Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Sep 27th, 2007
I was on the fence about harvesting the Leon Millot. They were ripe or nearly ripe, but I wondered if they could benefit from a little more time. That was before I saw the weather forecast. It calls for a lot of rain, starting tomorrow, so I pulled in the Leon today.
9/21/07 […]
Posted in enology, troubleshooting, winemaking on Sep 26th, 2007
I make wine out of many different fruits and vegetables - from raspberries to rhubarb and all sorts of things in between. That makes for a lot of trial and error as I learn how to consistently make a good wine using very different bases. Many traditional country wine recipes call for a small amount […]
Posted in equipment, winemaking on Sep 25th, 2007
I’m excited about making red wine from grapes this year. It will be my first red, and I needed some new equipment. My largest fermenter has a ten gallon capacity, which is enough for five or six gallons of white wine, but too small for five gallons of red wine. Red wine is fermented on […]
Posted in tasting, troubleshooting on Sep 24th, 2007
When bad wine happens to good dinners
You’ve doted over the yeast, you’ve clarified and stabilized your wine, you’ve set it aside to age, and now you pop the cork. It looks great - nice and clear with great legs (we’re still talking about the wine) as you swirl it around in your glass. Maybe you […]
Posted in viticulture on Sep 21st, 2007
The incursion into my bonsai vineyard on Wednesday knocked some grapes to the ground. I gathered these up, ate some, discarded some, and froze the rest. This was the official, if unintentional, start to my grape harvest and it totaled 3 oz (100 g) of Leon Millot. At that point, I decided to bring in […]
Posted in bonsai vineyard, viticulture on Sep 20th, 2007
Bird netting saved most of the grapes
Marsha was frantic and ran to wake me up this morning. I was still groggy, so it took me a while to figure out that all the grape vines had been knocked down. We didn’t see what happened. Nobody and nothing was about. I think it was an animal, […]
Posted in winemaking on Sep 19th, 2007
White wines are easy but some reds are worth it
I ordered wine grapes yesterday - 100 lb (about 45.5 kg) of Chardonnay and 100 lb of Merlot. That should yield about 5 gallons (19 liters), each, of finished wine. This will be the third time I’ve ordered wine grapes from my local homebrew shop, but […]
Posted in competitions and events, winemaking clubs on Sep 18th, 2007
I don’t know too many winemakers personally, so most of my interaction with other people, who share my interest, is online. I’ve thought about joining a club every so often, but never pursued it. Well, I was at the Puyallup Fair the other day, and I ran into a wonderful lady named Peggy. She was […]
Posted in colony collapse disorder, mead on Sep 13th, 2007
I last wrote about Colony Collapse Disorder back in May. That’s when I made the case that CCD would not squeeze honey supplies too much and cause a large price run up. With honey prices up about 10% since then, I think my analysis was about right. I’m still anxious to learn about the impact […]
Posted in enology, winemaking on Sep 11th, 2007
Don’t panic!
It happens. Sometimes, after a promising start full of froth and vigor, the yeast tap out and leave a partially fermented must/wine. It’s not drinkable and you certainly shouldn’t bottle it, but it’s also vulnerable to spoilage. So how do you get the yeast going again? I’ll explain how I do it, and use […]