What's in your glass tonight?

[Hazelemere]

Regent 2023 blended into a 2022 repair job of Sheridan Syrah (2/3 Regent, 1/3 repair job) as Carol's Red 2022-2023. She tasted and says it is OK which from her is an endorsement. I think it needs to age for a couple of years. I'm tasting it in a glass blended from carboys. Here are my comments on this wine made from homegrown organic destemmed and un-crushed:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - oaky classic Regent nose

Tannin - slightly high due to oak but should drop over time

Acid - good

Flavour - intense rich balanced red wine that should improve in the carboy. So I'll leave it alone in 2 carboys 45 bottles until the fall of 2024 so I can re-taste and bottle it or re-blend it to make something even better. This is the best Regent I've ever made. I think that I can make it even better e.g. with wild cherries and wild blackberries plus dried elderberries.

 

[Hazelemere]

Regent Black Iris 2023

This is a blend in a glass of 50/50 Regent and Black Iris:

Appearance - inky purple like the photo posted above

Smell - the wild cherries, blackberries and dried elderberries in the Black Iris improve the smell of the Regent to give it an intersting complex nose something to Spanish Tempranillo (or California Valdepenas)

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this seems to be a really good way to make a house red (everyday drinking wine) from Regent. The flavour is complex and decent. On a scale of fair, good, very good or excellent I'd rate it as good and would definitely make it again as a way to enhance my homegrown Regent. I might try making some as a port (using EC1118 yeast) in which case I might add some homegrown raspberries e.g. Regent Black Iris Port 2023 and Regent Black Iris Framboise Port 2023 (say 15 bottles of each). I might even make a seedless grape liqueur (e.g. Reliance in vodka with corn sugar or even unpasteurized honey aka Drambuie - scotch and heather honey) or just use something like Metaxa (Greek raisin brandy to get the alcohol from 18 to 20%). Better yet I could soak the seedless Reliance grapes in Metaxa with corn sugar or honey to mimic Drambuie which IMHO is a killer top up for Port.

 

[Hazelemere]

Moraine Black Iris 2023

This is a blend in a glass of 40 Marechal Foch 20 Regent and 40 Black Iris in a glass. I tried 50/50 Marechal Foch/Black Iris and I like this better:

Appearance - inky purple like the photo posted above

Smell - the wild cherries, blackberries and dried elderberries in the Black Iris improve the smell of the Foch Regent blend to give it an interesting complex nose something like Spanish Tempranillo (or California Valdepenas)

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this seems to be a really good second way to make a house red (everyday drinking wine) from Regent (i.e. cut it with Marechal Foch both homegrown on glacial moraine soil - powdered rock, sand with a bit of clay). The flavour is complex and decent. On a scale of fair, good, very good or excellent I'd rate it as good and would definitely make it again as a way to enhance my homegrown Regent in a second way plus use some of my Marechal Foch in an interesting way. I might try making some as a port (using EC1118 yeast) in which case I might add some homegrown raspberries e.g. Moraine Black Iris Port 2023 and Moraine Black Iris Framboise Port 2023 (say 15 bottles of each). I might even make a seedless grape liqueur (e.g. Reliance in vodka with corn sugar or even unpasteurized honey aka Drambuie - scotch and heather honey) or just use something like 7 Star Metaxa (premium Greek raisin brandy to get the alcohol from 18 to 20%). Better yet I could soak the seedless Reliance grapes in Metaxa with corn sugar or honey to mimic Drambuie which IMHO is a killer top up for Port. For fun I'll probably make a Regent Rose (never having done it) with 4 Fusion ports containing Regent with and without raspberries and topped up with either Metaxa-Reliance-corn sugar or Metaxa-Relianc-blueberry blossom honey liqueur. I have a winemaking friend apprentice who will pick wild blackberries with me as well as 4 wild cherry trees in my neighbourhood. What is fun about this 2024 experience is that I've never made any of these combos before i.e. all homegrown and picked, wild in the neighbourhood and picked or purchased in the neighbourhood (unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey, fireweed honey or cranberry blossom honey if I can get it). My gut says honeyed 7 star Metaxa with soaked seedless homegrown Reliance grapes is the top up i.e. no sugar and only honey in the liqueur.

Good luck to all of you with your wines

Klaus

 

[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 out of a carboy:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - starting to develop a really good intriguing rich nose - leather and blackberry so far

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is really tasty, smooth and rich. A beautiful wine, not because I made it but because it just is. Dineen Vineyard grapes were perfect at 14.0% alcohol hand destemmed and uncrushed with RC 212 yeast and nutrient with medium toast American oak. I'm thrilled to have 45 of these and will leave them alone as long as I can before I decide what to to do with these (e.g. Xmas 2024 if I can get my act together). I've made Petit Verdot once before which was also really good. I don't remember it. PS this one has a beautiful long finish and tastes like nothing else. I would absolutely make Dineen Vineyard Petit Verdot again in a heartbeat if I could get it.

 

[Hazelemere]

Dineen Cabernet Sauvignon 2023

This is hand-destemmed and uncrushed Dineen Cabernet Sauvignon in boxes in perfect condition 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

Smell - good clean nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this very nice, 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.

A retaste out of a carboy in my cooler:

Appearance - red purple

Smell - good nose hard to describe right now

Tannin- good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is very good, smooth dead ripe Washington Cabernet Sauvignon. This should turn into something really smooth and silky. I think that the Dineen Petit Verdot will improve it but having said that this is pretty good. I'll try to leave it alone until Xmas when I get a better idea of what the Petit Verdot tastes like. It may also improve with a tiny bit of Marechal Foch to boost the acid and give it a really intense smell. In any event my wife will love it because it is so rich and smooth right now.

 

[Hazelemere]

retaste of Russet 2023:

Appearance - this one isn't fizzy at all, golden due to oxidation of russet skin tannins during grinding and pressing, although it doesn't smell oxidized. This is pure homegrown organic russet apple juice chaptalized with cane sugar and fermented with 71B yeast with nutrient. I think that these russets are Belle de Boskop grafted onto a Transparent apple tree. We don't use the transparents for wine. We use them for pastry i.e. crumbles or sauce that we freeze. I'm sure that we could use them for wine but I suspect that they would ooze in the press when ripe like Bartlett pears when ripe. The grinder/press combo work best on crisp apples and pears e.g. apples (Cox, Russet, Spartan, Gravenstein, Granny Smith, Newton) and pears (Anjous best, Bosc 2nd best together with Moonglows). The only apple juice that I would consider adding water to is crab apple.

Smell - fragrant rich Russet apple nose. The Cox apples and Moonglow pears probably helped the Russets.

Tannin - good. Russets are high tannin apples and don't need extra tannin.

Acid - good. Russsets are high in acid.

Flavour - good, rich, tasty, balanced apple wine. This has a bit of homegrown Cox apple and Moonglow pear juice in it. It has a long apple finish i.e. apple wine with body. I'll definitely make it again probably 3 ways 1) just like this 2) blended with 2nd run white wine from Siegerrebe, Ortega, Reichensteiner and Madeleine Angevine grapes to make a Russet Edelzwicker (2nd run premium blend of 1st run skins and sediment soaked for 48 hours with pectic enzyme and no water or sugar and repressed) 3) chaptalized with unpasteurized berry blossom honey (Cranberry, Blueberry, Raspberry or Blackberry) with 2) to make a Cyser Pyment.

Bottom line - If you make apple wine try to avoid adding water to it i.e. find a grinder - we started with a gas engine powered grinder and now use an Italian electric grinder that my son in law purchased. He is a serious winemaker and loves tools to make jobs easier e.g. hydraulic foot powered primary and carboy motorcycle lift.

https://winemakersdepot.com/Zambelli-MuliMAX.aspx

retaste:

Appearance - this one slightly petillant clear yellow gold

Smell - fragrant rich Russet apple nose. The Cox apples and Moonglow pears probably helped the Russets.

Tannin - good. Russets are high tannin apples and don't need extra tannin.

Acid - good. Russsets are high in acid.

Flavour - good, rich, tasty, balanced apple house wine. This has a bit of homegrown Cox apple and Moonglow pear juice in it. It has a long apple finish i.e. apple wine with body. I'll definitely make it again.

 

[tjmeyer]

Haha how I drink wine on my days off. Like a Viking! Sorry, event prep in the background.



This is a 2020 80 Zinfandel / 20Malbec blend that is very woody. Strong scent of pepper, ripe fruit, and noticeable alcohol.

Introductory taste is mostly on back and sides of the tongue. Greets you with a pleasant hint of oak, raspberry, a hint of leather, and sweet fruit despite being very dry.

Aftertaste of cork (this might be bad but I really really like it !), something planty that isn't tannin like Bell pepper, and more alcohol. Quite strong!

For me, this is a great cheese wine. Cheers!
TJ

 

[winemaker81]

For me, this is a great cheese wine.

Some wines are sipping wines, great on their own. Others are a great complement to food. Wise folks figure out which is which, and use them appropriately!

 

[jswordy]

 

[Hazelemere]

Black Iris Foch Syrah 2022-23

wild blackberries, wild black cherries (pitted), dried elderberries, Sheridan Syrah (repair job), homegrown organic Marechal Foch

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - complex, cherries overpower the Syrah nose

Tannin - good

Acid- good

Flavour - decent, rich house red. I'll try it again, this year, without any Syrah as Black Iris Foch 2024 as well as Black Iris Regent 2024.

 

[Hazelemere]

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.

retaste ahead of bottling at the end of the month:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good fruity, savoury smell

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - As a house red this is fine. On a scale of fair-good-very good-excellent I'd rate it as good+. It has a really nice aftertaste.

 

[winemanden]

I like a good spiced rum

My CEO (wife) gave me a bottle of Kraken for my birthday. I'll be having a glass tonight whilst watching the football (soccer). I like to sip it neat. If I want coke or lemonade, I'll take that neat.

 

[wineh]

Not bad but at the end of its time. Cherries and blackberry and a hint of licorice on the nose, black cherries and currants on the pallate. Slight browning of color. 15%

 

[Jovimaple]

This week while visiting my aunt in AZ, we shared one of the last bottles of the FWK Barbera (Tavola style before they called it Tavola, i.e. no skins) that I had bottled in Feb 2022. I had brought it for her on our last roadtrip to AZ in spring 2022. I had added oak to half the batch (again, this was an early kit before they had things like oak standardized for the reds), and this was from the oaked half of the batch.

It was delicious with pizza! I was a little worried it would be past its prime but it was fruity with a touch of oak - good flavor still! I think I have one bottle of oaked and one not-oaked left at home so it will be interesting to compare.

Tonight we opened a FWK strawberry from 2022. That one has definitely smoothed out and is better than a year ago. I restocked my aunt's wine rack so we shall see what's remaining the next time we visit!

 

[Boatboy24]

 

[Hazelemere]

Retaste of the Cyser 2023:

Appearance - clear, yellow, trace of petillance

Smell - very fragrant from the honey

Tannin - slightly high but ok (tannin from Russets and honey)

Acid - good

Flavour - rich, slightly sweet and tannic, with a long finish. This should be good in prawn linguine or pork chow mein. So I'll rebottle some of it in a split for that purpose.

Then I retasted the un-rebottled Cyser 50/50 with Apple Edelzwicker 2022 (i.e. Cyser Pyment in a glass. Here are my comments on this blend:

Appearance - clear, lemon yellow, trac of petillance

Smell - complex rich smell from the apples, muscat varietals in the Edelzwicker and the honey

Tannin - good

Flavour - this is rich, complex and tasty, still has the slight sweetness but the 2nd run white grape (Edelzwicker from Siegerrebe and Ortega) makes it much more interesting. This is definitely worth making again from homegrown apples and grapes with unpasteurized local honey (blueberry, cranberry or raspberry blossom).



Acid - good

Flavour -

Retaste:

Appearance - deep slightly golden yellow, clear, no petillance

Smell - really good intense fragrance from the blueberry blosson honey

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - SG is 1.002 and sorbated. I find it slightly sweet but not everyone likes their wines really dry like I do. This is really tasty with a long finish. I'll save it for people I know who like wines that aren't too dry. I think that I have about 15 which seems like the right amount. I think that it could kill as a cooking wine sauteing onions so they don't burn in a prawn, clam or even scallop linguine, chow mein or fried rice. It could also be really good in a Chinese 5 spice marinade for roast chicken or duck with soy sauce, garlic with or without ginger, with or without Worcestershire sauce with or without sesame oil. This might need some cider vinegar in a marinade but as a marinade component it is perfect IMHO. Since I only have about 15 I'll ration it out to my friends who don't like super dry wines and/or love to cook seafood pasta or Chinese food (like my daughter). Life should be fun and this wine is pure fun and very tasty if used in the right way (e.g. any Chinese food recipe that calls for honey and wine e.g. chinese wine or sherry or vinegar). I'll use it next weekend in a prawn linguine with cremini mushrooms and cream plus parmesan, onions, yellow, orange or red bell peppers, garlic, broccoli and/or celery, roma tomatoes, tamari, worcestershire, purple sage, nutmeg.

 

[Hazelemere]

This is a retaste. Here are my comments:

Chenin Blanc Cyser Pyment 2021-2022

This is Brehm frozen California Chenin Blanc juice mixed with homegrown organic apples ground, pressed and chaptalized with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey i.e. no water.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear, pale gold

Smell - good complex nose from all components

Tannin - good from russet apples

Acid - good from Chenin Blanc and russet apples. My wife would hate this. She would find it too acidic. It is perfect for me. Tastes like really good dry Vouvray.

Flavour - my palate all the way. Bone dry, fragrant table wine with a really good aftertaste. This would kill IMHO as champagne.

Bottom line - If you have a white wine that is too acidic consider blending it with apple wine (2nd choice) or cyser - apple juice with unpasteurized honey (1st choice NO QUESTION)

retaste:

Appearance - clear yellow gold

Smell - good, complex smell from the Chenin Blanc, Russets and unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey - honey dew melon and straw from the Chenin Blanc, classic russet smell, good honey smell which is not too intense

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - very good bone dry white wine, the honey and russet juice improve this Chenin Blanc IMHO to make it more complex without killing the nice features of the Chenin Blanc. If you can 1) grind and press apples 2) buy unpasteurized honey and 3) buy Chenin Blanc grapes or juice (in my case frozen Brehm) this is a really good way to make a different style of Chenin Blanc i.e. a cyser pyment (cyser = apple juice chaptalized with honey) (pyment = grape juice with honey from the apple wine). If you grow your own white wine grapes, especially if they are slightly acidic and you can grind and press apples or buy apple juice in bulk together with unpasteurized honey then you can use the apples to drop the acid on the grape juice and use the honey to boost the smell e.g. Seyval Cyser Pyment as one of an infinite number of examples.

Just for fun I blended this 50/50 with the Cyser 2023 described above. Here are my comments on this blend in a glass which I am tasting for the first time:

Appearance - clear, slightly gold deep yellow

Smell - complex, intense apple, honey nose. The extra honey from the 2023 cyser overpowers the Chenin Blanc smell. Not a bad thing, just different.

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is very good, rich, complex, tasty cyser pyment. The SG should be ~0.997 based on the blend. Cyser pyment seems to be a no brainer for high acid white wine grapes like Chenin Blanc. Russet apples have a lot of tannin and acid. If you use non-russet apples that are less acidic and tannic than mine then your white wine grapes can have have even more acid than the Chenin Blanc as long as they are ripe to make a balanced and tasty Cyser Pyment. As far as honey goes I prefer cranberry blossom (1st choice), blueberry blossom (2nd choice), raspberry blossom (3rd choice) and blackberry blossom (4th choice). You can always buy unpasteurized clover honey which is very mild or wild flower honey which is more intense. If I only had clover and wildflower I'd mix the 2 honeys since wildflower is more aromatic and tannic vs the soft clover honey. If I lived in Florida I would use orange blossom honey. PS If you have the great good fortune of buying Fireweed honey in bulk then you have hit the jackpot IMHO.

Good luck to all of you making Cyser Pyment

 

[sour_grapes]

And, only if you read my other post, you can find a hint of the Eiffel Tower.

 

[cmason1957]

You can see it in this picture as well, just the very, very tip of the blob. It probably helps to have a 32 inch monitor.

 

[Boatboy24]

And, only if you read my other post, you can find a hint of the Eiffel Tower.

View attachment 111164

No Cline Zinfandel to be found?