What's in your glass tonight?

[Hazelemere]

Winemaker 81

Here are my comments on Winemaker 81

loves wine​

tries to help​

seems to have his ego in check​

makes kit wines so is helpful to kit winemakers (I am not a kit winemaker)​

tries to be objective about his wines (tries to tell the truth. Telling the truth in winemaking is massively important e.g. I dumped all my Second run Sheridan Chardonnay down the drain)​

has made a lot of different wines which gives him a lot of experience in wine making​

If I lived near him we'd probably be great friends​

​

Namaste​

​

Felllow winemakers​

​

Klaus​

​

 

[Boatboy24]

 

[MiBor]

I've tried one of her more recent creations and I loved that wine.
https://www.ste-michelle.com/winemakers/katie-nelson

 

[Shurt1073]

Winemaker 81

Here are my comments on Winemaker 81

loves wine​

tries to help​

seems to have his ego in check​

makes kit wines so is helpful to kit winemakers (I am not a kit winemaker)​

tries to be objective about his wines (tries to tell the truth. Telling the truth in winemaking is massively important e.g. I dumped all my Second run Sheridan Chardonnay down the drain)​

has made a lot of different wines which gives him a lot of experience in wine making​

If I lived near him we'd probably be great friends​

​

Namaste​

​

Felllow winemakers​

​

Klaus​

​

Spot on .... 100%! I would not be the winemaker I am today without his help / guidance. I'm a big fan of him although we've never met and what's funny is my family & friends hear me talk about him A LOT when it comes to wine making! Family / friend conversations start with "my wine making buddy Bryan said". This dude is the wine voice of reason and multiple times has dumbed it down to where I can understand.

I hope to meet Winemaker 81 at some point and share a glass of wine. Hope it's his and not mine! lol.

 

[winemaker81]

Spot on .... 100%! I would not be the winemaker I am today without his help / guidance. I'm a big fan of him although we've never met and what's funny is my family & friends hear me talk about him A LOT when it comes to wine making! Family / friend conversations start with "my wine making buddy Bryan said". This dude is the wine voice of reason and multiple times has dumbed it down to where I can understand.

I hope to meet Winemaker 81 at some point and share a glass of wine. Hope it's his and not mine! lol.

Dude ... you're embarrassing me. Not that it's not nice to be appreciated.

 

[Hazelemere]

Russet Ambrosia 2022-2023

My son in law and I made this blend today which I'm tasting now from 15 bottles of his unoaked 2022 Okanagan Ambrosia (1/3) and my 2023 unoaked Russet (2/3). We sorbated at SG 1.000 and sulphited to about 28 ppm free sulphite and put the blend in my cooler. All of the apple wines were treated mid ferment with bentonite to remove protein haze.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - lemon yellow (which is perfect for apple wine)

Smell - good fragrant wine

Tannin - good from the Russets

Acid - good

Flavour - this is a really tasty apple wine which I will absolutely make again with my son in law. I'd also like to try it as a cyser i.e. un-pasturized honey chaptalization instead of sugar. e.g. cranberry blossom, blueberry blossom or raspberry blossom.

The Ambrosia have a beautiful smell akin to Cox and even King apples.

Here are my comments on a retaste at bottling my portion:

Appearance - deep yellow

Smell - good fragrant apple wine

Tannin - good from the Russets

Acid - good

Flavour - this is a really tasty balanced apple wine which I will absolutely make again with my son in law and make as a house wine that my wife will absolutely like. I'd also like to try it as a cyser i.e. un-pasturized honey chaptalization instead of sugar. e.g. cranberry blossom, blueberry blossom or raspberry blossom.

The Ambrosia have a beautiful smell akin to Cox and even King apples and soften the Russet acid and tannin in a really good way without dominating the Russets. IMHO Ambrosia is much better than low acid apples like Gala, Honeycrisp and Fuji. I like Cox Orange or Cox Pippen a bit better than Ambrosia since they have more acid and are just as fragrant, but Ambrosia is fine. If I started an apple orchard from scratch for eating and wine making I might do something like this 67% Russets 11% Ambrosia 11% King 11% Cox (Orange or Pippen). I would also try growing Bosc and Anjou pears and blend their juice in, Anjous make excellent wine. Gravensteins are also good for wine. Spartans are ok. My russets are grafted onto a transparent apple tree.

 

[Shurt1073]

Temps are at 70+ degrees on the back porch tonight so it's time for a little BAD APPLE with a cinnamon stick!

 

[Hazelemere]

Temps are at 70+ degrees on the back porch tonight so it's time for a little BAD APPLE with a cinnamon stick!


View attachment 111469

killer label

 

[Shurt1073]

killer label

Thank you

 

[Hazelemere]

Just on a whim I tasted Carol's Red with my friend Don's Red 50/50 in a glass. His has more non-wild cherry in it i.e. organic pitted Bing cherries from the Okanagan. His blend is mostly Sheridan Syrah, Bing cherries, wild blackberries and elderberries. Here are my comments on this blend in a glass:

Appearance - purple

Smell - the Syrah caramel nose is more apparent but it is fine i.e. a bit fig like as in Amador County Cabernet Sauvignon

Tannin - better than Carol's Red. The pitted Okanagan Bing cherries soften the tannins

Acid - good. The pitted Bing cherries soften the acid.

Flavour - this is better than Carol's Red. If my friend Don likes it we'll reblend all or a portion of these two reds to make a better IMHO house red for my wife. This has a good aftertaste. If Carol's Red is a C+ then this is a B- i.e. decent house red. I would absolutely drink this as a house red. Is it stunning? No it isn't but it is better than a cooking wine although it could be a sensational cooking wine due to the non-sweet caramel flavour. One of the secrets of winemaking in my humble opinion is to have enough different wines that you can experiment with even in a single glass like this one. Don gets to choose what he likes or not. He'll taste both his red and Carol's and then decide what he wants to do. His palate is different from mine and whatever he chooses I have to honour his choice. Winemaking should be a respectful game.

I wish all of you the best of success with all of your wines.

Namaste

Klaus

retaste ahead of sulphiting and bottling this weekend.:

Carol's Red 2022 - 2023

This is my wife's house red wine. A combo of resurrected Sheridan Syrah, Blackberries, Elderberries, Wild and domestic pitted cherries, Marechal Foch and Regent. Here are my tasting comments:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good fruity smell

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - As a house red this is fine, but right now it is slightly tangy and tannic for my wife so it needs to age in the bottle (I'm guessing 2 years) to soften so she likes it. It is rich and complex. Not outstanding but certainly decent. It was a good way to use up a damaged Sheridan Syrah (malolactic sulphide nose that gave it a burnt rubber smell which has morphed into a non-sweet caramel smell). It may be a coincidence or not that a 2nd run Chardonnay that we made from Sheridan Chardonnay grapes in boxes had a sulphur smell in this case "cabbage" odour which I suspect to be mercaptans, so we dumped it ~75 bottles. I've made 2nd run whites for years and they never smell like this. I use them alone or in apple wine blends especially with cysers to make pyments. I don't use sulphur on my grapevines when they start veraison to prevent formation of sulphides and always use nutrients having had a 500 lb drum of Sheridan Syrah go "burnt rubber nose" during malolactic fermentation with RC212 yeast and no nutrient. We've had really good Sheridan Syrah (e.g. 2011) but not recently and always buy their neighbour's reds (Dineen Vineyard) instead without a single trainwreck wine in 13 years. PS the first run Sheridan Chardonnay 2023 from juice settled from solids is fine, especially blended with my homegrown Siegerrebe/Ortega on D47, V13 and even 71B yeast. All of that chardonnay is oaked with medium toast American oak cubes.

Here are my comments on this carboy sample from my cooler in a glass at SG 0.994:

Appearance - purple

Smell - good nose of caramel, cherries, venison, blackberries, chocolate, figs, marzipan

Tannin - good

Acid - good.

Flavour- As a house wine for my wife Carol who likes low tannin, low acid, rich red wines, this is very good, fragrant dry red. It has a good aftertaste with some, but not excessive, tannin in the finish which indicates that it should age gracefully for up to 5 years in my walk in cooler. This will be her everyday red (she'll get about 60) which should last her 3+ years, so we can let the premium reds e.g. Dineen Vineyard Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon age properly e.g. 5+ years. If you have red wine grapes that are too acidic consider blending in any or all of blackberries, black pitted cherries, dried elderberries. Wild black cherries are the best IMHO but pitted dead ripe cherries like Bing, Sam, Van or even Ranier (red-yellow) will also work, improve the smell and drop residual tartaric acid after MLF. This wine which is a potpurri contains Syrah, Marechal Foch, Regent, wild cherries, organic Bing cherries, dried elderberries and blackberries. Marechal Foch and/or Regent with high tartaric acid after MLF with blackberries, cherries and dried elderberries seems like a no brainer to me going forward, especially if the reds are made entirely from home-grown or neighborhood picked wild fruit (blackberries and black cherries). This wine tastes like it could have made a tasty Port in which case I would have added EC-1118 yeast right at the start with no MLF. Blueberries might also work. I have tasted good blueberry wine but have never made it. I can buy organic blueberries and might try those (e.g. Duke or Chandler).

 

[wineh]

Holy extraction batman! This wine is almost black and so in your face! Blackberry, black cherries, vanilla and currants on the nose. Vanilla, cherries, leather and possibly everything else on the palate! This wine is expensive in Canada but I don't care. It's dry intensity gets right into my throat. 14.4%

 

[Hazelemere]

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.

retaste at Easter:

Colour - clear 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 and tasty with a really nice finish. I'll drink this with a Cantonese style roast turkey which is in the oven now and being basted with its marinade of garlic, tamari, sesame oil, Chinese 5 spice, russet apple wine, unsalted chicken broth, honey. Addition of Russet Cyser to the Brehm frozen California Chardonnay juice improved it by making it much more complex. I would make this again in a heartbeat. PS The turkey came out perfect. I'll thicken the 4 cups of pan drippings with cornstarch and use it on a rice side dish with turkey stuffing - celery, onions, apple and the cooked marinade with rice, mushrooms, first of the season asparagus and a bit of potato and yams hash browned in the turkey fat and added to the rice.

Dessert will be James Barber Candid Bananas - over-ripe bananas in butter with brown sugar, ginger and nutmeg with some reduced sour cherry raspberry wine on vanilla ice cream.

The turkey carcass will be boiled in unsalted chicken stock plus the remaining uncooked marinade (and then stripped of its bones) to make a Cantonese style turkey minnestrone with fire roasted diced tomatoes, left over frozen vegetable stocks (broccoli and cauliflower), carrots, garbanzos boiled from scratch, cilantro and extra celery plus, frozen green leek and Italian pasta e.g. shells.

 

[Neb Farmer]

DiSaronno fizz...a shot or two of Disaronno and a half-shot of fresh squeezed lemon juice....shaken with ice, top off glass with ice water. They say to use soda water/carbonated water, but I prefer the no-soda-pop fizz. So, i guess I like a Disaronno Flat.

 

[Boatboy24]

View attachment 111543DiSaronno fizz...a shot or two of Disaronno and a half-shot of fresh squeezed lemon juice....shaken with ice, top off glass with ice water. They say to use soda water/carbonated water, but I prefer the no-soda-pop fizz. So, i guess I like a Disaronno Flat.

Mrs BB likes an Amaretto sour. Take what you've got there, remove the water and add just a touch of simple syrup.

 

[winemaker81]

In 2021 the plan was to make a Rhone-style blend and an Italian varietal blend. Unfortunately, the wonky weather coupled with issues produced by COVID caused our grape delivery date to change several times. The final date, very unfortunately, coincided with my younger son's wedding day.

I informed him that some things, such as winemaking, as once-in-a-lifetime events, so that his elder brother (best man and officiant) and I would miss the wedding as we'd be crushing grapes, and that since most people get married more than once, so we'd attend his next wedding.

Yes, I was joking, and both my son and his now-wife thought it was hilarious. [Some members of the bride's family do NOT appreciate my humor, which is perfectly understandable.]

We opted to buy Finer Wine Kits to fill our barrels, and this one is a field blend of Syrah, Petite Sirah, and Merlot. This sort-of fulfills the plan of making a Rhone-style blend.

The wine is coming up on 2.5 years old, so it's time to taste test:​

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Unaerated: The color is pure ink. I used Color Pro on skin packs, and it was a heavy dose. It has a strong aroma, and a "generic red" smell. It's good, but not distinctive to any varietal. The taste displays fruit, with tannin in the middle of the tongue in the aftertaste. Like with the aroma, it's not associated with any varietal. In fact, it doesn't taste like a Rhone, even though two of the grapes are Rhone grapes. It's not bad, but it doesn't match the intended profile.​

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Aerated: I get less nose than the unaerated. The fruit isn't quite as forward and the tannin aftertaste is missing. In its place is a sensation of acid on the cheeks and gums -- not unpleasant, just obvious. Most of the time I prefer aeration, but for this one I prefer the unaerated.​

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The average person who likes red wine but isn't really into the details will like this one.​

Per usual for our collaborations with my elder son, I made two labels and a portion of the batch has my son's logo on it.

 

[jswordy]

Interesting. Once opened, every beer out of this 12-pack of Presidente will foam over like a volcano, cold. I snapped this and poured it right away to avoid the mess. Rare for AB InBev to miss the mark. Maybe they added too much Carapils or they jacked up the carbonation too high, or both. Does fine once poured. This may be the last pic on the old butcher block counter, as I should start ripping it all out in a couple days.

 

[Boatboy24]

 

[wineh]

My new thing is to buy wines on sale. All I could find about this one is that it is a "red blend". Currants and cherries on the nose, lots of currants and blackberry on the palate. Decent extraction and 14%.

 

[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.

retaste:

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 5 left and will give 1 to my sister.

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 - IMHO this is my best red wine in bottles from red wine grapes. Really rich and tasty. I'll try to keep my mitts out of the last 4 to see how long it can age. From now on I'll drink it only at special family occasions like Easter, birthdays, Thanksgiving or Xmas with prime rib roast or leg of lamb. I have a Dineen Petit Verdot 2023 in carboys which I think could be as good as this one. I would make it again in a heartbeat. It has a really nice, lingering silky aftertaste. I think that the 18 and 21 day ferments, uncrushed and hand destemmed really helped it. I never crush red wine grapes. You can but I won't.

 

[Hazelemere]

Dineen Petit Verdot 2023

This is hand-destemmed and uncrushed Dineen Petit Verdot in boxes in perfect conditon fermented with nutrient and RC212 yeast for 12 days. This is racked into a glass carboy and is near the tail end of a malolactic fermentation with 38 medium toast American oak cubes in a 25 bottle carboy to make sure it has no hydrogen sulphide issues. Here are my comments:

Appearance - nice deep purple darker than the Cab described above i.e. inky purple

Smell - good clean nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is rich, complex and interesting. I'll try to keep my mitts out of it wrt to bottling it alone or in a blend until the end of the summer 2024. I am thrilled to have 50 of these! No hydrogen sulphide smell at all. The oak level is fine and not overpowering at this dosage of cubes. I'll post a photo when I have one. We've used Dineen grapes for years. These were 1st class 14% PA. I actually think that this is better than the Cabernet Sauvignon right now although the the Cab is very good. So now I'll comment on a 50/50 blend of Cab and Verdot near the end of MLF:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good clean nose although the Verdot is more intense

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is rich and tasty. The oak level is fine. There is no MLF stink from RC212. Right now of the 3 wines I've described i.e. 1) pure Cab 2) pure Verdot 3) 50/50 Cab/Verdot, I like this one the least. The Petit Verdot on its own right now is the winner IMHO i.e. really good. I'd make it again in a heartbeat. The Cab is very good also but having said that I prefer the Verdot right now. What amazes me is how good these wines are at the tail end of MLF with oak cubes and rC212 fermentation with really good nutrient DistilaVite from Bosa Grapes in Burnaby B.C.

To make sure that I'm not full of Sh*t I retasted the pure Petit Verdot

Here are my comments on the retaste:

This is really good! If you can find ripe Petit Verdot try to make some. I will absolutely make it again if I can.

Enough said.

Good luck to all of you in 2024

Namaste

Klaus

retaste:

Dineen Petit Verdot 2023

This is hand-destemmed and uncrushed Washington Dineen Vineyard Petit Verdot in boxes, handpicked in perfect condition fermented with nutrient and RC212 yeast for 12 days, and medium toast American oak cubes during malolactic fermentation. This is in 2 glass carboys in my cooler.

Appearance - nice deep purple

Smell - good clean rich nose - venison, black currants, black cherries, smoked meat

Tannin - perfect

Acid - perfect

Flavour - this is a beautiful wine. I'll try to keep my mitts out of it wrt to bottling it alone or in a blend until the end of the summer 2024. I am thrilled to have 50 of these! The aftertaste is sensational. This is a killer wine IMHO.