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Pacific Chardonnay 2021-2022

This Brehm frozen California 2021 Chardonnay juice in a pail and cut with russet cyser about 85/15. The Chardonnay was a bit tangy and buttered popcorn like without any Sonoma or Carneros like fruit cocktail smell that I love in really good California Chardonnay. So I hit my apple honey wine from my organic russets ground and pressed with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey. This worked!

Colour - nice lemon yellow

Smell - very nice and complex although this is more French style than California style which I like also.

Tannin - perfect

Acid - high but not crazy high (this wine should age like gangbusters for a long time - I'll let the rest age at least a couple of years maybe longer.

Flavour - rich, complex with a really nice finish. This would kill with Vongole Linguine which my daughter the gourmet might make on one of my birthdays. I make prawn linguine in a cream sauce with portabellas and fresh homegrown organic herbs, baby zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes. I CAN'T WAIT TO MAKE IT! i.e. old dogs do learn new tricks from time to time.

Bottom line for me - make lots of russet cyser with blueberry blossom honey for blending with any white grape wine. This blend is an eye opener for me and I will absolutely do grape-cyser combos again. "Fusion" winemaking i.e. fruit+honey meets grapes.

Eureka moment - I have over 2 cases of this in my cooler. What a lucky day!!!

PS - If you've never made cyser and have the gear to grind and press apples with excellent unpasteurized honey I suggest that you try it. I make cyser every year. You can also make a pear equivalent from Anjous or Bosc pears or even yellow plum melomel which I don't have access too yet but would make in a heartbeat if I could grow enough yellow plums.
 

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Pinnacle of the Pacific 2020

60% Dineen Cabernet Franc grapes hand destemmed and uncrushed fermented 22 days before pressing
40% California Amador Cabernet Sauvignon hand destemmed and uncrushed fermented 18 days before pressing
RC212 Yeast

Comments:

Colour - inky purple

Smell - rich complex - figs, pomegranate, cocoa, plums, treacle, violets

Tannin - fine

Acid - slightly high but perfect for aging

Flavour - complex rich flavour with a really good aftertaste. This is a really good wine not because I made it. It it is really good because it is! IMHO this is my best homemade red right now. I have other reds almost as good but this one kills!!!!!!!!!

Bottom line: I have 12 left and will absolutely let them age so I taste the last one at least 6 years from now after tasting it every 6 months at a family gourmet dinner, with my gourmet chef daughter and wine making son in law. This is a really good wine right now and should improve a lot as it ages so I will do that....let it truly age in a perfect wine cooler. It would be fun to taste it 8-12 years from now.
 

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Found I think one last bottle of a wine I cannot remember, off dry and it may be a type of peach of a cheapo wine kit I made long ago but cannot really remember, maybe mango something.

Nice with a hot summer afternoon


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So @geek, did you buy a case or what? At less than $9 a bottle, if it was good, I would have. Even if the name sounds like someone who fixes people's accents. 🤣

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Dineen Cabernet Franc 2020

This is 22 day Lalvin RC212 ferment of hand destemmed uncrushed slightly punched down Washington Dineen Vineyard 2020 dead ripe 14.9% alcohol, perfect condition grapes in boxes oaked with medium toast American oak cubes during malolactic fermentation (120 days) 30 cubes/5 Imperial gallons and no sulphite added until the end of malolactic fermentation at 50 ppm i.e. 1/8 tsp potassium metabisulphite per Imperial gallon and bottled at 75 ppm total sulphite. Free sulphite was probably 25 ppm i.e. 1/3 of total which is perfect for all of the red wines I've made in the last 15 years via hand destemming and fermenting un-crushed grapes.

Colour - inky purple

Smell - prunes, cherries, black currants

Tannin - high but fine (mostly skin and not seed tannins that you get from crushing grapes especially grapes this ripe)

Acid - perfect for aging to increase the complexity of the smell

Flavour - rich, intense red. It tastes young even though it is 3 years old. I have 15 left which I will taste at family gatherings e.g. Easter, Thanksgiving and Xmas with my wine-making partner son-in-law and gourmet daughter so we can drink it with Prime Rib, Lamb or Roast Goose. over the next 10 years. This 3 year old wine needs to age to soften its tannin and acid plus maximize its bouquet.

Aftertaste - very long finish. It coats your mouth. It should also be good with Beef Stroganoff or Beef Wellington which I tasted for the first time (yum!) or grilled strip loin steaks well seasoned.

Bottom line line - this shows the value of RC212 yeast and a long slow ferment on hand destemmed uncrushed grapes with American oak. I'd make it again in a heartbeat.
 

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