to like QA23 based on the marketing materials, but it ended up as my least favorite. This year I was going to add a few new strains to the mix. The grapes I...

I did some reading on this since I was thinking of trying dry farming of grapes. I believe the lower limit on dry farming grapes is about 15" of reliable rain per year, with 25" being much easier. Do you get that where you are? I was talking with a grower over in Yolo county and he claims he had...

Thanks, CDrew! I checked out Iron Hub, because I hadn't heard of them. Some interesting varietals, like you said, including Semillion. It isn't a "popular" grape but it seems to do really well in the foothills, kind of unexpectedly, like Cabernet Franc. I REALLY like that Iron Hub has full...

I don't really think Sangiovese is the kind of grape that is going to work well with "oaking" (oak flavoring). It's naturally lighter, more oof a food-friendly, lighter color and body but aromatic and earthy wine. To me, less is more with a grape like this -it's not going to make a burly, oaky...

Another cool thing about Amador is the willingness of the wineries to sell grapes to home winemakers. I'm getting most of my 2021 grapes from relatively well-known wineries who I reached out to and they were so nice to basically share their fruit. I need to give Runquist another try. The one...

If you really want something Mourvedre-like I agree that Carignan might be the best bet, perhaps with a bit of Alicante blended in for body (very small amount since a little goes a long way). That said I don't think you will be in any way replicating Mourvedre, and I don't think you really...

Just to make this clear for me: in the first case you are crushing (stomping) the grapes in the vat but leaving in the stems, etc. In the seconds case you are stripping the berries from the bunch by hand and fermenting them whole, like carbonic maceration? Is this correct? Thanks, -Aaron

Thanks a ton for the feedback. I too am interested in the grape and the fruit and not about added flavors like oak so I think we're on the same wavelength. I was a bit worried that long fermentation time might cause high tannins due to seed contact but it doesn't sound like this is the case with...

@Snafflebit I just finished blending my 2020 C. Franc two weeks ago (52% Franc, 38% Mourvedre, 10% Malbec) or I could have brought some over for you to try (I live in San Jose and I'm here most weekdays). This one was from Fiddletown in Amador county -super fragrant wine, pretty overpowering on...

Thanks for the feedback! CDrew, I would only be fermenting a 1/3 or so of the grapes in the cool environment and I would just use the 60 degree ambient environment to cool the fermentation in a stainless tank of around 100 liters. Question to folks: from the feedback it sounds like this...

Hi all, I like to experiment a lot with wine making -2020 it was a bunch of different yeast strains and use of Malo-lactic fermentation. I noticed that the yeasts strains had a very big impact on mouthfeel, and secondarily on fruitiness. I'm interested in increasing fruit expression by other...

I'm a big advocate of Franc in California. In the Foothills at least it produces much better wine than either C. Sauvignon or Merlot, for reasons I can't quite understand (it's considered the more cold hardy of the three, so I assumed it would hate California). It has a lot of varietal character...

Hi Jeroen, I think any wine you get in a restaurant in France will be "ready to drink". It's also my experience that you will find many more "ready now" wines than "needs ten years", though if you go after expensive wines (like 50 euros in the Rhone) you are more likely to find ones that are a...

People do make wine from Valiant, but I suspect it is kind of like Concord wine: https://www.ehow.com/how_7236627_make-wine-valiant-grapes.html If you like Manischewitz-style wine then this may have some utility. It's sold in most grocery stores. Most people aren't crazy about it. and it seems...

Hi all, I've been meaning to post my findings on a yeast comparison study I did with last year's grapes. I'm a research scientist by trade and find myself turning everything into an experiment. In this case I have some (hopefully) interesting findings and experiments with yeast strains and MLF...

Did you use the D21 on white or red? I've only used it on reds so far. -Aaron

I had a related question (which maybe should be its own thread). I have a Speidel bladder press powered by water pressure. It works well (with crushed grapes, not so well with whole clusters as I discovered...) but it takes quite a lot of water to do a single pressing (around 8 gallons). I do...