Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

I’m not sure where my head is tonight. Or where it was when I visited Andrews Scenic Acres and purchased some fruit, including black currants back in October. Tonight, I did some grocery shopping and am positive I put bacon into the shopping cart. When I got home, there was no sign of any bacon.

Later on, I decided I was a tad hungry, and thought I’d open a can of French Canadian style pea soup. Put it on the burner on medium, and then got distracted.. and started writing an article. About 45 minutes later, I smelled something. “Has someone left something on the stove?” I thought to myself. It didn’t even click in that it was ME that had left something on the stove. Went to the kitchen where I was met with burned pea soup. Guess I wasn’t that hungry after all.

I checked my freezer tonight. In October, I drove to Andrews Scenic Acres specifically to buy their frozen black currants. I bought about twelve pounds. I’m sure of it. I also bought gooseberries and elderberries for wine. But it was the black currants I was after. But in my freezer, I can only find 4 lbs of black currants, and many more pounds of gooseberries. Makes no sense. 4 lbs of black currants is not nearly enough to do what I was planning on doing. Perhaps I got confused while rummaging around the freezers at Andrews Acres.

Or perhaps a certain redhead is rubbing off on me! I write that with a little smile on my face. But anyhow…

One of the things I’ve been noticing is that many folk are looking for information on degassing wine. So while my pea soup was burning, I wrote some of my thoughts on degassing wine and how most wine kits don’t provide the best instructions for this very important step of the wine making process, especially if you are hoping to bottle wine in 4 to 8 weeks. You can read it here. I hope you find it helpful.

Getting back to the black currants: After double checking and being almost 80% sure that there are no more black currants in the freezer other than what I found (I suppose it could be under side of beef I put in there, but I don’t think so), I may have sourced an even better supply of black currants! I did some checking, and the cost is much better than what I’ve been getting at Andrew’s Scenic Acres. If things work out, I’ll tell you more about that shortly. How does 20 lb pails for $25.00 sound? Before I tell you where, I need to make sure they are excellent quality – and if so, that this guy will reserve some for me every year before he sells out of them to you!

I really enjoy black currant wine, and one of the things I wanted to do was have a good quantity on hand to do some experimentation as well as duplicate the last batch I made which turned out heavenly.

Ah, in times like these, might be helpful to know, but see below this:

“The purpose of Chapter 15, and the Model Law on which it is based, is to provide effective mechanisms for dealing with insolvency cases involving debtors, assets, claimants and other parties in interest involving more than one country…”

~ Chapter 15

I suppose some of my American readers might be interested in the above Chapter 15 considering the economic times existing right now. But… there is another Chapter 15 that we all might want to study and learn more about as well:

Chapter 15 of The Home Winemaker’s Manual by Lum Eisenman. It covers in great detail “CLARIFICATION AND STABILIZATION.”

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:

Almost two weeks ago, I started a Malbec wine but to follow the kit instructions correctly, I should not have started it when I did.

Normally, a wine is started in a primary fermenter – generally in these days, a big food grade plastic pail usually of the capacity of 5 gallons. Generally speaking, it takes about six days – sometimes 7 or 8 – to complete the initial vigorous fermentation of the juice that occurs. When that happens, when the specific gravity of the wine is below 1.020, the wine is “racked” into a secondary fermenter often referred to as a carboy.

When I started my wine, I neglected to think about the fact that I would be flying off to a city 3,000 miles away where I’d be spending time with my Sweetheart, and wouldn’t be home to rack the wine until more than 11 days after I had started it.

When I first began making home wine years ago, I was very attentive to instructions. But after having made hundreds of batches of wine from both kits and my own “raw materials,” I’ve realized that instructions are nothing more than guidelines. You’re not going to wreck a wine by disobeying instructions too often. There are of course things you should not do – I wouldn’t leave wine in a primary fermenter for a month for example, but an extra week – depending on the conditions (no fruit flies is important) – won’t do bad things.

So after some wonderful adventures which made it impossible for me to rack the Malbec, I did so tonight. The specific gravity was 0.998 – not quite finished it’s fermentation.

I love the smell of new wine! This Malbec was no exception! Mmmmm. I of course appreciate the complexity of the scents and tastes of a mature wine even more. But as the Malbec was siphoned into the carboy, the odor lingered in the room I was working in and was quite delicious.

If I were to follow the directions, this wine should be racked again in about three days and sulfited. I might wait a week.. or two.. or more. Wine making although an art, can also be a very forgiving art – and even when you don’t follow instructions precisely, the finished product can be very enjoyable.

Someday, I’ll have enough property to grow my own grapes for my home wine making activities. But not yet.

I’ve had a few inquiries about growing your own grapes so I’ve been looking around for a good resource on this. And I found it!

Danie Wium also known as “The Grape Guy,” has put together a fantastic guide entitled “My Grape Vine.” Danie has been growing grapes for export for over a decade and knows what he’s doing in order to get the best results from his vines.

Get his guide here.

I have been so busy with a variety of activities and priorities that I have not spent much time on my winemaking and of course zero time on this blog in awhile.

Just when things seem to quieten down where I might be able to start a new batch, something comes up – and it even got to the point where I hardly had time to even check the water level in the air locks of some of the pre-bottled wines. This past weekend, when I finally decided I had better do something than risk losing some nice wines, it was with a bit of dread that I removed airlocks and had a “wee sniff” after noting low water level.

But thus far, everything seems ok!

I have quite a few wines that I would like to bottle and clean up the wine making area that I have so I can prepare. Prepare because it is summer and I’d prefer to be making wine now from that which is fresh and local rather than simply start another wine kit or wait for autumn for the grapes to be pressed. Berries and fruits and even vegetables are something I promised I myself I would do much more experimenting with this year.

There is still time!

Speaking of vegetables, I did bottle my Parsnip Wine yesterday. I didn’t really taste it but did have some on my tongue – it was not at all unpleasant, but I could imagine that if I tried serving it to someone who was expecting a grape wine, they might certainly be wondering about my wine making. I also think it will be better, chilled.

So I’ve got some racking to do, some bottling – a mead that has been bulk ageing now for two years should be bottled as well as some Mels. Then I’ll give the area a really good clean up and do a bit of reorganization and start planning on some summer crop wines.

Well, I’ve been lazy as far as my winemaking is concerned. And it’s time for me to get back on track here.

I’ve almost felt guilty in some ways – I’ve left some wine batches to fend for themselves without any help from me just because I’ve been so busy doing other necessary things. I’m actually quite impressed with what I discovered this evening when I decided to spend some time in the home winery area.

Back in the summer, I started an R.J. Spagnols “Limited Quantities” Petit Chenin Blanc. On August 12th, I racked from the primary to a carboy – and it’s been sitting there ever since. No sulphite added. No racking. Nothing. I expected vinegar… even the water in the airlock was totally low.

So today, six months later, I cautiously removed the airlock and took a whiff. “Hmmm….” thinks I, “smells like wine, not vinegar.” So, put in my racking cane and tube – noticing the thickness of the lees on the bottom.. and suck to create the syphon. “Doesn’t taste like vinegar either!” I say to myself.

I tasted far less than a mouthful – but it was definitely wine and not vinegar and continued to rack. Although it had been sitting for six months, there was still a lot of CO2 present – but after doing some degassing sessions, I added sulphite and then the liquid Isinglass that came with the kit. Perhaps this will all turn out fine in the end!

I then put my attention to the mead I started last year. Again, I hadn’t given this any attention since June or July. After adding crushed egg shell to it, it had cleared up very nice. Time to rack it off the lees – and a little mouthful in starting the syphon – “Hmmm.. that has already mellowed significantly than my last recollection.”

Next up was the three gallons of gooseberry wine I began last year. Wow! This tastes great! I’ll have a more formal taste report later – but yes, this quite ready for bottling… and drinking along with foods with curry.

Happily, I move on to another .. a blueberry melomel. Another one I’ve neglected. Start the syphon, get a taste on my tongue… “hmmm…. I think I like it… but… hmmm… it’s not vinegar…which is good.”

I was not impressed with my blueberry melomel. But, it’s been racked, a 1/4 teaspoon of sulphite added, and I’m going to seal it for another year of ageing and we’ll see what it’s like then.

That was enough for the evening. Tomorrow, I’ll get to the other wines I’ve got here and report back. I’ll also be starting a new R. J. Spagnol’s LQ that I picked up today.

And I also need to plan on getting up to see my very good and very pretty friend, Debbie at “Wines To Go” in Alliston.

I’m still here – but have been too busy to both post much or make any wine. I know that for many folks, summer is the time to be out picking whatever is fresh and ripe – but my summer has been taken up with my other hobby, fly fishing.

As well, I came down with a nasty flu or cold bug that pretty much sapped me of any energy to do anything in mid July. Which was unfortunate as my 14 year old son Colin was visiting with me for the month.

I do have a bunch of wines to rack, and a couple I’d like to bottle soon as well. So hopefully more updates will be in the offing.

As mentioned in the previous post, it was turning out to be a great day, and indeed it was!

As well as the Supertuscan, I bottled approx. 60 bottles of one of the most awesome Reislings I’ve ever had. Although generally speaking, I prefer reds to white wines, this Reisling is probably one of the best wines that I’ve made. As I reported back in October, I travelled to Lakeview Vineyards near Beamsville Ontario, and picked up fresh pressed pure Reisling juice. After the fermentation and clearing, I’ve been storing it in bulk (in the carboys). I decided to bottle today. The colour is wonderful, clarity is excellent, and the taste is just.. mmm.. I’ll have more on that another time – but one thing – I love the hints of lime that come through. This wine is going to be excellent with seafood, spicy currie dishes, or just sitting outside sipping a chilled wine in the summer.

So in total, I bottled about 90 bottles of wine, and I did go fly fishing as well. I finally had an opportunity to meet with two of my teammates on a team we’ve formed for the upcoming Canadian Fly Fishing Championships. One of them, Ernie Kalwa, also happens to make wine. So we had a lot to talk about – the hatches, the catches, the flies, and wine.

To top off the day, I spent about an hour fishing and caught 7 beautiful small brown trout along with a chubby chubb.

I’ll have more on the fly fishing championships, the team, and our progress over at About Fly Fishing. But for now, I’m going to grab some sleep and recover from the pushing, lifting, pulling of carboys, corkers, and fish.

Tomorrow morning, I’m supposed to be waking up bright and early to enjoy the “Opening Day” of Trout Season with my 14 year old son. I fear I am not in bed as early as I hap hoped to be though. But we’ve got a couple of days to spend together, and perhaps Sunday will be the best, as that is the day Colin will also be getting some fly casting lessons and pointers from one of the top Canadian fly fishing guides and instructors, Ian James.

In the meantime, I did start a new kit this evening, which I’ve begun a review on. The kit is a “Fontana Premium” 10 litrie juice, apparently of Valpolicella variety.

If you are interested, you may read my review here: Fontana Valpolicella.

Yup, more wines to discuss.. but this weekend.. I’m waving a stick in a river, chasing trout with my son.