Hi All from NJ

[Billpizzaiolo]

I've been making wine for a number of years. Yet, always looking for a new and better way to do it. Never to old to learn. Hope I can help out and learn as well. I make mostly red wines (10 cases + or -) and occasional ales and other beers. Been trying to grow grapes but nature is battling me here in the NJ/Atlantic Coastal Plain terroir. Deer, birds, yellow jackets, Stink bugs, Japanese beetles, fungi, & drought all limit my efforts growing grape too close to the woods. So I buy my grapes each fall.

 

[heatherd]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[sour_grapes]

Hi, Bill. Welcome to the WMT forum! Look forward to learning about your endeavors.

 

[ceeaton]

Welcome Bill! Might be able to get some info to help stop all of those critters going after your grapes. I hope to be growing some in the future also. Hope you find all of the information you need right here. Lot's of nice people here to boot.

Thanks for joining us!

 

[JohnT]

Hi bill (from a fellow Jerseyman)!

 

[dralarms]

Welcome to WMT.

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

Thanks for the welcome

Yesterday, I bottled four cases and three bottles from the second half of 2014 crush. The 2015 crush is split between two small (5gal. ea.), medium toasted, US Oak, barrels and three 5 gal. glass carboys. After the wine in the barrels stay 6 months I will switch the wine in glass to oak and bottle what comes out of the barrels once it rests in glass a few months. I never let the barrels dry out. The extra wine is used for topping off the barrels after the angels drink their share. We are looking forward to enjoying this batch of wine.
I hope we can get some insight to making better wine. I seem to do okay with red wine but making a dry white wine is problematic for me.

What whites have you made? What issues did you encounter?

Oxidation spoilage mostly. I will try a kit wine and see if I can master that method.

 

[Julie]

Hi Bill

Welcome to winemakingtalk

 

[Bonnie]

Hi Bill.
Welcome! I just joined this past weekend and have already "met" so many great fellow wine makers. I am a newbie myself.
Kind regards,
Bonnie

 

[joeswine]

new jersey wino

hi bill I live in the Franklinville area.....of south jersey...........................................

 

[JohnT]

... Oh, And I am up in Morris County.

 

[wineforfun]

Hi Bill.
Welcome! I just joined this past weekend and have already "met" so many great fellow wine makers. I am a newbie myself.
Kind regards,
Bonnie

Hey Bonnie,
Saw you were from SD. We hit some wineries up in your area a couple years ago. Shade' in Volga, Baumberger in Dell Rapids, Birdsong in Beresford, Strawbale in Renner and one in Vermillion.

 

[Morris]

South Jersey Shore

Hi Bill and all, I live at GSP Exit 67. Make wine and looking for others to share ideas and tastings to improve. Regards, Morris

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

Hi Bill and all, I live at GSP Exit 67. Make wine and looking for others to share ideas and tastings to improve. Regards, Morris

Hi Neighbor,

We are up near exit 98 or 7A. You know Great Adventure territory, the Jersey Costal Plain terroir. I am willing to trade a bottle or two of my Barbera, Zinfandel blend next time I go down to visit friends near LBI.
Bill

 

[Morris]

Send me an email

Bill...lets set something up. Send me an email garagesales2011 AT gmail DOT com....

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

Bill...lets set something up. Send me an email garagesales2011 AT gmail DOT com....

You should have email by now. Are you a white wine expert from Brognoligo? You know Soave & Pinot Grigio from Veneto region. I am 50% Piemontese, i favor the rich reds of the region. Family favorite is Barbera d'Alba or my own blend of California Barbera. Looking forward to a trade.
Bill

 

[Morris]

Brognoligo

Hi Bill, got your email. In the Brognoligo area +40 years ago is where I learned how to make wine. In Italia...it is all white...I particularly like the Durello wines which are rare. In USA I make mostly Reds. I do make sparklings, porto and some others will explain when we talk. Where do you get your grapes/mosto? I go to Gino Pinto in Hammonton.

 

[joeswine]

Yes we can get together if you want.

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

Hi Bill, got your email. In the Brognoligo area +40 years ago is where I learned how to make wine. In Italia...it is all white...I particularly like the Durello wines which are rare. In USA I make mostly Reds. I do make sparklings, porto and some others will explain when we talk. Where do you get your grapes/mosto? I go to Gino Pinto in Hammonton.

I get them at Corado's up at exit 155 on GSP. Been getting them there for years. Last year my wife gave me a gift, Summer Session at Cornell Univ. Enoculture and Viticulture Experience. It was great. I learned a great deal about blending and my team made one of the best blends. We also learned a lot from the local Finger Lakes Growers. It was a fantastic course. Fourteen tastings before lunch most days and then we had to identify the flavors and tastes of the wines. We also had sessions in their new lab. The school is connected to Castel Banfi in Italy.

I got the red wine making down pat. Have to learn more about the whites. NYS has so many good whites mostly German in origin, Rieslings, etc. My wife's favorites come from Veneto Region in Italy not those dolce types but the stoney, dry, brut types like Pinot Grigio, etc. I want to make some for her. I think the trick is minimum skin time, zero air contact, and good lab work to maintain the chemistry profile. Easy to say but hard to do. Sooner or later I will get there.
My grandfather made rough grappa and loved Barbera wines my wife's grandfather made Alicante/Zinfandel blend and aquada and sold lots of it in NYC around E 110th St. That is why i now make a blend of Barbera and Zinfandel (old vine) from California grape mostly.
Hang in there, I have to go put more wood in the fire,
Bill

 

[Morris]

Durello

Hi Bill, probably the strongest "brute" that I have tried is Durello found in the area of Ronca (VR).