Archive for February, 2009

For my “country wines,” the bottle labels are usually created using some relevant clip art, and my six year old son then colors each of them. Adds a nice touch!

Here’s what the labels for the recently bottled mead look like:

If you regularly read (well, read my irregular posting here), you may remember that I started a blueberry wine back in November, 2005. I commented on it, on April 22, 2006, writing,

“… I used DV10 yeast. The specific gravity this past week was 0.990 – very dry – and I’m not sure I’ll use this yeast again for blueberry wine, but we’ll see how it turns out with more time.

First, the bouquet was not very attractive. Admittedly, I only had a quick, little taste – not a mouthful – but I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did this blueberry wine. There was something I liked about it, but it didn’t beg for more, if you know what I mean.”

Since April 2006, the carboy has been sealed. I figured I may as well check out this wine and see how it’s been doing, three years later. Today, there was a noticeable improvement on the bouquet. I very much enjoyed what my nose was detecting. However, I’m not convinced it will be as good as the other blueberry wine noted above, where I used a different yeast. This batch fermented using DV-10 yeast.

It just doesn’t seem as bold. However, the first blueberry wine needed some time “in the air” before the full flavours came out so perhaps this one will too. One thing I did notice was too much sulfite. I like to sulfite my wines before racking them, and I figured that after almost three years, the quarter to half teaspoon I put in the five gallons of wine would have at least partially dissipated. So I added just over 1/4 teaspoon before racking today. I don’t think I needed to do that at all. I’ll have to learn more about measuring free sulfite levels in wine.

I’m going to rack it a few times in the next day before bottling it to let some of the sulfite dissipate, keep a bottle to try in a couple of weeks (I’ll give it lots of time to decant before drinking) and depending on how the taste test goes, give away some bottles as gifts and cellar most of it. If the taste test does not go so well, I’ll just cellar all of it – don’t want to be giving good friends lousy wine!

This evening, I was about to put some of the bottles of mead I had just bottled into my cellar. Now, I don’t have the perfect wine cellar by any means. I live in a very old house where the basement is tiny and I can’t stand up straight. One one side, is a crawl space that is quite dusty and filled with cob webs. I’ve never actually crawled into the crawl space because I have no idea what else might be in there. But through the small opening in the wall, I can put a few boxes of wine, or add bottles to the plastic wine storage racks I have.

I had thought the cellar was empty. I knew there were a couple of cardboard boxes laying on their sides, but for some reason, had the belief that they were empty. Tonight, I thought I’d get them out of the way – but there was a certain heft to them that told me, “Hey! There’s wine in one of those boxes!”

Turns out there are about 8 bottles of the “Old Vines” Zinfandel that I started making back in some part of October, 2005. I recall now that it was a batch of wine that I wanted to try the synthetic wine corks and age some wine a few years with those in the bottles.

With more than a bit of excitement, I grabbed two of the bottles and brought them upstairs. Would the wine have gone off? Did it keep well? Had it turned to vinegar? With a little trepidation, partly because I had lost all my notes on this wine and had no idea whether I sulfited before bottling, I uncorked one. Took a whiff… not sure what to expect… vinegar?

NO! Nothing but the rich scent of red Zinfandel wine! My wee man, who is now 6 years old would have been 3 years old when I started this wine, and helped with the bottling of it, wanted to have a sniff. He pronounced it “Mmmm!” Then he asked, “What were you afraid it might smell like, Daddy?” So I took out a bottle of vinegar, undid the cap, and let him have a sniff of that. “The wine smells much better, Dad!”

I’m going to let the red Zinfandel warm up to room temperature and decant it. I’ll offer some tasting notes later.

UPDATE: Tasting Notes

Mmmm.. so the wine has warmed up and somewhat decanted. Oh, this is a good classic Zinfandel.

On the nose: black cherry with hints of smoked wood
On the tongue: black cherry, pepper and licorice.
Mouthfeel: Velvet

I’d love to attend this event, but it won’t be this year. Held in Napa Valley, California, May 15-16, 2009, the WineMaker Magazine conference will have something for all home wine makers. There will be 26 seminars, wine making classes and social events where attendees can mix and mingle.

One of the problems with such conferences is that there are often several different seminars going on at the same time, forcing attendees to choose one over the others. For example, during the first time slot on May 15th, 9:30 to 10:30AM, there will be:

1. Mastering Maceration – How long should you let your red grape juice ferment on the skins? Tannins, color and flavor compounds are all extracted during maceration and give red wines their structure. Learn about the keys to running a productive maceration, specific techniques and what to avoid to bring out the best in your red wines. – Chik Brenneman Winery Manager & Winemaker, Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis

2. Understanding the Role of pH and Acidity – pH and acidity are two intertwined keys to better wines. The more you know about the important impact of pH and acidity on the quality of the wine in your glass, the better a winemaker you can be when faced with key decisions. Gain a greater understanding of pH and acidity with award-winning professional winemaker Pat Henderson of Kenwood Vineyards. – Pat Henderson Senior Winemaker Kenwood Vineyards

3. Vine Pruning Strategies – Grapevines require careful pruning to promote balanced growth and better fruit quality. Understand the basic pruning styles including cane pruning and spur pruning and how to properly space shoots to gain the right exposure to sun and air circulation. Learn the techniques and strategies you need for your home vineyard. – Dr. Stephen J. Krebs Instructor & Coordinator Viticulture & Winery Technology Program, Napa Valley College.

At this point in time, the third seminar during that time slot wouldn’t be of much use to me. Perhaps someday I’ll realize my dream of having my own vineyard but that’s a bit off in the future. On the other hand, the first two seminars interest me very much, and I’m not sure which one I’d choose over the other.

One thought would be that it would be nice if after the Conference, DVD’s of the various seminars were made available for sale for those who could not attend. Or even for those who did attend, but weren’t able to make one of the seminars they had an interest in.

If you’re interested in attending, there is more information here.

Cost of the seminar if you register before March 2, 2009 is $499.00USD. After that, the cost increases to $599.00. If you are able to make it, a report would be wonderful!

I came across a great article by Mathieu Bouville on Mead tasting. Packed full of information including tips, suggestions and interesting facts about the various areas of the tongue and what “tastes” they are sensitive to.

Article is here: Mead Tasting And Evaluation

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time (and I don’t blame you if you haven’t due to the non-regular updating), you might remember I started a dry mead on February 4th. As in three years ago – February 4th, 2006. This mead seemed to have problems along the way with lack of clearing and a lot of CO2 present for quite some time.

With the clearing problem, I resorted to using finely ground egg shell which certainly seemed to help. Over the past three years, I’ve done little to it except let it bulk age. I think about a year ago, I did rack it and added a 1/4 teaspoon of sulfite just to ensure some protection.

The other day I was looking at it and decided it was time to bottle it. I don’t filter my wines often, but after looking at this mead and discovering that there was a very powdery residue on the bottom, which was easily stirred up simply by inserting the wand of a racking hose, I decided to filter before bottling.

I was hoping to filter and bottle this evening but ran out of time. But I did get to filtering it – I’m not sure that the #2 filter will have removed all of the sediment, but the result sure looked nice and clear! Filtering can introduce some unwanted air to a wine, so it’s probably a good thing I didn’t bottle this evening. Instead, I’ll let it degass for a day or two to get rid of any air introduced. But I did take about 1 oz for myself to give it a try.

I’m impressed! It is a dry mead and clear like a white wine with a tint of light straw color. On the nose, it smells like.. well.. Mead. I can detect some light odours of honey.

On the tongue? Smooth! Very smooth, with a just a hint of spice and goes down nice. This mead might be improved chilled. Perhaps when I decide to open a bottle later, I’ll keep one at room temperature and chill the other. Instead of one bottle, I’ll have two!

Now after three years, it’s time to bottle this stuff!