What's in your glass tonight?

[Hazelemere]

retaste:

Appearance - good colour, a bit of sediment on the side of the bottle which falls out

Smell - good smell, sour cherries are dominant

Tannin- good

Acid - good

Flavour - rich, fragrant with a long finish. Tastes like it would be good with not too sweet cherry pie, fruit tarts, raspberry apple crumble, German fruit custard "Gruetze" from sour cherries, raspberries or blackberries, in a roast duck sauce or glaze, or sweet and sour chicken or pork. Its in good shape for a 4 year old melomel. I'm going to try it with vegan sweet and sour lentils on rice and also in a Chinese roast duck recipe next week to celebrate the year of the dragon with 5 spice, tamari, garlic, ginger and a bit of maple syrup.

I used it in Chinese Roast duck with ginger, garlic, 5 spice, tamari, sesame oil, maple syrup and liquid honey about 1/4 bottle for a 6 lb duck. Came out really well.

 

[Hazelemere]

Regent 2023 two ways:

Regent Black Iris 2023
This is homegrown Regent hand-destemmed, uncrushed with 71B/RC212 yeasts mixed with Black Iris - wild blackberries, wild black pitted cherries and dried elderberries with medium toast American oak cubes, Here are my comments:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is much better than Regent on its own. The wild cherries kill! I'll absolutely make this again to make Regent more complex. It would probably be good without the wild cherries i.e. blackberries and dried elderberries on oak.

Regent Black Iris Framboise 2023

This is homegrown Regent hand-destemmed, uncrushed with 71B/RC212 yeasts mixed with Black Iris - wild blackberries, wild black pitted cherries and dried elderberries with homegrown raspberries, medium toast American oak cubes, Here are my comments:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good fragrant nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is a really interesting wine. The wild cherries and raspberries kill! I'll absolutely make this again to make Regent more complex. It would probably be good without the wild cherries i.e. blackberries and dried elderberries on oak. This could make a killer Port (i.e. make it with raspberries). I think that I'll make 15 bottles of this Regent Black Iris Framboise Port 2024. In which case I'll use EC1118 yeast and only add Chambord (French Black Raspberry liqueur) when the EC1118 stops fermenting at 18% alcohol to get the alcohol to 20%. I'll use homegrown Marechal Foch to fix a Mettler sky high brix Lodi Mettler Vineyard Petite Sirah to make a decent table wine for my son-in-law and wife Carol i.e. Carol's Red and have homegrown Marechal Foch on its own. Going forward I'll focus on wines that I can make from what I grow or what I can pick in my neighbourhood i.e. grapes only, fruit only or grape+fruit fusion combos i.e. evolution of an old dog learning new tricks! The fun of being a serious fruit/grape grower and winemaker is that I can ignore commercial winemakers unless they teach me something that turns out to be valuable which happens from time to time.

Bottom line - If you grow high acid or uninteresting hybrid grapes/wines, consider experimenting with fruit e.g. apples, yellow plums and pears on whites and dark plums, dark cherries, blackberries, blueberries, black currants or elderberries on reds with sugar on honey on the fruit t0 raise SG and drop the acid so that the wines are balanced. I'm done now and ready to watch the Superbowl in Las Vegas.

 

[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:

Appearance - clear, deep, dark purple red

Smell - intense chocolate, pomegranate, sour licorice, figs

Tannin - perfect

Acid - perfect slightly high

Flavour - This is really good but needs more time to drop the acid. Surprise, surprise on the acid. It has a really good aftertaste. This is a premium homemade red that needs to age. I think it needs at least 2 years in my cooler, maybe more. I'll try to leave it alone.

 

[joeswine]

Anothe fine Spanish wine just yummy

 

[joeswine]

Anothe fine Spanish wine just yummy

 

[wineh]

Definitely some leather and possibly some barnyard on the nose currants and black cherries on the pallate. 14%

 

[joeswine]

Definitely some leather and possibly some barnyard on the nose currants and black cherries on the pallate. 14%
View attachment 110271

I’m not sure if I could get use to barnyard and I’m not into Leather ( to old ) , butt I’d still give it a try

 

[joeswine]

I’m not sure if I could get use to barnyard and I’m not into Leather ( to old ) , butt I’d still give it a try

Just joking

 

[Hazelemere]

barnyard = funk

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..

retaste:

Here are comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear deep cherry red

Smell - beautiful rich complex intense nose

Tannin - good

Acid- now its good and not slightly high for the tannin level as what in the last tasting.

Flavour - this is delicious at SG 1.000 and I will absolutely make it again with 71B yeast for the raspberries and RC212 yeast for the wild blackberries and dried elderberries (mine are from Bulgaria but I've also had them from Oregon)

Bottom line - this so go that I only have 3 left to share with my 2 sisters, their families and my university friends next August.

This is the best red fruit table wine that I've tasted in 55 years, not because I made it. It is just that good. If you can get wild cherries then experiment with black currants or blueberries. I'm thrilled to have 3 ladies as neighbours including Iris who have 4 wild cherries between them and let me pick all of the fruit which is hell to pit (small berries) but 100% worth it because of their amazing flavour and smell. They don't aste anything like domestic black cherries. These cherries are on steroids!

 

[sour_grapes]

butt I’d still give it a try

I see what you did there!

 

[jswordy]

barnyard = funk

 

[Hazelemere]

Apple Edelzwicker 2021-2022

This is homegrown organic apple juice from ground and pressed apples (russet, king, cox) mixed with homegrown organic grape skins and 1st run juice sediment with pectic enzyme and re-pressed (includes Siegerrebe, Ortega, Reichensteiner and Madeleine Angevine). Here are my comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear, lemon yellow

Smell - good, rich, intense, fragrant

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is rich and tasty with a good finish. I'll absolutely make it again as an everyday house white wine. This is a perfect way to use apples and 2nd run white wine from grapes with no water added, no sugar added to the 2nd run (Edelzwicker) and sugar added to the apple juice with pectic enzyme and bentonite treated mid ferment on all of the pressed juice from apple pulp, grape skins and grape juice sediment..

 

[Boatboy24]

First, the "Ward Eight". Then we'll swill some 2021 J Lohr Merlot.




https://www.liquor.com/recipes/ward-eight/

 

[wineh]

First, the "Ward Eight". Then we'll swill some 2021 J Lohr Merlot.

View attachment 110302


https://www.liquor.com/recipes/ward-eight/

At first glance, I thought "Ward 8" would be the area of the hospital that you would go to be treated for having too many of those concoctions. The history is much more interesting! It's also another indicator that you are not clueless at all.

 

[Hazelemere]

Apple Cyser 2023

This is a 50/50 blend of my son in law's double American oaked sun-crisp apple wine from ground and pressed apples chaptalized with cane sugar to ~ SG 1.085, bentonite treated mid ferment and then oaked with medium toast American oak at 1.5 cubes per bottle for ~100 days with my cyser King/Cox/Russet with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey. I added 1.5 tsp citric acid to 30 bottles about 45 days ago because I found it to be flat.

Here are my comments on this blend in a glass of which my son-in-law and I get 30 each as Apple Cyser 2023:

Appearance - clear, yellow

Smell - intense, complex, lingering nose (from the honey)

Tannin - good

Acid - good, the citric acid treatment plus oak addition gives the right level of tang

Flavour - rich, complex, intense apple wine. Has a really good long finish. I'll definitely make this again. It would taste really good with something like Clam Vongole Linguine, Crabcakes, Prawn Linguine, Prawn Chow Mein, Prawn Fried Rice, Halibut Panko Burgers or even vegan sweet and sour lentils. My son in law and I will each get a 30 bottle carboy of this to age in my cooler after adjusting sulphite and sorbate so we can bottle it as early as Easter or late in August or early September. This is the first time I've tasted oak on an apple wine or a cyser (in this case a combo). I wouldn't make all of my apple wine this way but would definitely make some of it this way i.e. an old dog just learned a new trick!

When Van Gogh was asked the secret of being an artist he said - experiment with everything, in his case brushes, knives paints, canvases and brushes. The reason Van Gogh IMHO was such a great painter is that he had no preconceived ideas about how to paint. Our challenge as winemakers is to have no preconceived ideas on how to make wine. It doesn't mean we can't have preferences based on experience. It means that we always open to a new winemaking experience. If the new winemaking experience is too scary we can always do the new scary experience in miniature and see what happens.

Namaste

Klaus

 

[Boatboy24]

At first glance, I thought "Ward 8" would be the area of the hospital that you would go to be treated for having too many of those concoctions. The history is much more interesting! It's also another indicator that you are not clueless at all.

This recipe and a few others motivated me to make my own grenadine last weekend. It's delicious and I'm now searching for more recipes that call for it. This one is a winner.

 

[Hazelemere]

Hazelmere Cyser 2022

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear yellow, very slightly petillant

Smell - good, slightly yeasty, complex Champagne Cyser nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - interesting, poor man's champagne. I think it would be good with clam chowder or oysters. It should also be really good as a cooking wine in similar fashion to our Apple Cyser 2023 which is oaked. This cyser has no oak. I like them both. The effervescence was unplanned but not unpleasant. It also tastes like it could be very good with pate. I'll take a bottle to our family Easter dinner which I'm sure will have really good pate. Today was a really good day in the education of a an old winemaker i.e. 1) first oaked apple wine 2) first petillant cyser

 

[Hazelemere]

Appearance - clear lemon yellow

Smell - very fragrant muscat similar to Gewurtztraminer

Tannin - fine

Acid - I thought it might be flat from malic acid conversion by 71B yeast but it isn't. Carol my wife says don't mess with it.

Flavour - this is delicious, the best one I've tasted in 10 years. I'll get 40 bottles. If it does go slightly flat I'll bottle 25 of those for Carol and 15 for myself spiked with a tiny bit of citric acid. I'm tempted to leave it until the end of the summer before tasting it again and then bottling it after I adjust the sulphite level and acid. I'll post an image as soon as I have one. The grapes were picked dry, hand destemmed and sorted, undamaged by wasps, mildew or botritis. Just for fun I mixed it 50/50 in a glass with California Chardonnay 2022 from Brehm frozen juice. That is also good with more acid, an interesting Chardonnay-Muscat nose and a good aftertaste. In future if I could I'd make all three 1) Carol's unacidified version 2) my acidified version 3) my version with Chardonnay e.g. Washington Sheridan vineyard Chardonnay in boxes.

retaste from a bottled split with citric acid added and picked at 22 brix:

Hazelmere Vineyard's Muscat Auslese 2023

Appearance - clear lemon yellow

Smell - very fragrant intense muscat

Tannin - fine

Acid - fine after citric acid addition

Flavour - this is really good. I'll try to get it to last for at least 3-5 years. It is all bottled. I'd make it again in a heart beat.

 

[MiBor]

Special treat today...

 

[MiBor]

Sorry for the double post. I tried deleting one but the system won't let me do it. Maybe one of the admins would be able to do it...
Anyway, the wine paired well with...