What's in your glass tonight?

[jswordy]

Spent all day installing lattice on the deck. Is it sacrilege to drink endless 7-and-7s out of a Coke glass? If so, by now I am going to hell.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Spent all day installing lattice on the deck. Is it sacrilege to drink endless 7-and-7s out of a Coke glass? If so, by now I am going to hell.

What did you have for dinner ? Bacon, lattice, tomato sandwich ?

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Not a coke glass but having some of my Plumeria wine out of a rocks glass.

 

[jswordy]

What did you have for dinner ? Bacon, lattice, tomato sandwich ?

Grilled cheese (2).

 

[Hazelemere]

Black Iris Syrah 2020, 2023

This is blended 1/3 Sheridan Syrah 2020 with 2/3 Black Iris 2023 ( 68% wild blackberries and 32% wild cherries (pitted) all of which I picked, froze and then fermented together. I've done 30 bottles of Black Iris Cerise separately with 2 bottles of Bols Dutch Cherry liqueur in 30 bottles at SG 1.000. This glass is made from the Black Iris that is left:

Appearance - purple ink

Smell: the burnt rubber nose from the Syrah in previous days is not apparent here. This is the smell of cherries and low sweetness caramel. This is actually decent just like this.

Tannin: fine

Acidity: fine

Flavour: this is fine at SG 0.994 although it may be better at SG 0.998 which I will try right now. Actually I'm tasting at SG 1.000. Here are my comments

Flavour at SG 1.000. This is good for anyone who doesn't like their red wines bone dry even if they aren't high in acid like my wife and some of my neighbours who own the wild cherries. I'll make this blend and oak it with a bit of sulphite as 45 bottles with a bit of extra sulphite plus sorbate at SG 0.998-1.000 and put it back into my cooler and then bottle it as a house red at the end of 2024. This leaves me with 15 bottles of Sheridan Syrah 2020 to resurrect from the dead which I can do with my Marechal Foch and/or Regent 2023once they finish malolactic ferment. This should make a stunning cooking wine.

 

[Hazelemere]

just for fun (image is the same as above)

Black Iris Cerise 2023

this is racked from a 15 bottle carboy containing 1 bottle of Bols Dutch Cherry Liqueur unoaked at SG 1.000 with sorbate..

Appearance: clear inky purple

Smell: rich cherry with a bit of almond (cherry pits)

Tannin: fine

Acid: fine

Flavour: rich, tasty fruit wine. Maybe a bit sweet for me but not for the people around me. This is very good fruit wine IMHO.

I just mixed this wine 50/50 with Black Iris (no Syrah, no liqueur) in a glass at SG 0.996

Here are my comments on this last blend:

Smell: wild cherry dominant, rich intense nose

Tannin: fine

Acid: perfect for me (not everyone else!)

Flavour: this blend is a beautiful red fruit table wine for my palate. One of the best I've ever tasted so I will make this blend for myself i.e. at least 15 bottles and make the rest for my entourage.

So I will leave all of the Black Irises alone (60 bottles) until my Marechal Foch and Regent finish MLF so I can fix all of the Syrah and make the best Black Iris that I can.

Good luck to all of you with your wines. We have a strong RC212 with nutrient ferment on destemmed Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot from Dineen Vineyard at 24.5 brix in really good condition.

 

[Hazelemere]

Carol's Dry Muscat Auslese 2023

This is tasted out of a carboy in my cooler from homegrown 2023 organic Siegerrebe, Ortega and Reichensteiner which are all German vinifera crosses. Here are my comments:

Appearance: clear lemon yellow

Smell: good, intense muscat nose from the Siegerrebe and Ortega acidified with the Reichensteiner. All pressed juice was SG 1.092. Fermented with 71B yeast and treated with bentonite mid-ferment. Unfiltered.

Tannin: fine

Acid: fine

Flavour: this is the best homegrown white wine from my grapes that I have tasted in 10 years

Bottom line: this should improve as it ages. Right now it is well balanced, rich and tasty with a good aftertaste. I have 50 of these in 2 carboys and will bottle 1 around Easter and the second one at the end of the summer or Xmas 2024. This is a keeper! Hopefully I can leave it alone just the way it is. I made this for my wife. She loves muscats. I'm going to use a bit of its top up to make prawn linguine right now with portabella mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomatoes, fresh homegrown purple sage, lemon thyme, basil with a bit of nutmeg, lemon pepper, chopped celery, with cream and parmesan. The linguine came out fine. This wine helped it.

 

[Hazelemere]

Marechal Foch 2023

This just finished MLF from 71B ferment and I'm ready to rack some of it with sulphite for the first time at 50 ppm and blend wth rest with the same amount of sulphite i.e. 1/8 tsp potassium metabisulphite per Imperial gallon and then put it in cooler so it can slowly drop tartrate crystals.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear inky purple

Smell - good, clean nose

Tannin - fine

Acid - slightly high. It would benefit from a low acid blender

Flavour - good if the acid drops. I'll do the "low acid" blender next i.e. 2020 Sheridan Syrah

Marechal Foch Syrah 2020, 2023

The Sheridan Syrah 2020 in carboy fermented with RC212 had a burnt rubber nose which is improving over time. What I'm tasting here is 80% Foch and 20% Syrah to drop the Foch acid. The Syrah was high alcohol and flat (low in acid). Here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance - inky purple. The Syrah is lighter on its own.

Smell - no burnt rubber, decent and complex

Tannin - good

Acid - slightly high but okay. It should over time with tartrate stabilization and ester formation.

Flavour - Its ok considering that it just finished MLF. A year from now it should be much better.

 

[Hazelemere]

Regent 2023

This has almost finished MLF from 71B ferment and I'm nearly ready to rack some of it with sulphite for the first time at 50 ppm and blend wth rest with the same amount of sulphite i.e. 1/8 tsp potassium metabisulphite per Imperial gallon and then put it in cooler so it can slowly drop tartrate crystals.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear inky purple

Smell - good, clean nose

Tannin - fine

Acid - slightly high. It would benefit from a low acid blender but it is slightly less acidic than the Foch

Flavour - good if the acid drops. I'll do the "low acid" blender next i.e. 2020 Sheridan Syrah

Regent Syrah 2020, 2023

The Sheridan Syrah 2020 in carboy fermented with RC212 had a burnt rubber nose which is improving over time. What I'm tasting here is 80% Foch and 20% Syrah to drop the Foch acid. The Syrah was high alcohol and flat (low in acid). Here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance - inky purple. The Syrah is lighter on its own.

Smell - no burnt rubber, decent and complex

Tannin - good

Acid - slightly high but okay. It should over time with tartrate stabilization and ester formation.

Flavour - Its ok considering that it just finished MLF. A year from now it should be much better.

Finally on a whim I tried the following blend to get the acid down some more:

Black Moraine 2020, 2023

This is 30% Marechal Foch 2023, 30% Regent 2023, 20% Sheridan Syrah 2020 and 20% Black Iris 2023 (68% frozen wild blackberries and 32% frozen pitted wild black cherries all fermented with 71B yeast escept 2020 Syrah with RC212 yeast and then sweetened with dextrose to SG 0.998. Here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good, very complex nose (the wild cherry smell overpowers the Syrah smell which is what I'm looking for)

Tannin - good

Acid - this is fine and should improve as the tannin drops, tartrates precipitate and esters form

Flavour - really interesting, very complex, the sweetness which is not obvious at SG 0.998 compliments the acid. This should make a decent house red and a really good cooking wine. This is my best fusion wine "grape+fruit" so far IMHO and I will use up my last 30 bottles of Black Iris to make this i.e. 45 Foch + 45 Regent + 30 Syrah + 30 Black Iris at SG 0.998 to get 150 bottles which will last me and my daughter, the gourmet cook forever. This recipe uses up all of the former "trainwreck" Syrah to make something that is actually decent.

 

[Hazelemere]

It is me I'm back one last time. I just racked all of the 30 bottle black iris, 15 of the Sheridan Syrah, about 7 Marechal Foch and 8 2nd run Musquette (Siegerrebe/Ortega/Reichenstiener) skins and sediment on pectictic enzyme repressed. All wines were fermented with 71B except Syrah on RC 212. This is unsweetened and ready to rack from a primary fermenter, with sulphite to ~30 ppm free sulphite and put into my cooler to age for at least 6 months.

This is Black Iris Foch Syrah 2020, 2023.

Here are my comments on this wine before I rack and sulphite it back into my cooler:

Appearance: purple ink

Smell: very nice complex

Tannin: fine

Acid: slightly high but ok.

Flavour: rich, complex. Should be good as the acid drops in the cooler over time. This is unsweetened. If it doesn't drop acid acid over time I may sweeten it. In the meantime I can say that I like it..............................a pure fusion wine fruit + grapes = fusion. You can't buy fusion wines. Try "fusion" wines in the glass by yourself, in this case blackberries with elderberries, wild cherries, hybrid + non-hybrid grapes + 2nd run white wine from grapes. Good luck to all of you with your wines.

 

[Hazelemere]

my wife tasted it and says that it shows promise so I will bottle it as her house red. She couldn't care less about what is done to create a flavour and smell. Names of any ingredient are irrelevant to her. So this is her's i.e .my wifes's house red vs just as a cooking wine..

 

[Hazelemere]

My son in law has 50 bottles in carboy of 28 brix Lodi Mettler Vineyard Petite Sirah hand destemmed and blended with 10% Regent to get the alcohol down to 16.0% to allow for malolactic fermentation (fermented with RC212) I just blended 30 bottles of my Marechal Foch 2023 on 71B (end of MLF) with the last 15 bottles of 2020 Sheridan Syrah on RC212 and 4 bottles of 2023 Sheridan Chardonnay 2nd run SG 1.092 with no sugar or water added to make 48 bottles of Pacific Marechal Foch 2023. What I'm tasting here in a glass is an attempt to improve the Petite Sirah which I find very rich but one dimensional and flat on its own to make something much more complex, balanced and interesting i.e. 67% Petite Sirah (90 parts Petite Sirah 10 parts regent) with 33% Pacific Marechal Foch 2023 (30 Foch 15 Syrah 4 2nd run Chardonnay). Here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good, interesting nose

Tannin - fine

Acid - fine

Flavour - this is interesting, very complex. I think it might be even better with unblended 2023 Marechal Foch and/or Regent to boost the acid and allow more Petite Sirah in the blend. This is definitely better than the original Petite Sirah. I'll trade my son in law both unblended 2023 Marechal Foch and/or Regent on a 2 for 1 basis to get as may bottles of the resurrected Petite Sirah as I can. Petite Sirah can be excellent if the brix isn't sky high on its own. Sky high brix Petite Sirah is one dimensional and boring unblended IMHO.

So next I tried the Petite Sirah with unblended 2023 Marechal Foch. I didn't like it so I tried 75% Petite Sirah with 25% unblended 2023 Regent. I've done this blend before and it worked so here are my comments on this blend in a glass:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good nose

Tannin - slightly high but will help the wine age. This should be much better in about 5 years.

Acid - good for long aging

Flavour - this is very intense and complex. Given enough time e.g. 5+ years in my cooler, it could be very good and much better than the the original Petite Sirah at <14.9% alcohol with much better acid and balance.

 

[jswordy]

Here's a preview of what will be in my glass tonight!



Liquor store price comparison:

7 miles south of me: $79
7 miles north of me: $60
25 miles west of me: $48

So, I am about to head west with a shopping list!

 

[jswordy]

Here's a preview of what will be in my glass tonight!

View attachment 106987

Liquor store price comparison:

7 miles south of me: $79
7 miles north of me: $60
25 miles west of me: $48

So, I am about to head west with a shopping list!

Done! But they did charge me 3% for a non-cash sale, something I hate that more and more businesses around here are doing. Still saved money even with the gas cost. And it was a nice drizzly day fall drive.

 

[Boatboy24]

Done! But they did charge me 3% for a non-cash sale, something I hate that more and more businesses around here are doing. Still saved money even with the gas cost. And it was a nice drizzly day fall drive.

Next time they pull that non-cash BS, pay them in pennies.

 

[wineh]

Done! But they did charge me 3% for a non-cash sale, something I hate that more and more businesses around here are doing. Still saved money even with the gas cost. And it was a nice drizzly day fall drive.

That hasn't gained a lot traction in Canada yet, thank goodness!

 

[jswordy]

Next time they pull that non-cash BS, pay them in pennies.

My property taxes almost doubled this year. Been thinking dollah bills for that one.... "Now, see, this lil pile is what I paid LAST year! And THIS BIG PILE, well... that's this year! Start counting..."

 

[Hazelemere]

Russet Cyser 2023

This is 90% homegrown russet major Cox and pear minor apple juice chaptalized with cane sugar and 10% homegrown King apple juice chaptalized with unpasteurized blue berry blossom honey and fermented with 71B yeast blended in a single glass. Here are my comments:

Appearance - golden i.e. a bit dark

Smell - good rich apple nose with a bit of honey fragrance

Tannin - good from the russets

Acid - good from the Russets

Flavour - good, rich intense apple wine. I'll probably make at least 15 of these.

Russet 2023

This is 100% homegrown russet major Cox and pear minor apple juice chaptalized with cane sugar

Appearance a bit lighter than the Russet Cyser

Smell - good rich apple nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - tasty, balanced apple wine with a nice aftertaste. I have 15 bottled but can do 30 more as my house white ( 45 bottles ) and still make 15 Russet Cyser. I may save 15 to blend with my son-in-laws apple wine to make a 3rd apple wine and/or 2nd apple cyser wine.

 

[jswordy]

OK, so if you ever consider buying 2014 Dievole Chianti Classico... ummm, don't. If you do, I am gonna hold an intervention for you to see what is your problem, OK? Yeah, yeah, yeah, nobody on here EVER posts their failures... Well, I do! But seriously. Freakin' buy Thunderbird first. This is like drinking water. I mean, yeah, I'm gonna get drunk as a skunk on it, but my God, man... some grape would be nice with it!

 

[wineh]

Our "castle in Kelowna" mission Hill Winery produces some nice wines. This is one of them. Black cherries, vanilla, chocolate and a hint of sage on the nose. Flavours of black cherries and a hint of coffee in this inky dark wine. Glad I got a few! 14%