Cellarmasters 40th

[Brew and Wine Supply]

I got a rock

 

[Fabiola]

Congratulaton to all the winners!!!

 

[sour_grapes]

Congrats to all WMT medal winners, and, for that matter, to all the WMT entrants who took home honor, if not hardware.

 

[tonyt]

Now for the judges comments. Always a time for reflection.

 

[jswordy]

The judges' comments were a reason I entered.

 

[dangerdave]

I pulled down a Gold this year for my German Muller-Thurgau. This was a slightly tweaked Vintner's Reserve World Vineyard kit I made early last year. It aged beautifully in the bottle. A crisp, delightful, off-dry white. Thanks to my wonderful wife for suggesting I send that one in!

I also got a Bronze for my black currant infused Cabernet Sauvignon, made from a Chilean juice bucket I got from Luva Bella in this past spring. It's yummy!

Congrats to all the entrants who won medals! Great job, everyone!

 

[Crinton]

I was lucky enough to get two silvers: one for a Cellar Craft Showcase Old Vine Zinfandel and the other for a RJS coffee port.

I must thank Joeswine (again) as one of my wine making heroes. I used his suggested tweaks to improve the coffee port. They improved it a lot.

Joe: did you put your coffee port through a barrel? I used a 3 gallon Vadai and think that may have helped (degassing, rounding out flavors, additional oak, etc.). I have the Black Forest port fermenting now and plan on doing the same.

 

[sour_grapes]

Crinton, may I ask what tweaks (if any) you did on the CC Showcase OVZ? Thanks!

 

[Crinton]

Sure thing. I checked my notes and made the following tweaks:

- swapped out the yeast for Wyeast's bordeaux wet yeast slap pack (I don't think this made a big difference)
- added 2 tsp of tannin
- used a 3 gallon Vadai barrel. Each half of the 6 gallon batch saw two months of barrel time as I was still breaking it in. This made the biggest difference. My wife and I had to stop drinking directly from the barrel since it was so good! (topped up with other wine)

I know a lot of people are on the fence on getting a barrel as they might not make enough wine to keep a barrel full. One solution to that is using barolkleen to strip it and start with a neutral barrel. Some consider this sacrilegious, but I like managing oak & micro-ox separately. I didn't do that with my first barrel, but did do it with barrels #2 & #3.

Hope that helps.

 

[sour_grapes]

Dear Crinton, thank you for taking the trouble to pull out your notes. So far, I used RC212, and 1 tbsp tannin, and it is aging in a carboy. I may yet add some oak cubes, based on your comments. Thanks!

 

[jswordy]

Congrats to the winners who have more recently posted! WMT was well represented!

 

[Runningwolf]

Jim I couldn't agree more. Great Job everyone. In my opinion this is the best competition in the country when you consider the cost and all. This is also an awesome wine club and well worth joining for there newsletter and your support.

 

[dangerdave]

Once again, Congrats to the medal winners.

And I've tried Joe's award winning coffee port. I gotta make me one of them!

 

[joeswine]

A Win by Any Other Name

Well guys, the truth is, I wasn't happy with the results may be its because both the sangiovese and the coffee port have both done well on their own, in other places however with that being said a win is a win no matter what, I've read these findings before and sometimes they don't make any sense, but that's the way it goes there is always next contest. Right now looking towards Hammonton or the greater Kansas City that was the one where my bottles were crushed before they got there, maybe that was an omen?

Once again congratulations to all , But a win is a win regardless of the ranking and I'm truly glad to see that winemaking talks, showed up and showed to win, and on to the next.

 

[jswordy]

That's what makes for motivation, Joe. The whole reason I entered in LA is because I felt my wines were better than one disqualification due to a rule not yet in the rulebook until 2014 and one third place, which is what I got at the county fair locally. That motivated me, even though I had not been much of a contest enthusiast. I have just enough 750 ml bottles of muscadine now for two more contests.

 

[joeswine]

competitions

I understand what your saying ,yet, at this venue I can't get beyond 3rd place, I entered in 2008 and 2009 ,finished all three wines in third. If you notice not to many people don't finish? that can be a good thing or not, I'll keep on pushing my fare and see what happens, there's always another contest.


the other factor is I don't like being in third....................

 

[Crinton]

Hey Joe,

Once the judges' scoring sheets arrive, let's post them to this thread. It would be good to compare notes on the same kit. Others might also want to see them.

In the mean time I'll make some predictions:

- I'll bet your coffee port just missed the cutoff for a silver. I still think of your coffee port as the gold standard.
- Some of the lowering of scores are from areas I wouldn't consider a defect. I tend not to filter my wines, so clarity may have taken a hit.

Care to make any predictions?

 

[joeswine]

Criton

I have always shared my scores in the past and will do so again it's good to see how different judges qualify and disqualify you in different areas but remember it's all subjective not personal even though you could take it that way and sometimes I do because it isn't about me and my product but a vessel makes me what I yes I will post them I did last time and so investors it would be good to see what others have to say.

 

[joeswine]

scoring????????????????




has any one gotten any info back yet?

 

[tonyt]

Not yet Joe.