What's in your glass tonight?

[Hazelemere]

Pacific Black Iris Regent 2023-2024

This is about 5/6 65% wild blackberries and 35% pitted wild cherries plus 1 bottle of Bols Cherry liqueur from 2023, both fruits frozen then thawed and fermented with 71B yeast to drop malic acid and 1/6 home grown Regent Rose 2024 destemmed, crushed and pressed with 71B ferment to boost the acid and drop the sweetness of the Pacific Black Iris. The Regent didn't go through malolactic fermentation.

Tasting notes:

Appearance - clear, inky purple

Smell - very good clean fruity complex nose which improves as it warms up - cherries, blackberries, cocoa, currants, plums, licorice

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is the best red fusion wine (grapes+berries) that I've ever made. An eye opener for me and totally unexpected. I made a rose from the Regent which I've never done before with 71B yeast to drop its tannin and malic acid without malolactic fermentation at SG 1.073 for the Regent which was chaptalized to SG 1.085 with cane sugar. I didn't want high tannin, high tartaric acid, low SG Regent for a red wine.
The flavour is really good. What a surprise! I am thrilled to have 30 bottles of this which I would rate as very good with the potential to be....drum roll......very good- excellent. I can and will absolutely make this again. The lesson I get over and over is to try small, random blending experiments in a glass from all inventory to try to improve finished wines. This one kills!

 

[Rotundifolia]

We booked a trip to ebike northern Portugal next year which happens to be in wine and port region. So we went to Total Wine to get some Portugal wines and came across this wine. It is finished in a port barrel. It is delicious for about $18 a bottle. The initial taste gives an impression of sweetness (likely from the port barrel) but it is not sweet and has a nice velvety finish. Yum. (sorry about the bad backlighting picture - the name is Cais Da Ribeira Douro Doc Reserva 2021.

 

[Hazelemere]

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.

retaste after 1 day open:

Appearance - clear, deep purple

Smell - figs, pomegranates, plums, chocolate, blackberries, blueberries, licorice

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - first class red wine, rich and tasty with a really good and long finish. Amador Cab gives you pomegranate and figs. Dineen Cab Franc gives you chocolate, plums, blackberries and blueberries. Licorice is a new flavour and smell which has developed in the bottle. I have 2 left and will try to not drink more than 1 every 2 years i.e. last bottle at 8 to 9 years old. I want to see if the licorice flavour and smell hang around and/or improve.

 

[Hazelemere]

Dineen Vineyard Pinnacle of Verdot 2023

I had 3 small carboys (15 bottles each) of Washington Dineen Vineyard Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon fermented with RC212 hand destemmed and uncrushed with nutrient containing B vitamins for 12 days followed by malolactic fermentation and oaking with medium toast American oak cubes to 14.0% alcohol. The grapes were in boxes in perfect condition.. My son in law made the same wine but used more oak than I did. We racked all of the wines off of tartrate sediment and raised the total sulphite level from 45 to ~65 parts per million (guessing free sulphite at ~22 ppm). The Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon ("Pinnacle") were blended 50/50 and tasted. My son in law who has never tasted Petit Verdot said he thought the blend was sensational and that the Verdot gave the wine a beautiful, complex smell and a long, wonderful finish. So he got ~150 bottles of the blend oaked his way and I got 90 oaked my way. He then took 60 of his 150 and re-blended it 80 (Verdot blend)/20 (petite sirah blend) of Mettler Petite Sirah 2021 (74% Petite Sirah and 26% Regent (homegrown) 2/3 with Marechal Foch (homegrown) 1/3. I made 15 of this blend "Petite Pinnacle of Verdot" 2021, 2023. He made 60. This is my wife's primo red wine. This is rich, complex and tasty with a long finish and a really good smell. Finally I saved about 8 bottles of the Petite Sirah 2/3 Marechal Foch 1/3 blend which is very intense and much better IMHO than the Petite Sirah on its own since the alcohol level is ~14.5% instead of 15.5%. We have one carboy (30 bottles) of Lodi Mettler Vineyard Petite Sirah 2021 left which we will blend with this year's homegrown Marechal Foch to drop its alcohol and improve its alcohol, acid level and complexity.

If you can get Petit Verdot I suggest that you try it. My son in law says that the Verdot wines that we just blended are the best we have made since 2009 (Washington Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah). I agree. We'll leave our wines in our walk in cooler until Xmas-New Years 2024 and then bottle them to age for at least 5 years, maybe even 10.

Good luck with your wines.

retaste from a cooler split (1/2 bottle):

Appearance - clear, deep inky purple

Smell - intense Montreal smoked meat and/or roast duck, Chinese 5 spice, mocha chocolate, plums

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is a really interesting rich red wine with a really good long aftertaste. I've always had really good wines from Petit Verdot. This Petit Verdot improves the Cabernet Sauvignon that it was blended with IMHO. The Cab was very tasty. The Petit Verdot killed! This combo of Cab and Verdot is delicious. I'm thrilled to have over 60 bottles in my cooler so I can drink some of them when I'm in my mid-eighties. I love Chinese roast duck and this is a perfect wine for that. Some wines are tasty and really one-of-a-kind unique. This wine is one of those! North American Petit Verdot if is perfectly ripe can be stunning. If you can find it ripe...........try it!

 

[Hazelemere]

retaste:

Sheridan Chardonnay & Hazelmere Muscat 2023

This is a 50/50 cooler carboy blend with Sheridan Chardonnay fermented with V13 yeast and my homegrown Siegerrebe-Ortega Muscat blend fermented with 71B yeast. My son in law loves my muscats and I gave him a case of mine which he used to make this blend.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear lemony yellow

Smell - good complex nose.

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is very good, not excellent but certainly very good. This is a one of a kind Washington Chardonnay, homegrown Siegerrebe Ortega blend with a nice finish. I'd bottle it just like this.

retaste:

Chardonnay Muscat 2023

This is a 50/50 cooler carboy blend with Sheridan Chardonnay fermented with V13 yeast and my homegrown Siegerrebe-Ortega Muscat blend fermented with 71B yeast. My son in law loves my muscats and I gave him a case of mine which he used to make this blend.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear lemony yellow

Smell - good nose - buttered popcorn and muscat

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is very good, not excellent but certainly very good. This is a one of a kind Washington Chardonnay, homegrown Siegerrebe Ortega blend with a nice finish. I have 13 to age in my cooler.

 

[Hazelemere]

Chardonnay Fleur d'Oranger 2023-24

This is my last Sheridan Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 71B ferment blend in a glass with Fresco Australian Orange Muscat. We added citric acid to the Chardonnay because 71B yeast made it a bit flat. I'll bottle 4 Orange Muscats on their own. I'll test the sulphite in a 50/50 blended 30 bottle carboy and put it back into my cooler.

Tasting comments from a blend in a glass:

Appearance - clear, deep, lemon yellow

Smell - good creamy, muscat nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good for my palate. My wife may find it a bit tangy right now.

Flavour - this is tasty and fragrant with a good finish. It should improve as it ages and citric acid esters develop with malic acid and tartaric acid esters and the acid drops a bit. I'd rate it as very good right now. I'll try to age it at least 3 years after I bottle it around Easter 2025.

retaste:

Chardonnay Fleur d'Oranger 2023-24

Appearance - clear, deep, lemon yellow

Smell - good creamy, muscat nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good for my palate. My wife may find it a bit tangy right now. This level of acid should allow it to age really well.

Flavour - this is tasty and fragrant with a good finish. It should improve as it ages and citric acid esters develop with malic acid and tartaric acid esters and the acid drops a bit. I'd rate it as very good right now. I'll try to age it at least 3 years after I bottle it between Xmas and New Years 2024. When we bought the Australian orange muscat juice we were looking for a more intense juice than we got which was barely ripe at SG 1.073. Having accepted the weakness of this muscat we made the best wine that we thought that we could. This blend should be fine and improve over time as the citric acid works its magic on the smell.

 

[Hazelemere]

Russet Macintosh Cyser Pyment 2024

This is my son law's wine. Organic homegrown russet juice - no water added, homegrown white muscat grape juice, blueberry blossom honey to chaptalize, Okanagan Macintosh apples ground and pressed - no water added.

Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow

Smell - intense complex good apple mead nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - I find it to be slightly sweet with a good rich flavour and a long aftertaste. My version of this was re-blended as White Fusion.

Here are my comments on White Fusion 2024 which I will bottle between Xmas and new Years 2024:

Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow

Smell - good complex apple-grape-honey (Cyser-Pyment) nose

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - very tasty rich honey-grape-apple wine i.e. cyser pyment. This is dry with a very nice finish. I like it better than the previous wine and rate it as very good. It should improve as it ages. I made this from my grapes because the SG on my grapes was low.

 

[jswordy]

Duplin Scuppernong. Just enjoying doing the Southern thang. It will do in a pinch, but boy I miss mine. I have to find a source this year for grapes.