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What's in your glass tonight?
- Thread starter Boatboy24
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Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:
retaste blended 50/50 with Marechal Foch 2023 (organic homegrown, hand destemmed and uncrushed with RC212/71B yeast combo. Here are my comments:
Pacific Black Iris Foch 2023
Appearance - inky purple
Nose - good complex, wild cherry is less dominant than before. Now its like funky cherry.
Tannin - good
Acid- good
Flavour - good, rich dark dry fruit/grape fusion wine which will age. Has a bottle of Bols cherry liqueur in it which is slightly noticeable and gives it a really nice finish. I'll definitely make this again without the Syrah i.e. blackberries, wild cherries, dried elderberries, foch I'll also try it with some regent. This could kill with venison e.g. venison wellington, pot roast, bourguignon or stroganoff. Right now I rate it as good and can see it improving over time to good-very good because of the acid and tannin.
Marechal Foch 2023
organic homegrown, hand destemmed and uncrushed, in very nice dry condition, with RC212/71B yeast combo. SG 1.094 at harvest.
Here are my comments:
Appearance - inky purple
Nose - good complex, wild meat, cocoa, plums, leather, aniseed, cardamom
Tannin - good
Acid- slightly high but not by much (This received no chemical acid reduction e.g. potassium salts, calcium salt or acidex)
Flavour - this is decent. When it drops its acid in the bottle it should improve. Tannin and acid levels say that it can. 71B yeast seems to have improved it. Since I grow it I'll obviously make it again probably 3 ways 1) this way 2) blended with homegrown Regent 3) blended with wild black cherries-blackberries and dried elderberries with or without Regent and Bols Cherry liqueur. I rate it as "good". It should improve to "good-very good" as the acid level drops over time.
organic homegrown, hand destemmed and uncrushed, in very nice dry condition, with RC212/71B yeast combo. SG 1.094 at harvest.
Here are my comments:
Appearance - inky purple
Nose - good complex, wild meat, cocoa, plums, leather, aniseed, cardamom
Tannin - good
Acid- slightly high but not by much (This received no chemical acid reduction e.g. potassium salts, calcium salt or acidex)
Flavour - this is decent. When it drops its acid in the bottle it should improve. Tannin and acid levels say that it can. 71B yeast seems to have improved it. Since I grow it I'll obviously make it again probably 3 ways 1) this way 2) blended with homegrown Regent 3) blended with wild black cherries-blackberries and dried elderberries with or without Regent and Bols Cherry liqueur. I rate it as "good". It should improve to "good-very good" as the acid level drops over time.
Found this buried in my cellar yesterday. My notes say it's 12% ABV and was bottled August 2013. I figured it would be undrinkable after 11 years. But it is excellent. Poured a glass for a neighbor without telling him what it was and his comment was "this is good stuff"! My last notes notes on this batch were in 2020 (7 years) and it was very smooth at that time. Corks used were Widgetco Bi-disc.
My son & I had margaritas while finishing cooking, then I sent him into the cellar to get a bottle. I knew what he'd grab -- my oldest McGregor:
Unaerated, it actually tastes too young at 8 years old, the tannin is out of balance.
Aerated, the tannin is muted into balance and the fruit comes out. This one is a bit acidic -- not unpleasant but noticeable. I wish I had more of it!
Unaerated, it actually tastes too young at 8 years old, the tannin is out of balance.
Aerated, the tannin is muted into balance and the fruit comes out. This one is a bit acidic -- not unpleasant but noticeable. I wish I had more of it!
Saperavi
"Quintessential Georgian variety producing deeply coloured, firm, initially tart but ageworthy reds."
from - Robinson, Jancis; Harding, Julia; Vouillamoz, Jose. Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours: A James Beard Award Winner (p. 2262). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Saperavi Festival in June 2024 in the Finger Lakes New York
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retaste cold out of the fridge:
Appearance - inky purple
Nose - good wild cherry dominant but less intense than when it is warmer
Tannin - good - chilling it makes it softer
Acid- good cold
Flavour - This is very good cold. Closest thing to it is Dubonnet. This should be very good on the rocks (ice) on a hot summer's day. What an eye opener - a one of a kind fusion aperitif. Next I'll try it as a spritzer. When my wife and were first married we drank Dubonnet all of the time. This is just as good. A nice surprise!
Bottom line - try to minimize your pre-conceived ideas about winemaking. I've been doing this for 56 years and I'm still learning.........such as in the case of this wine. If your wines are technically well made but slightly out of whack then experiment with all of the ideas that you find on this website. e.g. I never ever used D47 yeast until last year based on recommendations from this site. I have 3 litres of tetra-pak apple juice fermenting on D47 to seed 7 pails, tomorrow afternoon (4 Australian Orange Muscat juice fresh) and (3 pails of Chilean Viognier juice fresh) to fruit bomb Washington Sheridan Chardonnay 2023 made from fresh grapes, fermented 3 ways V13 yeast, D47 yeast and 71B yeast i.e. Chardonnay Fleur d'Oranger 2023-2024 plus Chardonnay Viognier 2023-2024 plus Fleur d'Oranger 2024 and Viognier 2024.
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Carol's Red 2020-2022
This is my wife Carol's house wine i.e. everyday red (I make it for her palate which is different than mine):
2020 - Washington Dineen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Sheridan Syrah
2021 - Dineen Cabernet Franc, Amador Cabernet Sauvignon, Lodi Mettler Vineyard Petite Sirah
2022 - Marechal Foch, Regent (both homegrown)
My comments:
Appearance - purple
Smell - good, very complex, fruity, lingering
Tannin - really good (all grapes fermented uncrushed and hand destemmed)
Acid - very good (my wife is very sensitive to acid - the Lodi Mettler Petite Sirah drops the acid)
Flavour - this is rich and tasty without being too tangy or tannic. This is totally my wife's palate.
This is my wife Carol's house wine i.e. everyday red (I make it for her palate which is different than mine):
2020 - Washington Dineen Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Sheridan Syrah
2021 - Dineen Cabernet Franc, Amador Cabernet Sauvignon, Lodi Mettler Vineyard Petite Sirah
2022 - Marechal Foch, Regent (both homegrown)
My comments:
Appearance - purple
Smell - good, very complex, fruity, lingering
Tannin - really good (all grapes fermented uncrushed and hand destemmed)
Acid - very good (my wife is very sensitive to acid - the Lodi Mettler Petite Sirah drops the acid)
Flavour - this is rich and tasty without being too tangy or tannic. This is totally my wife's palate.
Winemaker81 and I could have been great friends in person. Here we are great friends on the internet.
touche!!
@Bmd2k1 asked about the FG of the Port I constructed in December 2022 from my fall 2021 wines. I reserved 3 bottles each of the 2021 Super Tuscan and Rhone Blend (Syrah, Petite Sirah, Merlot) FWK Forte kits that spent a year in barrel. I say "constructed" as I took finished wine, fortified to 20% ABV with EverClear 151, and backsweetened to taste.
At bottling time I forgot to check the FG, so I did it tonight ... which was a good excuse to open a bottle.
Overall, the experiment is a success. I made one mistake in that I did not add glycerin, so the mouthfeel is good but not great; it coats the tongue, but not quite like a real Port. A notable difference is that real Port is made with specific Portuguese grapes, which I do not have access to. Use of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals grown in California makes a difference.
Positive results? The wine does not smell nor taste hot; I was concerned that the EverClear would produce an off aroma and/or taste. The varietals that went into this wine are a hodge-podge of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals, so there is no varietal character. It's difficult to explain what it tastes like, but IMO it's a good facsimile of a real Port.
I did not adjust the acid, and tasting now shows this was a good choice. However, I tend towards drier wines, so I backsweetened less than others might. If I added more sugar, then I might need to add more acid.
The wine was bottled in splits.
At bottling time I forgot to check the FG, so I did it tonight ... which was a good excuse to open a bottle.
Overall, the experiment is a success. I made one mistake in that I did not add glycerin, so the mouthfeel is good but not great; it coats the tongue, but not quite like a real Port. A notable difference is that real Port is made with specific Portuguese grapes, which I do not have access to. Use of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals grown in California makes a difference.
Positive results? The wine does not smell nor taste hot; I was concerned that the EverClear would produce an off aroma and/or taste. The varietals that went into this wine are a hodge-podge of Bordeaux and Rhone varietals, so there is no varietal character. It's difficult to explain what it tastes like, but IMO it's a good facsimile of a real Port.
I did not adjust the acid, and tasting now shows this was a good choice. However, I tend towards drier wines, so I backsweetened less than others might. If I added more sugar, then I might need to add more acid.
The wine was bottled in splits.
retaste:
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 3 left. Here are my comments on this wine:
Appearance - clear, deep, dark purple red
Smell - figs, pomegranates, plums, chocolate, blueberries, black currants
Tannin - perfect
Acid - perfect
Flavour - this is delicious. Really rich and tasty with a long finish. I'll try to leave the last 3 alone for 3 to 5 years. I would make it again in a heartbeat.
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 3 left. Here are my comments on this wine:
Appearance - clear, deep, dark purple red
Smell - figs, pomegranates, plums, chocolate, blueberries, black currants
Tannin - perfect
Acid - perfect
Flavour - this is delicious. Really rich and tasty with a long finish. I'll try to leave the last 3 alone for 3 to 5 years. I would make it again in a heartbeat.
retaste:
Appearance - slight fizz which disappears with 10 minutes in a glass, clear lemon yellow
Smell - very fragrant muscat similar to Gewurtztraminer
Tannin - fine
Acid - fine
Flavour - rich tasty dry muscat. This is really good. Acid is just high enough to balance it. It has a super long finish. The aftertaste is excellent and lingering. This is 100% homegrown organic Siegerrebe/Ortega Dry Auslese. I can't make this every year because my climate doesn't allow it. I'll save the last 7.5 bottles as long as they last without oxidizing even a tiny bit, because of the killer aftertaste.
This year I'll try to make a spatlese i.e. SG 1.083+ on juice or if I'm really lucky an auslese SG 1.093 (like this one) on juice. The aftertaste on the auslese is unbelievable!
retaste:
Appearance - inky purple
Smell - good rich nose - black licorice, cocoa, plums, cigar box, tar
Tannin - good
Acid - good
Flavour - this my wife's premium red. rich, complex, not acidic, not too tannic i.e. her palate. This is very good, for her maybe excellent. I'm glad that I have 10 bottles of this as her premium red. She loves Petite Sirah flavour when the wines are balanced, and this is a balanced sky high brix Lodi Petite Sirah due to blending to drop the alcohol and raise the acid. My palate - this is really good and I am thrilled to have 11.5 of these.
retaste and adjustment with 1 tsp citric acid at SG 0.996 (has sorbate in it). I added citric because I found it to be slightly sweet. I like my red table wines bone dry. Here are my comments after racking back into my cooler (25 bottle carboy) and blending it 50/50 in a glass with Marechal Foch 2023.. I'll save it to blend with Marechal Foch 2024 ~50/50.
Appearance - inky purple
Nose - the wild cherry nose is evident, smoky, leather, chocolate, blackberries, venison
Tannin - good
Acid - the acid is fine after adding citric acid
Flavour - I would rate this as good-very good i.e. a rich and tasty house red for everyday drinking. I've got some primos including Cabernet Sauvignon-Petit Verdot 2023 in carboys that are much better than this for long aging and special occasions, but this is fine for everyday drinking. Marechal Foch seems to go really well with the organic wild black cherries in my neighbourhood (i.e. 4 trees - I'm blessed!). If you grow Marechal Foch and have access to high quality pitted dark cherries, especially wild black cherries, consider blending them with the Foch. If you don't have wild cherries and can pick wild or domestic blackberries or dewberries, use those especially with dried elderberries with or without medium toast American oak cubes. I think that this blend of fruit could make a really good Fusion Port. I may try the Port in which case I'll use EC1118 yeast alone or in combo with 71B and RC212 and top it up with Drambuie, Scottish heather honey/Scotch liqueur with Chambord. 71B seems to improve my Marechal Foch.
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Apple Cyser 2023
appearance - clear, yellow gold
smell - good honey nose which lingers (unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey used to chaptalize homegrown russet juice)
tannin - good from honey and russets
acid - good (slightly sweet, not too dry)
flavour - good, rich complex flavour with an aftertaste of apple skin tannins. I rate it as very good. Next time I make this I'll do it drier i.e. less sweet. This has an SG of 1.000
Then I mixed it in a glass 50/50 with Chenin Blanc Cyser Pyment 2021-22
appearance - clear yellow gold but less gold than the apple cyser on its own
smell - good complex nose which lingers
tannin- good
acid- good this is better than the apple cyser on its own since cyser pyment drops the sweetness
flavour - this is very good, rich complex fusion wine of grapes, apples and honey. I'll use this blend in a glass (rebottled as a cooking wine) to make prawn linguine to prevent onions from burning while they are sauteed with bell peppers (yellow, orange, or red), cremini or portabella mushrooms, garlic, roma tomatoes and celery and/or broccoli with fresh organic basil, lemon thyme, lemon pepper, purple sage and nutmeg plus raw frozen tiger prawns, cream and parmesan/asiago and/or romano cheese.
Finally I tried 75% Chenin Blanc Cyser Pyment with 25% Apple Cyser in a glass. Here are my comments on this final blend:
Appearance - deep slightly gold yellow
Smell - good, fragrant nose honeydew melon nose with honey accents
Tannin - perfect for my palate on a white wine
Acid - perfect
Flavour - for an apple based wine IMHO this is excellent. It has a really good flavour with a really good finish. If you grow or have access to white wine grapes and apples or apple juice (especially high tannin apples like russets or gravensteins or aromatic apples like Cox or Ambrosia) plus unpasteurized honey (e.g. orange, even clover, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, cranberry or even wildflower) consider chaptalizing the apple juice with honey to SG 1.085+, blending the apple juice from white wine grape skins + first run white wine juice sludge + pectic enzyme with a bit of sulphite for 48 hours before repressing to make un-chaptalized 2nd run juice i.e. no sugar or water added to the repressed grapes.
Tannin -
appearance - clear, yellow gold
smell - good honey nose which lingers (unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey used to chaptalize homegrown russet juice)
tannin - good from honey and russets
acid - good (slightly sweet, not too dry)
flavour - good, rich complex flavour with an aftertaste of apple skin tannins. I rate it as very good. Next time I make this I'll do it drier i.e. less sweet. This has an SG of 1.000
Then I mixed it in a glass 50/50 with Chenin Blanc Cyser Pyment 2021-22
appearance - clear yellow gold but less gold than the apple cyser on its own
smell - good complex nose which lingers
tannin- good
acid- good this is better than the apple cyser on its own since cyser pyment drops the sweetness
flavour - this is very good, rich complex fusion wine of grapes, apples and honey. I'll use this blend in a glass (rebottled as a cooking wine) to make prawn linguine to prevent onions from burning while they are sauteed with bell peppers (yellow, orange, or red), cremini or portabella mushrooms, garlic, roma tomatoes and celery and/or broccoli with fresh organic basil, lemon thyme, lemon pepper, purple sage and nutmeg plus raw frozen tiger prawns, cream and parmesan/asiago and/or romano cheese.
Finally I tried 75% Chenin Blanc Cyser Pyment with 25% Apple Cyser in a glass. Here are my comments on this final blend:
Appearance - deep slightly gold yellow
Smell - good, fragrant nose honeydew melon nose with honey accents
Tannin - perfect for my palate on a white wine
Acid - perfect
Flavour - for an apple based wine IMHO this is excellent. It has a really good flavour with a really good finish. If you grow or have access to white wine grapes and apples or apple juice (especially high tannin apples like russets or gravensteins or aromatic apples like Cox or Ambrosia) plus unpasteurized honey (e.g. orange, even clover, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, cranberry or even wildflower) consider chaptalizing the apple juice with honey to SG 1.085+, blending the apple juice from white wine grape skins + first run white wine juice sludge + pectic enzyme with a bit of sulphite for 48 hours before repressing to make un-chaptalized 2nd run juice i.e. no sugar or water added to the repressed grapes.
Tannin -
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Last night I made pork tenderloin medallions in a garlic sauce along with my first attempt at risotto (which Mrs. WM81 loved!). I opened a bottle of 2023 Vidal (made from juice) for cooking and for the cook.
This one was bottled dry (with extra glycerin), and while it's not sharp, it has an overwhelming grapefruit taste (from TR-313 yeast). The larger portion of the batch that was fermented on the skins was backsweetened with 1/4 cup sugar per 4 liters, and that changes the wine dramatically for the better.
To solve the problem, I put about 1 tsp Agave nectar in the glass and fill it up. That completely removes the grapefruit taste and make it taste like a Vidal.
The wine is a bit muddy looking as it's the last bottle from the carboy. My SOP is to rack nearly to the bottom, leaving about 1 bottle's worth. I bottle the main part of the batch, then bottle that last bottle. Occasionally there is a very fine line of sediment, which means I have all bottles but one that are crystal clear. This is the odd bottle. I mark the bottle and reserve it for my own use, since the sediment doesn't bother me.
And the label? I ran out of labels and wasn't going to print a sheet of 6 for this last bottle, so I grabbed an extra from previous wine. Besides, there is absolutely no way anyone will mistake this label for the others!
This one was bottled dry (with extra glycerin), and while it's not sharp, it has an overwhelming grapefruit taste (from TR-313 yeast). The larger portion of the batch that was fermented on the skins was backsweetened with 1/4 cup sugar per 4 liters, and that changes the wine dramatically for the better.
To solve the problem, I put about 1 tsp Agave nectar in the glass and fill it up. That completely removes the grapefruit taste and make it taste like a Vidal.
The wine is a bit muddy looking as it's the last bottle from the carboy. My SOP is to rack nearly to the bottom, leaving about 1 bottle's worth. I bottle the main part of the batch, then bottle that last bottle. Occasionally there is a very fine line of sediment, which means I have all bottles but one that are crystal clear. This is the odd bottle. I mark the bottle and reserve it for my own use, since the sediment doesn't bother me.
And the label? I ran out of labels and wasn't going to print a sheet of 6 for this last bottle, so I grabbed an extra from previous wine. Besides, there is absolutely no way anyone will mistake this label for the others!
2022 Field Blend - grapes that I picked myself, about 50:50 white pinot noir : chardonnay with maybe 5% viognier. It's become much smoother after a year under cork and very drinkable, great food wine with a savory note from the white pinot noir.
The latest in Costco wines from our favorite online Somm!
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Have had that Bordeaux, Malbec and Pinot Grigio multiple times. All pretty good. Keeping an eye out for the Gigondas now.
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