What's in your glass tonight?

[Hazelemere]

Marechal Foch 2023

This is homegrown organic hand destemmed and uncrushed Marechal Foch at 91% blended with my Siegerrebe-Ortega 2nd run (no water or sugar added) both fermented with a RC212-71B yeast blend. This has just finished malolactic fermentation and is ready to be racked and sulphited at 50 ppm (1/8 tsp per Imperial gallon) to drop tartrates in my cooler. I have 30 bottles of this. Here are my comments:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good clean nose

Tannin - fine

Acid - good (lowest I've ever had without any chemical treatment over 10 years)

Flavour - this is decent with an interesting aftertaste.

Bottom line - this is the best Marechal Foch I've ever made. Adding low acid 2nd run white and using 71B yeast looks like a winning recipe going forward. I think that it will improve over time and become more complex. I never heard of 71B until this year on this website. I'll absolutely use 71B yeast on Marechal Foch in the future in combination with RC212.

 

[Hazelemere]

Regent 2023

This is homegrown organic hand destemmed and uncrushed Regent grafted onto SO4 rootstock at 91% blended with my Siegerrebe-Ortega 2nd run (no water or sugar added) both fermented with a RC212-71B yeast blend. This has almost finished malolactic fermentation and will soon be ready to be racked and sulphited at 50 ppm (1/8 tsp per Imperial gallon) to drop tartrates in my cooler. I have 60 bottles of this. Here are my comments:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - slightly stinky until it is swirled in a glass at which point it is fine and interesting. Racking and sulphiting it should improve it a lot.

Tannin - fine, more than the Marechal Foch described above

Acid - good (lowest I've ever had without any chemical treatment over 10 years)

Flavour - this is decent with an interesting aftertaste which is totally different than the Marechal Foch.

Bottom line - this is the best Regent I've ever made. Adding low acid 2nd run white and using 71B yeast looks like a winning recipe going forward. I think that it will improve over time and become more complex. I never heard of 71B until this year on this website. I'll absolutely use 71B yeast on Regent in the future in combination with RC212.

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[wood1954]

How would you describe the flavor of marechal Foch?

 

[Hazelemere]

How would you describe the flavor of marechal Foch?

smoky and a bit gamey like a Pinotage from South Africa

 

[Boatboy24]

 

[jswordy]

Not too much of a dark beer fan but this one tastes good even to a lager guy like me. Coffee flavors with none of the usual dark bitterness.

 

[wineh]

I don't normally see a $15 wine that doesn't have a screw cap (it's a synthetic though), and I'm shy of anything called "red blend" but it's Zin, Merlot and Cab Sauvignon on the back label, so I gave it a try. It's definitely Zin up front with lots of fruit, there's some vanilla and pepper from the cab and maybe a plum from the merlot, but not much from the merlot. There's a bit of youth on the nose, and I might just get a couple more for the cellar.
Edit: this went well with a deer blue cheese burger!

 

[jswordy]

I don't normally see a $15 wine that doesn't have a screw cap (it's a synthetic though), and I'm shy of anything called "red blend" but it's Zin, Merlot and Cab Sauvignon on the back label, so I gave it a try. It's definitely Zin up front with lots of fruit, there's some vanilla and pepper from the cab and maybe a plum from the merlot, but not much from the merlot. There's a bit of youth on the nose, and I might just get a couple more for the cellar.
View attachment 107565

Try Chateau Mayne Vieil AOC Fronsac. Very cellar-able Bordeaux from the Fronsac region. Typically around $15. Various vintages have rated 91 or 92 points among critics I respect.

https://chateaumaynevieil.com/index.php/en/wines

 

[wineh]

Try Chateau Mayne Vieil AOC Fronsac. Very cellar-able Bordeaux from the Fronsac region. Typically around $15. Various vintages have rated 91 or 92 points among critics I respect.

https://chateaumaynevieil.com/index.php/en/wines
View attachment 107567

I should probably clarify that I'm in Canada and that wine costs you folks less in American $

 

[winemaker81]

 

[Hazelemere]

Blend in a glass:

50% Apple Edelzwicker 2021-22 blend of 2nd run homegrown white grape wine with no added sugar or water with homegrown apple juice chaptalized with cane sugar (i.e. no water added to any of it) SG 0.994

50% Cyser 2023 - homegrown King apples pressed and chaptalized with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey. SG 1.000

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear, yellow gold

Smell - intense apple, honey nose which lingers

Tannin - good

Acid - good at this SG 0.997

Flavour - this is very intense cyser pyment and much better than either wine alone.

Bottom line - I'll have to save my 55 bottles of cyser 2023 to make this cyser pyment in 2024 i.e. no more cyser in 2024.. This could be very good if I can make enough apple-edelzwicker (2nd run grape wine ) in 2024 so that is what I will do. If I can't get enoguh apples in 2024 I will make it in 2025.

 

[sour_grapes]

I don't normally see a $15 wine that doesn't have a screw cap (it's a synthetic though), and I'm shy of anything called "red blend" but it's Zin, Merlot and Cab Sauvignon on the back label, so I gave it a try. It's definitely Zin up front with lots of fruit, there's some vanilla and pepper from the cab and maybe a plum from the merlot, but not much from the merlot. There's a bit of youth on the nose, and I might just get a couple more for the cellar.
Edit: this went well with a deer blue cheese burger!
View attachment 107565

Yeah, I dispatched a couple of bottles of that recently that set me back ~$8.50 USD on sale. Fine plonk, if that is not too extreme of an oxymoron.

 

[winemaker81]

Yeah, I dispatched a couple of bottles of that recently that set me back ~$8.50 USD on sale. Fine plonk, if that is not too extreme of an oxymoron.

I recently opened the first bottle from the Costco Wines Around the World (previously call Wine Advent Calendar), and at the equivalent of $8 USD per bottle, the rose was quite good. We can find real bargains, but it takes some hunting.

 

[Hazelemere]

Black Iris Framboise 2023

This is a 60% Black Iris 40% Raspberry table wine blend. Black Iris is 68% frozen wild blackberries from my neighborhood, 32% frozen pitted wild cherries from my neighborhood and 1 lb dried elderberries per 25 bottle carboy medium toast American oak cubes and 1 bottle of Bols cherry liqueur. Framboise is frozen organic homegrown raspberries with 2 bottles of French Chambord liqueur (black raspberries).. I fermented raspberry and wild cherries with 71B yeast, pectic enzyme and vitamin B containing nutrient, blackberries and elderberries with RC212 yeast, pectic enzyme and vitamin B containing nutrient.

Here are comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear deep cherry red

Smell - beautiful rich complex nose

Tannin - good

Acid- slightly high for the tannin level but should drop as it ages

Flavour - first class young fruit table wine. I was going to bottle it but I think I'll leave it alone in my 25 bottle carboy until Valentines

Bottom line- this is a really interesting fruit wine and I will definitely make it again e.g. a couple of cases per year. It is back-sweetened with dextrose and sorbated at SG 1.000. It should improve for at least 5 years after it is bottled. This is the lowest sweetness level I've ever had on a raspberry wine which tells me that 71B is the way to go on wine containing raspberries..

 

[Hazelemere]

Raspberry Sour Cherry Melomel 2019

This is 62.5% homegrown organic raspberries, 37.5% homegrown organic sour cherries fermented with unpasteurized cranberry blossom honey and EC-1118 yeast, back sweetened to SG 1.010 with dextrose and sorbated. I have 6 bottles left in my cooler.

Here are my comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear, deep rose

Smell - rich, complex nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good for this level of sweetness

Flavour- good, still tasting fresh and fruity after 4 years. If I made it again I'd use 71B yeast to try to drop the sweetness. I'll open the last 6 bottles over the next 6 years, if I can, to see how long it can age before it loses its fruitiness. I like my newer 2023 raspberry wines e.g. Framboise and Black Iris Framboise better but this wine is fine. I think that it could be sensational in a marinade with steaks. In fact that is exactly what I will do with the last part of the bottle...soak 2 small sirloin steaks in it with herbs and then grill them. I'll report back to you all on that experiment.

 

[jswordy]

I should probably clarify that I'm in Canada and that wine costs you folks less in American $

Yup.

 

[winemaker81]

I made pizza tonight, on which Mrs. WM81 requested hamburg. For this I fry hamburg, add minced onion, salt, pepper, and various seasonings. Typically I add red wine and simmer until the wine is evaporated, 20-30 minutes.

I opened a bottle of the "Frankenwine" I bottled in August for cooking wine -- a mix of odd-n-ends from the 2022 vintage. At bottling time I was not impressed, which is ok, it's cooking wine.

Tonight? It tastes and smells strongly of Grenache, and now I'm unhappy I have only 2 bottles left.




Something to remember is that every wine we make is a one-off. We will NEVER duplicate that wine. We may come close, but each wine in unique.

Enjoy each for that it is.

 

[Hazelemere]

I made pizza tonight, on which Mrs. WM81 requested hamburg. For this I fry hamburg, add minced onion, salt, pepper, and various seasonings. Typically I add red wine and simmer until the wine is evaporated, 20-30 minutes.

I opened a bottle of the "Frankenwine" I bottled in August for cooking wine -- a mix of odd-n-ends from the 2022 vintage. At bottling time I was not impressed, which is ok, it's cooking wine.

Tonight? It tastes and smells strongly of Grenache, and now I'm unhappy I have only 2 bottles left.

View attachment 107613


Something to remember is that every wine we make is a one-off. We will NEVER duplicate that wine. We may come close, but each wine in unique.

Enjoy each for that it is.

true

 

[wineview]

Made sourdough pizza tonight. I think I will open a Barolo.

 

[Hazelemere]

Pinnacle of the Pacific 2020

This is 60% Washington Dineen Vineyard Cabernet Franc and 40% California Amador County Cabernet Sauvignon. Pinnacle is my designation for a Cabernet blend. Pacific is my designation for at least 2 vineyards on the west coast. This is hand destemmed, uncrushed and fermented with RC212, Amador for 18 days and Dineen for 21 days before pressing. Alcohol is 13.8%. I have 7 left. Here are my comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear, deep, dark purple red

Smell - figs, pomegranates, plums, chocolate, blueberries, sour licorice

Tannin - perfect

Acid - perfect

Flavour - this is my best wine so far in bottles from red wine grapes. Really rich and tasty. I'll try to keep my mitts out of the rest for as long as I can. I'll have it this evening with my wife with wine (sour cherry raspberry melomel) marinated grilled sirloin, yams with sour cream chives and bacon bits plus steamed broccoli with butter.. I would make it again in a heartbeat. It is really good IMHO.