What's in your glass tonight?

[Boatboy24]

Wait you saying your boys are in HS?

Yes.

 

[David Violante]

That was a very good, sweet and well-rounded African beer. Somewhat reminiscent of Heineken but with a fuller malt and hop flavor. ABV seems higher than US standard, perhaps 6 or 6.5%. Not imported here, so this likely was my one lifetime can!

I love Tusker Lager from Kenya. Not the export in the green bottle, the 500ml brown bottle with the yellow label. Wonderful… a bit similar to what you describe. I’m lucky to get them from a local distributor. 4.5% ABV.

 

[jswordy]

I love Tusker Lager from Kenya. Not the export in the green bottle, the 500ml brown bottle with the yellow label. Wonderful… a bit similar to what you describe. I’m lucky to get them from a local distributor. 4.5% ABV.

View attachment 106382

Looks interesting. I will have to check on that locally.

 

[jswordy]

WOOT! Bushwhackers!

 

[winemaker81]

Today my elder son and I pressed Vidal, grossing 50% more than I expected. Wow! After cleanup we celebrated with a bit of Port we bottled last December.

He took a sip and frowned. "I like it, but it doesn't taste like a vintage or non-vintage Port."

I responded that while a non-vintage Port was my target, it came out more like a Ruby Port. We agreed it's good and plan to make at least one other version when we bottle the 2022 reds in November.




I made Chicken Marsala for dinner, and with that we had a 6 yo Pinot Noir. I sent him into the wine closet to choose a wine, and of course he brought out a very good bottle. Which is, of course, why I gave him the task.

 

[Hazelemere]

Raspberry Chambord 2023

This is 24 days old racked into a tasting glass at SG 1.008 after sweetening with corn sugar (dextrose) in my walk-in cooler at about 25 ppm free SO2. 19 lbs ripe organic homegrown frozen raspberries (3 types including Meeker) with 9 lbs cane sugar and 3 Imperial gallons of water plus pectic enzyme with 71B yeast plus 2 bottles of Chambord (black raspberry liqueur) in a 25 bottle carboy..

Here are my comments:

Appearance: good colour but needs time in the cooler to super clear. 6 months should do it.

Smell: beautiful nose, really good and complex (raspberries on steroids)

Tannin: fine

Acid: The acid for my palate is perfect at this SG and I'm sure that 71B yeast improved it. This is the lowest SG I've ever had on raspberry table wine. I don't like my table wines too sweet but I also don't want the acid too high.

Flavour: this is good now and could be an absolute killer in 6 months

Afterthought: I'll absolutely make this recipe year after year and look forward to bottling this around Easter 2024 and taking some to my Ontario sisters and friends in August 2024. If you have raspberries (I used dead ripe late season frozen) then try this recipe.

 

[winemaker81]

My son & I pressed Chambourcin tonight, grossing 11 gallons. We finished cleanup about the time the mosquitoes rang the dinner bell. I would have preferred to press tomorrow morning, but the forecast is heavy rain.

We celebrated our cleanup with a glass of Spanish red!

 

[Hazelemere]

Black Iris 2023

I needed to top up my Raspberry Chambord carboy (see above posting) with a glass full of wine so I used this which is now 33 days old. This was made from 38 lbs wild blackberries and 23 lbs pitted wild cherries from 3 lovely ladies in my neighbourhood's trees. I'm tasting it at SG 0.992. Iris was one of the ladies with 1 of the 4 trees. Kendall has 2 trees and doesn't drink wine. Barbara has one tree and will absolutely get some of this.

Here are my comments:

Appearance: inky purple

Smell: good, clean nose

Tannin: fine

Acid: The acid is ok for my palate. Maybe a bit high but I'm sure it will drop as it ages. Slight sweetening e.g. SG 0.998 would improve it also.

Flavour: for a dry red fruit wine at such a young age it is fine.

Afterthought: I have 76 bottles of this so can use it lots of different ways. One idea e.g. 15 bottles or so is to mix it with 1 bottle of Bols Dutch Cherry liqueur and sorbate it as Black Iris Cerise 2023. I'm tasting 90 parts black Iris with 10 parts Bols Cherry liqueur right now and here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance: inky purple as before

Smell: good, rich, complex clean nose. Almost has an almond smell from the liqueur (cherry pits??).

Tannin: fine

Acid: The acid is improved with the liqueur. For my palate it doesn't need more sweetness. The cherry liqueur version of this is interesting and I'll rack a small carboy to make 15 bottles of the liqueur version which will leave me 60 to use a different way or to leave alone. I racked 15 bottles into my cooler using 1 bottle of Bols liqueur into a 15 bottle carboy with 1.5 tsp sorbate plus about 1/3/ of 1/8 tsp potassium metabisulphite. SG on racking into the cooler for aging is SG 0.995. Flavour at SG 0.995: The sugar acid balance here is fine. This tastes like fruit Dubonnet which my wife and I used to drink when we met. This should taste good in the summertime on the rocks (with ice). I'd definitely make it again as a one of a kind aperitif.

Flavour: as an aperitif given time to age this could be very good and possibly excellent..

 

[winemaker81]

My son & I pressed Chambourcin tonight, grossing 11 gallons. We finished cleanup about the time the mosquitoes rang the dinner bell. I would have preferred to press tomorrow morning, but the forecast is heavy rain.

I made the right call -- it's been raining since 6 AM, and it's still pouring at 1 PM.

 

[Hazelemere]

Black Iris 2023

I needed to top up my Raspberry Chambord carboy (see above posting) with a glass full of wine so I used this which is now 33 days old. This was made from 38 lbs wild blackberries and 23 lbs pitted wild cherries from 3 lovely ladies in my neighbourhood's trees. I'm tasting it at SG 0.992. Iris was one of the ladies with 1 of the 4 trees. Kendall has 2 trees and doesn't drink wine. Barbara has one tree and will absolutely get some of this.

Here are my comments:

Appearance: inky purple

Smell: good, clean nose

Tannin: fine

Acid: The acid is ok for my palate. Maybe a bit high but I'm sure it will drop as it ages. Slight sweetening e.g. SG 0.998 would improve it also.

Flavour: for a dry red fruit wine at such a young age it is fine.

Afterthought: I have 76 bottles of this so can use it lots of different ways. One idea e.g. 15 bottles or so is to mix it with 1 bottle of Bols Dutch Cherry liqueur and sorbate it as Black Iris Cerise 2023. I'm tasting 90 parts black Iris with 10 parts Bols Cherry liqueur right now and here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance: inky purple as before

Smell: good, rich, complex clean nose. Almost has an almond smell from the liqueur (cherry pits??).

Tannin: fine

Acid: The acid is improved with the liqueur. For my palate it doesn't need more sweetness. The cherry liqueur version of this is interesting and I'll rack a small carboy to make 15 bottles of the liqueur version which will leave me 60 to use a different way or to leave alone. I racked 15 bottles into my cooler using 1 bottle of Bols liqueur into a 15 bottle carboy with 1.5 tsp sorbate plus about 1/3/ of 1/8 tsp potassium metabisulphite. SG on racking into the cooler for aging is SG 0.995. Flavour at SG 0.995: The sugar acid balance here is fine. This tastes like fruit Dubonnet which my wife and I used to drink when we met. This should taste good in the summertime on the rocks (with ice). I'd definitely make it again as a one of a kind aperitif.

Flavour: as an aperitif given time to age this could be very good and possibly excellent..

I'm tasting it again right now. It i.e the aperitif is amazingly good right now. I may cut some with Marechal Foch or regent just to see what that tastes like. What is fun for me after 55 years of winemaking and 47 years of grape growing using homegrown organic fruit whenever possible is to discover new tasty wines. This is an example. I've never made this before and I will absolutely make it again. Suggestion to everyone here including those of of you with sky high brix grape wines e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon....explore Ports with and without liqueurs. Bottom line.....try to find the best flavours and smells that you can find including grape wine-fruit wine blends with or without honey. Bottom line is to really explore your palate with everything that you have. Stage 1 - kits (MacDonald's employee cooking burgers), fresh fruit or juice (sous-chef cook in a restaurant), experienced winemaker with lots of choices (first line cook), experienced winemaker maker making really good choices (chef). Aspire to be a winemaking chef. If your brix is sky high use EC-1118 yeast with nutrient.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Saw this article in my news feed “Scientists have discovered sealed jars of wine from 5,000 years ago in an Egyptian queen's tomb.” I immediately thought of @winemaker81 and what patience it would take to age a wine that long…

5 year old mango wine in my glass tonight. It was made from my mangos by the friend who got me into fermenting.

 

[Hazelemere]

Saw this article in my news feed “Scientists have discovered sealed jars of wine from 5,000 years ago in an Egyptian queen's tomb.” I immediately thought of @winemaker81 and what patience it would take to age a wine that long…

5 year old mango wine in my glass tonight. It was made from my mangos by the friend who got me into fermenting.

how do you like it

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

The article said the Egyptian wine had all dried up. The mango was was also dry but not an astringent dry.

 

[Hazelemere]

Russet Ambrosia 2022-2023

this is 90% organic Russet 2023 and 10% Ambrosia 2022

The Russet contains a bit of Cox and pears. The Ambrosia is from the Okanagan ground and pressed from fresh apples. I tried this blend because the Russet is tangy and fragrant while the Ambrosia is flat and fragrant.

Here are my comments on this blend which I will make to get 50 bottles of table wine i.e. 45+5:

Appearance: clear, golden yellow

Smell: good fragrant nose

Tannin: fine

Acid: perfect (wasn't before I blended it)

Flavour: good, rich apple wine. I used 71B to cut the malic acid on the Russets and it worked.

Bottom line: this will make a very good house white for both myself and my wife. I score it 8.5/10 i.e. not excellent but certainly very good. I'll bottle this at Easter to give it time to drop any protein haze that the bentonite missed. I'll make this again and am tempted to use more pears e.g. Anjous if I can't get enough of my own i.e. 2024 Russet Anjou.

 

[Neb Farmer]

Sipping through some Cascade Cliff's wine that was VERY nice. Maybe I should try to let them all age 9 years! Smooth, good mouth-feel, balanced and not acidic. Amazing, considering it was NOT stored well at all. It surprised us.

 

[Hazelemere]

Russet 2023

This is mostly russet with a few homegrown pears and Cox apples all organic, ground and pressed at 24 ppm free sulphite. I left out my son in laws Ambrosia because I like this better. My wife doesn't' Russet acid is too high for her with the tannin but perfect for me. I'll bottle 15 and leave the other 60 alone.

Here are my comments:

Appearance: clear, golden yellow. I wouldn't want it darker.

Smell: good, intense nose. The pears improved it. I'll use pears again if I can.

Tannin: fine

Acid: perfect for me. too high for my wife. This one is my house white.

Flavour: this is rich, tasty apple wine, fermented with 71B yeast and treated with bentonite mid-ferment, perfect as an everyday house white wine so I can age the premium grape whites much longer. It has a good aftertaste.

 

[wineh]

A real amarone! Very intense on the nose and palette. Aromas of currants, black cherries, vanilla, leather. Not bone dry, and not hot, flavours of cherries, spices and plums and dark chocolate. 15% alcohol. Quite expensive for my budget.

 

[Hazelemere]

A real amarone! Very intense on the nose and palette. Aromas of currants, black cherries, vanilla, leather. Not bone dry, and not hot, flavours of cherries, spices and plums and dark chocolate. 15% alcohol. Quite expensive for my budget.


View attachment 106625

A real amarone! Very intense on the nose and palette. Aromas of currants, black cherries, vanilla, leather. Not bone dry, and not hot, flavours of cherries, spices and plums and dark chocolate. 15% alcohol. Quite expensive for my budget.


View attachment 106625

Amarone is expensive but it it is really fun to drink a one of a kind Valpolicella on steroids experience. Drinking it even once a year on a special occasion e.g. turkey dinner is an adventure worth having. I hope you enjoyed it.

 

[Hazelemere]

Moraine Syrah 2020, 2023

One of the challenges of winemaking is to try to repair out of whack wines.

In my case a) 30 bottles of a Sheridan Syrah that smelled like burnt rubber after MLF from RC212 yeast plus no added nutrient at 16.6% alcohol with low acid. b) 2nd run homegrown white wine from Siegerrebe Ortega and Madeleine Angevine at SG 1.092 with high tannin and low acid. I mixed a) 91% Regent 9% 2nd run b) 91% Marechal Foch 9% second run c) 20% Sheridan Syrah. Here are my comments (the Regent and Foch are still undergoing malolactic. I just racked my homegrown Regent and Foch to cut them with 2nd run white. This is a blend in the glass. My homegrown reds were fermented with RC212 (5 parts) +71B (2 parts) with nutrient. The Syrah was fermented with RC212 from crushed grapes in a drum with no added nutrient (huge mistake!):

Appearance : inky purple

Smell - clean nose

Tannin: fine

Acid: slightly high but it is still undergoing malolactic fermentation

Flavour: okay, should make an excellent cooking wine and with any luck a decent house red. This repairs the Syrah and the 2nd run white.

Bottom line: I can also blend in some Black Iris (blackberry 68% and wild cherry 32%) of which I have 60 bottles to make it even better. This blend is the photo on the left down below.

I then made 30 parts Sheridan Syrah 60 parts Regent 60 part Marechal Foch and 60 parts Black Iris in a glass (has the 2nd run white in it at 9% of Regent and Foch) to see if I could use up all of the remaining 2020 Syrah in something worth drinking and/or using as high end cooking wine for bourguingnon, coq au vin etc. My daughter is a gourmet cook and loves to get really good cooking wines from me. She and I are picking up 360 lbs of Dineen Cabernet Suavignon and 300 lbs Dineen Petit Verdot for hand destemming this Saturday and Sunday.


Here are my comments on this blend (photo on the right)

Appearance - purple ink


Smell: good nose the wild cherries improve it and overpower the Syrah nose

Tannin: fine

Acid: good even though the Foch and Regent are mid-malolactic

Flavour: this will make a decent house red and a killer cooking wine

Bottom line: this is a wonderful lesson for me in how to repair wines in this case a sky high alcohol syrah and a flat high 2nd run
white. It also tells me that RC212-71B yeast blends for high acid hybrid grapes like Regent or Foch produce better hybrid wines. I'll probably get 180 bottles of this (Black Iris Syrah Moraine (I grow grapes on a glacial moraine soil on the top of a hill). If I do I'll give my daughter 4 cases as a Xmas present, my friend who had the Syrah 2.5 cases which will leave me and wife with about 8.5 cases (100 bottles). This is the best cooking wine I've ever tasted and should be decent as a house wine over time.

Advice: Have no preconceived ideas about to fix anything. Smell/taste everything you have alone or in blends anyway you can try it. Focus on smells and tastes when you are doing this and forget about numbers except for the blends that you ended up making in a single year or multiple years to get a decent result. What I'm tasting and smelling here is a totally decent result which will make killer coq au vin and beef bourguignon + spaghetti sauce or chili. Good luck to all of you with your 2023 wines.

 

[wineh]

A very intense cabernet. Great expression of the golden mile bench in South Okanagan. Rodney Strong might blush!