What's in your glass tonight?

[VinesnBines]

This is my 2024 Foch, barrel tasting. The last topping was three weeks ago. I’m trying to get all my barrels on the same schedule and this is the outlier.

It went into the barrel on October 28, 2024. I’ve topped the barrel four times with 2024 Foch. .

The color is gorgeous, deep purple; aroma is fantastic, dark fruit, tobacco and just a little earthy.

This batch has great potential. I’m going to bottle it as a single varietal l.

 

[Hazelemere]

retaste from a 1/2 bottle in my cooler. Here are my tasting notes:

Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow

Smell - very fragrant, complex nose that lingers

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is better than a house wine, absolutely delicious with a really good aftertaste. I can smell it after I swallow it after a couple of minutes. This was made with D47 yeast which gives it the long finish. I score it 9+ out of 10 and will store it as a premium white wine to see how it ages. Surprisingly my own grapes which were destemmed and culled at low brix SG 1.073 are in this together with low brix Fresco Chilean Viognier juice in a pail at SG 1.083, plus organic homegrown Russet and Cox juice plus Okanagan Macintosh juice (all apples ground and pressed for juice and chaptalized with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey to ~ SG 1.085). Apple + honey = cyser, Grape + honey = pyment. Cyser + Pyment = White Fusion.

Consider white fusions i.e. cyser + pyment. This wine kills!

Happy New Year to all of you

Klaus

retaste of "White Fusion": this our white house wine (cyser/pyment)

Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow, no fizz

Smell - very fragrant, complex nose that lingers

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - this is a delicious house wine with a really good aftertaste. My wife really likes it. The Fresco Chilean Viognier juice really seems to have improved it. I would make it again in a heartbeat.

 

[winemaker81]

Last fall we bottled our 2023 "Chianti", which is Sangiovese juice buckets, fermented with pomace from CS, CF, and Merlot, and aged in a neutral barrel for a year. It came out very nice.

We bottled 7 cases, at which point we ran out of bottles. The remainder was poured into a bucket, along with sludge from the barrel. We bottled at my son's house, so I took the bucket home, put it in a 12 liter carboy, cleared it for 2 weeks, and bottled it.

This one is a bit different from the main batch. It's oakier (from the wine at the bottom of the barrel) yet fruity. Unfortunately, there were only 15 bottles (13 remaining).



My last statement is obviously a winemaker's POV. Normal humans don't consider 15 bottles to be a problem, well, except in terms of "where do I store that much wine?".

A few years back a friend excitedly showed me the 5 bottle rack on his kitchen counter. He had 5 bottles of wine.

If I had 5 cases of wine I'd consider myself "out of wine". It's a different POV ...

 

[ChuckD]

Last fall we bottled our 2023 "Chianti", which is Sangiovese juice buckets, fermented with pomace from CS, CF, and Merlot, and aged in a neutral barrel for a year. It came out very nice.

We bottled 7 cases, at which point we ran out of bottles. The remainder was poured into a bucket, along with sludge from the barrel. We bottled at my son's house, so I took the bucket home, put it in a 12 liter carboy, cleared it for 2 weeks, and bottled it.

This one is a bit different from the main batch. It's oakier (from the wine at the bottom of the barrel) yet fruity. Unfortunately, there were only 15 bottles (13 remaining).

View attachment 120354

My last statement is obviously a winemaker's POV. Normal humans don't consider 15 bottles to be a problem, well, except in terms of "where do I store that much wine?".

A few years back a friend excitedly showed me the 5 bottle rack on his kitchen counter. He had 5 bottles of wine.

If I had 5 cases of wine I'd consider myself "out of wine". It's a different POV ...

That label needs a plate of fava beans and liver

 

[winemaker81]

That label needs a plate of fava beans and liver

I lean towards feta, aged provolone, bread, and a selection of olives ... maybe brie en croute!

 

[Hazelemere]

A one off blend in a glass 50/50 Pacific Black Iris with Black Iris Framboise

I've posted tastings on these 2 wines before. Here is what this blend in a glass tastes like:

Appearance - clear deep purple

Smell - fruity, intense and very complex, hard to describe but pleasant and lingering

Tannin - good

Acid - good

Flavour - slightly sweet, intense, good aftertaste, slightly tannic. Tastes like it would be good on ice in the summer as a homemade version of sweet vermouth or dubonnet. I think it might be good in a Chinese roast duck or Chinese roast chicken marinade with 5 spice. By know you all know I love Chinese roast duck and Chinese roast chicken. I try not to think I know what my wines will be good for i.e. I try not to have an agenda on what to do with any of my wines except the very best ones which I try to leave alone. My focus at this stage of winemaking experience of 57 years is to make a final result that has value alone or blended no matter the input. In my case the input is any or all of: wild blackberries, wild cherries, organic raspberries, organic apples, unpasteurized honey, home grown organic grapes, dried elderberries, organic sour cherries.

 

[Hazelemere]

retaste of Pacific Black Iris

Appearance - inky purple

Nose - good wild cherry dominant

Tannin - good

Acid- good

Flavour - good, rich dark dry fruit wine which will age. Has a bottle of Bols cherry liqueur in it which is noticeable and gives it a really nice finish. This is balanced and tasty, maybe slightly sweet but not by much.

retaste of Pacific Black Iris

Appearance - inky purple

Nose - good aromatic wild cherry dominant, cocoa, coffee, plums

Tannin - good

Acid- good

Flavour - good, rich dark grape fruit wine which will age. slightly sweet. Has some red wine grapes in it Regent and/or Foch. Another wine that should be good on ice on a hot summer's day. It should be fine in a meat marinade or as a cooking wine. If I made it again I'd try to make it less sweet. It smells like it could be really good in beef stroganoff, chicken coq au vin, lamb shoulder or beef pot roast.