Live virtual wine tasting event for the home winemaker - Done
- Thread starter NorCal
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Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
@ibglowin you are probably correct. I wouldn't call any of the three wines out as even being off dry, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is some RS in there. With the Viognier, I think Jim even mentioned there was a very small amount.
Not to my surprise, with the ABV, but on all three, I initially got a little alcohol on the nose. It eventually went away. FWIW, I poured all three about 15 minutes before we started. The Viognier had been in the fridge overnight and I put the reds in my ~50 degree garage for about 45 minutes before they were opened.
I really enjoyed all three, and for $25, I would certainly bring the Cab to a gathering where I thought folks would appreciate a decent wine. For me, the Viognier stole the show though. It is my favorite white wine and this one was particularly good. I'll enjoy polishing the bottles off over the next several days.
@mainshipfred if you're interested, Wegman's carries several of their wines: Cab (19.99), Sauv Blanc and Rose (17.99), Isosceles (75.99), Savant (59.99), Tempranillo Reserve (49.99), and GSM (64.99). Sadly, no Viognier.
Not to my surprise, with the ABV, but on all three, I initially got a little alcohol on the nose. It eventually went away. FWIW, I poured all three about 15 minutes before we started. The Viognier had been in the fridge overnight and I put the reds in my ~50 degree garage for about 45 minutes before they were opened.
I really enjoyed all three, and for $25, I would certainly bring the Cab to a gathering where I thought folks would appreciate a decent wine. For me, the Viognier stole the show though. It is my favorite white wine and this one was particularly good. I'll enjoy polishing the bottles off over the next several days.
@mainshipfred if you're interested, Wegman's carries several of their wines: Cab (19.99), Sauv Blanc and Rose (17.99), Isosceles (75.99), Savant (59.99), Tempranillo Reserve (49.99), and GSM (64.99). Sadly, no Viognier.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
I thought I was getting some oak on the nose, but after he mentioned the Sur lie, I figured it was more of that.
Thats a pretty deep assortment of Justin wines at one store. We made a Costco run on Tuesday and they had the 2018 Justin Cab Sauv for $22.45 so for Wegman's to beat Costco in price is quite the accomplishment. I did snag a bottle of the 2018 I have to admit. Other than that I have only seen the Isosceles at a couple of places here in NM.
I think I will pick up another bottle of the Viognier and a couple other reds for the discounted price and (almost) free shipping.
I think I will pick up another bottle of the Viognier and a couple other reds for the discounted price and (almost) free shipping.
Maybe Total Wine for the Vio. When you get a chance I would like you to try my 2021 Vio. Not ready yet but very interesting with the high alcohol and RS.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Definitely. After last night, I'm regretting some of the choices I made with the Viognier grapes we got a couple years ago. Specifically, watering back and upping the acid. While I definitely enjoy the wine, I'm thinking maybe I should've let it be. I need to make another.
Edit: No Vio at TW, but the Sauv Blanc is $14.99
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I though it turned out very well. If you remember Jim talking about waiting for the grapes to be phenolically ripe that is what Chrysalis told me about harvesting their Vio. It was so ripe many of the berries were orange and thus even though I pressed immediately after crush I still have an orange wine.
How do we access the discount link Jim sent to us last night?
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Can you send to me as well, Mike? I neglected to copy it before we finished. Thanks!
A big THANK YOU to @NorCal for setting this up! The discussions last night perfectly dovetail with the thread "Making a 100 point wine." I envy the fruit that you get in California. We took the liberty of pouring a 2019 Cab & a 2019 Viognier that I made. The Justin Viognier was better than mine, so I have more to learn. My Cab was pretty much equal to theirs. My Cab grapes were frozen from Oak Knolls at Napa. Being able to select the grapes is a huge advantage to making great wine. We winemakers in the Midwest are doing a lot of good work with what we get here.
NorCal
Senior Member
It was great to put some faces to Forum names. I ended up having my daughter over with our two grandsons, so we had a lot going on in the background. I enjoyed the wines, the reds were gone by the end of the night. We tasted the Vio side by side my Vio. I added some heavy RS commercial Muscat to mine to counter the acidity. My takeaway from drinking them side by side is that I over did the Muscat.
It would be nice if there were an easy way to ship wine to fellow wine makers and have a virtual tasting with each other a few times a year.
It would be nice if there were an easy way to ship wine to fellow wine makers and have a virtual tasting with each other a few times a year.
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I would like to do this again using our wines.
@NorCal, thank you for setting this up... what a great experience. Our daughter and her boyfriend joined us as they have just finished an advanced wines class and they too found it super helpful. It tied a lot together for all of us. I'm very intrigued now with sur lie aging, and my wife and I have found a white that we like! To that end, @ibglowin would you mind sending me a PM of the code as well?
Great comments and thoughts here! @mainshipfred I too was intrigued by Jim's thoughts on the use of yeast and that they really use other influencers on wine than yeast types. It also hit me as an 'aha' moment that they are in the business of selling wine and so make more of what people want (and a bit less of other out of the box or different ideas) while we tend to spend more effort making what we want and like. It made me think that larger volumes may have a better ability to round out the edges from the poking and prodding I try not to do, the excessive contact with air that I try not to let happen, and all the harder measuring with smaller and smaller volumes. "Ahhhh, honey.... I'm going to 'have' to make more wine and get some barrels!"
I really liked the interaction and it was so nice to see everyone here in person. I'm looking forward to doing this again!
Great comments and thoughts here! @mainshipfred I too was intrigued by Jim's thoughts on the use of yeast and that they really use other influencers on wine than yeast types. It also hit me as an 'aha' moment that they are in the business of selling wine and so make more of what people want (and a bit less of other out of the box or different ideas) while we tend to spend more effort making what we want and like. It made me think that larger volumes may have a better ability to round out the edges from the poking and prodding I try not to do, the excessive contact with air that I try not to let happen, and all the harder measuring with smaller and smaller volumes. "Ahhhh, honey.... I'm going to 'have' to make more wine and get some barrels!"
I really liked the interaction and it was so nice to see everyone here in person. I'm looking forward to doing this again!
I had a conflict and had to miss. If we do something like this again, I'm hoping to join!
It took a bit of thought -- the yeast doesn't know, but each strain reacts to different environments, such as a low tannin white juice vs. a high tannin red grape must. White wine yeasts are ones that thrive better in the medium of white juice, etc.
Fred, ya caught me on this one. I read your question and asked myself how DOES that work? It's an excellent question.
It took a bit of thought -- the yeast doesn't know, but each strain reacts to different environments, such as a low tannin white juice vs. a high tannin red grape must. White wine yeasts are ones that thrive better in the medium of white juice, etc.
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A big thank you to NorCal for putting this event together. It was nice to see faces and hear voices. Especially considering that the majority of the participants are amateur makers. We should do this more often.
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I would like to say thank you as well. I enjoyed the presentation and the wine. I thought the reds were good, the Viognier was impressive. If I could offer my take and a suggestion for future events...
My main interest in this tasting was summed up in the question that was asked: How can we home winemakers step up our game and approach the quality of a successful commercial product? The answer I heard (my paraphrased version) was, "you can't". He then went on to explain some of the challenges stacked against us, like the one shot per year thing.
Now I know regular visitors to this forum will not be daunted by such challenges. I see from your comments that you found some value in the discussion. You're able to read between the lines better than me. And maybe that's the best we can expect. But I was thinking it might be helpful if potential presenters knew in advance that we seek information that will improve our own skills. Discussions of terroir and climate are all very interesting, but I don't just want to hear about your wine, I want to improve mine! Am I asking too much?
My main interest in this tasting was summed up in the question that was asked: How can we home winemakers step up our game and approach the quality of a successful commercial product? The answer I heard (my paraphrased version) was, "you can't". He then went on to explain some of the challenges stacked against us, like the one shot per year thing.
Now I know regular visitors to this forum will not be daunted by such challenges. I see from your comments that you found some value in the discussion. You're able to read between the lines better than me. And maybe that's the best we can expect. But I was thinking it might be helpful if potential presenters knew in advance that we seek information that will improve our own skills. Discussions of terroir and climate are all very interesting, but I don't just want to hear about your wine, I want to improve mine! Am I asking too much?
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