What's in your glass tonight?

[jswordy]

I do a lot of research before I join a wine club and commit to usually 6-12 bottles a year. 90% of the wines I drink are purchased from wine club memberships/allocations. Duds are usually only blind buys from Costco or TW while on the road or Vaycay. I actually bought that same bottle of "Pitch Black" you had on a blind buy from Costco while on the road. Not great by any means but a good bottle to take to a Holiday party! LOL

I'm glad you feel that way about that wine, because it sucked.

 

[ibglowin]

Sunday night....... Green chile cheeseburger night! What goes better with burgers than a nice Zinfandel.

 

[winemaker81]

Last night was inexpensive sake.



I like like cheap sake hot and good sake cold.

 

[MiBor]

Cheese and wine dinner tonight. Amarone di Trader Joe's, made appassimento style...

 

[Hazelemere]

for some reason I can't get the photo but here is the wine:

Dineen Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2020

the grapes were perfect, in boxes and hand destemmed

fermentation - RC212 yeast for 22 days to 14.9% alcohol.

PS: it is impossible to get 3 week ferments on crushed grapes.

colour: inky purple

smell: chocolate, plums, italian seasoning

tannin: high but good i.e. skin tannin vs seed tannin

acid: surprisingly high but perfect so this wine can age and develop a much more complex smell

flavour: rich intense. This tastes young so I will try to leave it alone so it can mellow.

aftertaste: long finish ...........

bottom line: I have 2 cases left and think that I shouldn't taste more than one every 6 months until it fully matures and softens.

This is a keeper.............Cabernet Franc on steroids.

 

[Boatboy24]

OK, but needs bourbon.

 

[ibglowin]

 

[sour_grapes]

OK, but needs bourbon.


View attachment 99071

Brandy, if you live in my part of the world!

 

[ibglowin]

Paired wonderfully with dinner and DNS!

 

[Hazelemere]

This is a blend of my high tannin dark organic russet juice cyser with my homegrown organic Siegerrebe and Madeleine Angevine plus my son in law's Ambrosia apple juice ground once and pressed twice (pneumatic press).

The Ambrosia wine on its own is fragrant but lacks tannin and acid.

The russet apple juice is fragrant tannic and acidic.

The grape juice is balanced and fragrant.

Here are my comments on this three way blend:

Colour - light gold from oxidized tannins in the russet apples during grinding ahead of pressing

Smell - very fragrant, first class nose

Acid - good

Tannin - very good

Flavour - rich and much better than the Cyser on its own. The Ambrosia and grape wine softens the cyser.

I would make this blend again in a heartbeat.

The plan for 2023 is to take all of my russet-king-cox juice (fragrant high tannin and high acid - mostly russet), mix it with the low acid/low tannin Ambrosia apple wine, Granny Smith juice with or without Gravenstein and/or Spartan juice plus second run Siegerrebe, Madeleine Angevine, Reichensteiner, Ortega wine from 1st run sediment soaked pectic enzyme treated pressed grape skins (no water or sugar added).

My son in law has 84 bottles of the Ambrosia. I should get 5+ cases of a really tasty grape apple blend i.e. Apple Edelzwicker 2022- 2023. "Edelzwicker" is German for "premium blend".

This blend is a "once in a lifetime canvas". I look forward to it.

Namaste


Klaus

 

[geek]

 

[MiBor]

Dessert!

 

[ibglowin]

Consistently one of the highest QPR wines I purchase year in and year out. This vintage is 57% Syrah, 24% Grenache, 19% Mourvèdre. DNS!

 

[ibglowin]

DNS!

 

[Neb Farmer]

A nice pint of Guinness . Slainte!

 

[MiBor]

I had to try it.
Went well with dinner...

 

[Boatboy24]

I had to try it.
Went well with dinner... View attachment 99291View attachment 99292

I am a fan. Recently found some of the 2020 at Costco, along with their "Pessimist" red blend.

 

[ibglowin]

This tasted as good as it did at the winery. Amazing juice!

 

[Hazelemere]

Pacific Moraine Cassis Chambord 2020, 2022

9% Raspberry, Blackberry, Elderberry, Chambord port (1 Chambord in a 25 bottle carboy)

9% Raspberry, Blackberry, Elderberry, Cassis port (1 Cassis in a 25 bottle carboy)

82% Marechal Foch, Regent, Sheridan Syrah


Here are my comments:

Colour – inky purple red

Smell – complex, very fragrant. Burnt rubber nose from a comatose Sheridan Syrah is buried as a touch of leather after aging to oxidize the burnt rubber smell plus dilution. The Syrah was rich and tasty but flawed by natural malolactic fermentation after Lalvin RC 212 fermentation from a destemmed 500 lb drum of Sheridan Syrah with no added nutrient or additional sulphite at ferment. We requested un-sulphited drum but who knows, it may have been sulphited. If it wasn't we made an honest mistake and learn from it assuming we caused the problem through lack of nutrient during a ferment. Since this event we always add nutrient to RC212 fermentations because we like RC212 reds i.e. spicy and fragrant.

Flavour – off dry from the 2 fruit ports, tasty and balanced, lots of flavour

Acid – fine

Tannin – fine

This is at least as good as Joe Gallo’s Hearty Burgundy which my friend Verne and I drank on our bicycle trip in 1975 from Toronto to New Orleans because we could afford it.

I’ll still use it as a premium cooking wine or as an aperitif on ice ike Dubonnet.

I intend to fix the balance of the comatose Syrah this way (~45 bottles) so all of my winemaking apprentices (I have 6 diehard apprentices) get some.

Sometimes patience is virtue.

…..the resurrection of a comatose 2020 Syrah with 2022 and 2023 wines. I grow Regent, Marechal Foch, Raspberries and pick wild blackberries. We buy Bulgarian dried elderberries.

What this experience taught me: 1) never, never give up (Winston Churchill) 2) learn from your mistakes 3) be patient - wines change over time 4) focus on flavours and smells 5) taste and blend everything in tiny batches to learn how to transmute flaws.

The last sip of this was fine slightly sweet from the fruit port but still very nice as an off dry red. It could be be re-blended with something less sweet to make it even better.

Don't be afraid to play with your wines, especially those that are unbalanced in any way to try to improve them Don't be afraid to blend your grape wines with fruit wines in everyway possible to discover eureka blends.

Winemaking should be fun so explore it every way that you can

Namaste

Klaus

 

[Hazelemere]

a 50/50 blend of organic 2019 Raspberry Sour Cherry Melomel with 2020 Raspberry Cyser Melomel i.e. home grown raspberries, russet apples, sour cherries and unpasteurized cranberry and blueberyy blossom honey. Cranberry blossom honey kills but it is really hard to find. This is much better than either wine alone. The russets in the cyser overpower the tannin in the cyser. The sour cherry raspberry melomel is much softer. If I knew how good this 50/50 mix was I would have made it. Good news is that I can blend these two raspberry wines in the glass. Here are my comments on the 50/50 blend:

Colour: fine

Smell: fragrant vey nice

Tannin: perfect for long aging otherwise a bit high but still ok

Acid: slightly high for early drinking, perfect for aging

Flavour: high tannin, complex, really tasty fruit wine

Aftertaste: long finish. As a blend this could be really good and I may rebottle it this way to age (or do the blend glass by glass).

Bottom line: I love high end raspberry wine and this blend is certainly a version of that. I may blend these 2 wines in the glass over time so I don't have to rebottle them.

If you grow raspberries and they are truly ripe you can make a pot-purri of really good raspberry wines.

I love raspberry wines. (My favourite is raspberry + Chambord i.e. 1 or 2 Chambords in a 25 or 30 bottle Raspberry table wine)

Namaste

Klaus