What's in your glass tonight?

[Hazelemere]

Moraine 2023

This is homegrown hand destemmed and uncrushed 50/50 blend of organic Marechal Foch and Regent, grown in glacial moraine soil 3 degree southeast slope fermented with RC21/71B yeast blend vitamin B containing nutrient. Vines are fed annually with kelp meal, fish bone meal, sulpo-mag, rock phosphate and trace elements including born. No synthetic pesticides including herbicides are used. All vines are mulched with slow-released fertilized lawn clippings to keep down the weeds. I rototill or how weeds between rows. I have ~130 grape vines

Here are my comments on this wine in a split"

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good clean nose, a bit non-descript

Tannin - good

Acid - good, maybe slightly high but the acid will help this age

Flavour - surprise! This I can rate as "good", not very good or excellent but certainly good. It has a promising aftertaste. To improve it even more I think that I would cut it with 2nd run homegrown white wines with no added water or sugar i.e. skins from first pressing mixed with first run sediment plus pectic enzyme to extract smells. IMHO this is the best homegrown red that I've ever made and I will work going forward with this combo together with the 2nd run white wine to try to make it even better i.e. maybe.....................very good?! I might try some of it with K1V1116/71B yeast combo vs RC212/71B yeast combo with and without 2nd run homegrown white vinifera to make 4 different versions of this wine which I will absolutely do to learn my craft at the ripe old age of 74.

 

[Hazelemere]

Obviously your telepathy is NOT working today!

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/red-blend-ideas.73908/

thank you

 

[Rocky]

What was the reaction to the two wines?

Hey Chris,

The Amarone is a big favorite with friends and family. Unfortunately, I am down to my last case of it and only 7 bottles remain. It has beautiful color, a very bright taste, FSG was at 0.996, so it is not "bone dry" and is very fruity. The two wines went well with the saucy eggplant parmesan, meatballs and sausage and the pasta. If find I can serve both together with no problem though the Nero D'Avola was an adventure. It has a bold taste, fruit at the back and still retains a trace amount of oak.

The Oak was the issue when I made the wine, I had it in two 54 liter demijohns and I over oaked it. At bottling, I was very disappointed in the wine and left it in my cellar for years. I would sample a bottle periodically and discerned that it was improving, albeit very slowly. Six years later, the good news/bad new story is that it is getting to be very nice but I am down to my last 5 cases. Early on, I almost dumped it but could not bring myself to do so, thinking I could cook with it or make vinegar. I had never dumped a wine I made at the time and did not have that experience until recently. First time for everything, I guess.

 

[Ckent]

Tonight, I'm sipping on a nice, smooth Malbec. Perfect for winding down after a long day!

 

[winemaker81]

Last Thursday I opened the Merlot/Tempranillo, so tonight I opened the Merlot/Grenache. I like this one a lot better -- the Grenache shines through the Merlot, providing a fruity strawberry-like flavor. This one is a bit light in acid, but has a very mild tannin bite on the finish. I already wish I had more of it.

I suspect the Merlot/Tempranillo is more "meh" because the Tempranillo and Merlot are too much alike, and cancel out each others' strengths.

 

[Hazelemere]

Last Thursday I opened the Merlot/Tempranillo, so tonight I opened the Merlot/Grenache. I like this one a lot better -- the Grenache shines through the Merlot, providing a fruity strawberry-like flavor. This one is a bit light in acid, but has a very mild tannin bite on the finish. I already wish I had more of it.

I suspect the Merlot/Tempranillo is more "meh" because the Tempranillo and Merlot are too much alike, and cancel out each others' strengths.

View attachment 114252

All of the Washington Grenache blends we've done with Syrah and Mourvedre or Syrah and Malbec smell like white pepper with strawberries. Sounds like you have a good one! "I already wish I had more of it" says everything anyone needs to know. Where do the Grenache and Merlot come for?

 

[winemaker81]

All of the Washington Grenache blends we've done with Syrah and Mourvedre or Syrah and Malbec smell like white pepper with strawberries. Sounds like you have a good one! "I already wish I had more of it" says everything anyone needs to know. Where do the Grenache and Merlot come for?

The Grenache came from Lodi and the Merlot was a FWK Tavola kit. No white pepper in the nose, but there's a hint of it in the aftertaste. I had trouble articulating what I tasted -- your description is spot on. This is a good example of the same grape having different characteristics in different zones.

Last fall we did the same thing -- juice + pomace from a previous batch. Last fall was a pair of Sangiovese juice buckets + pomace from CS, CF, and Merlot. At the last barrel tasting, the new one is even better!

Our current plan for the fall is to fill another barrel with a juice + pomace wine. We won't know what until we nail down the fall plans.

 

[Hazelemere]

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.

retaste of my wife's go to premium red wine:

Appearance - purple

Smell - good, very complex, fruity, lingering, hard to describe but I'll try - cocoa, cherries, after that I'm lost

Tannin - really good (all grapes fermented uncrushed and hand destemmed)

Acid - perfect (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. I like it too. It has a long finish with a bit of tannin. I'd rate it "very good".

 

[Hazelemere]

Blend in a glass

#1 Syrah Moraine 2022

resurrection of a "burnt rubber" Sheridan Syrah with my own Regent and Marechal Foch which I over-deacidified which made the blend flat (too low in acid). As a cooking wine it is fine e.g. I used it in a Chorizo-Pork tenderloin freezer chili which turned out fine (cilantro, cremini mushrooms, onions, dry chorizo, diced pork tenderloin, unsalted chicken broth, tamari, worcestershire, smoked paprika, cumin, hot chili powder, black beans, mixed beans, kidney beans, shelled edemame, fire roasted diced and crushed tomatoes and about 1/2 bottle of this wine.

#2 Cyser Pyment

this is high tannin white wine from the russet apple juice pressed from from apples picked in a drought.

The Russet skin tannin fixes the low acid of the flat Syrah Moraine

50/50 blend is okay, not great but totally drinkable. It would probably make a better cooking wine than the Syrah Moraine on its own.

We have one Syrah carboy left to resurrect. This year I won't deacidify either the Regent or Marechal Foch after they go through malolactic fermentation and cold stabilization to see how they age.

retaste of syrah moraine:

appearance - purple, slight fizz

smell - okay, no "burnt rubber"

tannin - good

acid - good

flavour - not great, but not bad i.e. drinkable. Has tannin in the aftertaste. Fairly intense. Next I'' add some Moraine 2023 to it to if that improves it by dropping the tannin in a 50/50 blend:

Here goes:

appearance - inky purple, less fizz than the Syrah Morain 2022 bove

smell - more interesting smell - cocoa, prunes, blackberries

tannin - good

acid - good

flavour - this is better, more complex red, flavour is decent, aftertaste is better.

So finally I tried 25% Syrah Moraine with 75% Moraine

Here my comments on that blend:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - good nose - cocoa, prunes, blackberries

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - IMHO this is the best of the 3 wines, not great but certainly drinkable. It has a decent aftertaste.

Bottom line - IMHO high tannin reds don't make great cooking wines, unless you are making something ultra spicy, so I will use the Syrah Moraine as top up for carboys for which it is perfectly okay.

 

[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

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 - I'll try to describe this - bananas, lychees, marzipan....after that I'm lost

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - rich, complex Chardonnay with a really nice aftertaste. This will age. I have 8 left so will let them age for at least 4 years in my cooler (i.e. open one every 6 months or a year). I rate it as very good right now

 

[jswordy]

It looks like my Rolling Rock days are ended again, after all my work last year to get it stocked close by. They used to stock two or three 12-packs at a couple stores, and it would sell out, too. Now, suddenly all the stores near me no longer stock it. If I drive to the big city 25 miles away, I can get it at several big box stores. I think the driver who delivers near me just doesn't want to fool with it. I kept my end of the bargain. Every time I saw it in stock, as I promised, I bought all they had. Might be time to wind down the beer drinking. I'll miss it. Sigh...

 

[ibglowin]

OMG a 25 mile drive! LOL

It looks like my Rolling Rock days are ended again, after all my work last year to get it stocked close by. They used to stock two or three 12-packs at a couple stores, and it would sell out, too. Now, suddenly all the stores near me no longer stock it. If I drive to the big city 25 miles away, I can get it at several big box stores. I think the driver who delivers near me just doesn't want to fool with it. I kept my end of the bargain. Every time I saw it in stock, as I promised, I bought all they had. Might be time to wind down the beer drinking. I'll miss it. Sigh...

View attachment 114332

 

[jswordy]

OMG a 25 mile drive! LOL

Yep, 25 miles there and 25 miles back. For beer I used to get locally. Ridiculous.

 

[jswordy]

Yep, 25 miles there and 25 miles back. For beer I used to get locally. Ridiculous.

Been hot on the phones today. As expected, WM says "I donnnoooo..." So I called the distributer. Profuse apologies and promises the salesman will get it back in stock pronto. I told the guy, "If I see you've stocked two, I will buy them. You stock four, I will buy them. Stock six? I'm buying them." That's cuz even local isn't like just a few blocks away for me. Now we wait. I think tomorrow is their run to my area. Thirsty...

 

[Ohio Bob]

Maybe they will be interested if you say “if you stock a pallet, I’m buying a pallet”!

 

[jswordy]

The

Maybe they will be interested if you say “if you stock a pallet, I’m buying a pallet”!

The most I have ever bought is at one time is eight cases. I just put 'em in the farm shop, then run them through my 1963 Coke cooler.

 

[Rocky]

It looks like my Rolling Rock days are ended again, after all my work last year to get it stocked close by. They used to stock two or three 12-packs at a couple stores, and it would sell out, too. Now, suddenly all the stores near me no longer stock it. If I drive to the big city 25 miles away, I can get it at several big box stores. I think the driver who delivers near me just doesn't want to fool with it. I kept my end of the bargain. Every time I saw it in stock, as I promised, I bought all they had. Might be time to wind down the beer drinking. I'll miss it. Sigh...

View attachment 114332

The rise in popularity of Rolling Rock continues to astound me. I grew up in a 'burb east of Pittsburgh and not all that far from Latrobe (Arnie Palmer's digs). In the 1950's and 1960's, Rolling Rock was known in the Pittsburgh area as "skunk-beer." It was wildly unpopular. My father owned a beer distributorship and, while we would order truck loads of Iron City, Duquesne, Budweiser, etc. on a weekly basis, our Rolling Rock order would come in on two or three dollies, maybe 25 cases a week.

Later, after I had moved away from Pittsburgh, I saw it in Rochester, New York and I thought, "What in the world is that doing here?" Later is saw it in Florida and I came to realize the power of Madison Avenue. They have had the green bottle for as long as I can remember and at one time it was only offered in the 7 ounce bottle, 24 per case. I note that it is now longer "Brewed from mountain spring water" as was their old claim to fame. For a time, it was brewed in a brewery that also has produced Sam Adams, Heilemann's, Iron City, Old German and perhaps a number of others. I imagine the beer was "brewed from pure Allegheny River water," famous for its "Allegheny White Fish!"

I am almost, but not quite, tempted to try some to see if it really has changed.

 

[wineh]

The

The most I have ever bought is at one time is eight cases. I just put 'em in the farm shop, then run them through my 1963 Coke cooler.

I would pay 10 cents for a beer from your 1963 coke machine!

 

[Hazelemere]

Estate Muscat Dry Auslese 2023

This is 100% homegrown organic muscat from 20 parts Siegerrebe 10 parts Ortega and 10 parts Reichensteiner at SG 1.092 unchaptalized. Siegerrebe - Ortega were fermented with 71B. Reichensteiner was fermented with V-13. This is poured from a bottle in my cooler. A lot of it was blended into my son in law's medium toast American oaked Washington Sheridan Vineyard Chardonnay to make it more tropical. That blend is in carboys made with 3 different yeasts D47, V13 and 71B. They are all tasty and different. Better yet they are all separate. We may save the Chardonnay 2023 in our cooler in a carboy to add more 2024 Muscat to it. Sheridan Chardonnay smells like buttered popcorn but we are fussy having made fantastic Chardonnays from Carneros Sangiacomo Vineyard juice 2 years in a row. If you can buy Carneros or even Sonoma Chardonnay and love tropical fruit bomb wines, you are in for a treat.

Appearance: lemon yellow, colour is perfect (i.e. no oxidation at any stage of processing)

Smell - really good intense classic muscat nose (the Siegerrebe and Ortega both have Gewurtztraminer in their family tree)

Tannin - perfect, a little bit of tannin in the aftertaste which should allow it to age.

Acid - perfect for me.

Flavour - this is really rich and interesting, with a long finish. Classic Muscat! My son in law loves it. Ausleses are usually sweet but this is bone dry at 22.0 Brix at harvest. I'll have it on my birthday in November with clam vongole, lobster tails, crab or oysters or a combo thereof e.g. crab linguine or lobster mac and cheese. Anyone here ever made lobster mac and cheese or oyster chowder? Maybe even halibut or steelhead.

Afterthought - I had to cull damaged grapes out of the Ortega and Reichensteiner. This took hours and hours but I did it. The Siegerrebe were in beautiful condition and didn't need to be cleaned. All of the grapes were dry i.e. no rain at all for least a month. Sometimes the grape god Bacchus is with you and this was one of those years. I'll try to make it this year so we can make a stellar Chardonnay Muscat blend. The very slight tannin in the aftertaste may be due to damaged grape taint during culling. The wine is really tasty so I'm not concerned. It probably won't last more than a few years unless I get a similar or better one in 2024. Bud burst on Siegerrebe and Ortega is early-normal this year, so harvest should be in mid to late September to beat the October rains. The grapes on this wine were picked on September 9. Ortega was picked at SG 1.093, Siegerrebe at SG 1.092. I just ordered 20 yellow jacket wasp trap refills so I can try to catch as many queens as possible. Last year I probably caught 4000 wasps including the black and white ones. The wasp traps that I use that have sex pheromones only work on the yellow jackets. I also put out Kraft strawberry jam jars on top of my vineyard posts. Wasps adore Muscats i.e. my vineyard is Club Med for wasps. They damage grapes by gorging on them when they are ripe. The flavour on this wine is very similar to really good California Muscat which you can buy from Brehm. I only have 11 left because it is so popular and good right now. I will try to leave it alone until my birthday and/or 2024 harvest.

I HAVE A QUESTION FOR EVERYONE HERE.......HAVE YOU EVER MADE A WINE THAT WAS SO GOOD THAT YOU COULDN'T KEEP IT IN STORAGE BECAUSE EVERYONE WANTED TO DRINK IT OR YOU DID OR GAVE IT AWAY OR A COMBINATION THEREOF. IF SO WHAT WAS IT? AND WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT WINEMAKING IN THE EXPERIENCE OF MAKING IT OR HAVING PEOPLE TASTE IT. In my case intention and effort in winemaking and grape growing are everything. You can certainly do winemaking "paint by numbers" but for me the challenge is to try to create REAL MAGIC whenever possible. The wine i am describing is the best Siegerrebe and/or Ortega that I have tasted in 11 years. I could not have made it as a commercial winemaker due to the need for culling which is a massive advantage of serious amateurs and sometimes unavailable to commercial winemakers .....you can be the Van Gogh of your winemaking! Van Gogh never stopped experimenting with brushes, knives and paints.

I love you all and wish you the best of luck with your wines in 2024. Never stop experimenting with your winemaking!

This will be my last posting until lates summer/fall.

I'm going in for brachytherapy (radioactive iodine seeds) for my prostate cancer - stage 2 in mid May.

In the meantime I'm travelling to Ontario to drop my best wines off to some serious soulmates.........last one and my favourite wine of all time Framboise 2023.

Namaste to all you wild things!

Klaus

PS. This is a seriously good website!

retaste (I have 3 left after this just opened bottle)

Here are my comments:



Appearance: lemon yellow, colour is perfect (i.e. no oxidation at any stage of processing)

Smell - beautiful nose from ripe grapes, very fragrant delicate muscat both grapes in this blend descended from Gewurtztraminer

Tannin - perfect

Acid - perfect

Flavour - this is delicious. Absolutely first class, rich and interesting, with a really good interesting long finish. This was picked organic, homegrown at 22 brix in the Pacific Northwest on a southeast 3 degree slope in really nice condition. I've made this blend before but not this good since 2013 i.e. 11 years ago. I'll save the last 3 to drink over the next 3 years at special family dinners including my daughter's birthday dinners for me. I would love to try this with clam vongole or coquille st jacques or even steelhead trout.

Hope you are all well


Klaus

 

[jswordy]

I would pay 10 cents for a beer from your 1963 coke machine!

It's set up for 25 cents but I don't use the mechanism. They built stuff to last back then. I paid $25 for this machine at a business auction back in 1990. It keeps beer C-O-L-D.