Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in commercial wine on Aug 17th, 2009
I was happy enough with the Fetzer Cabernet from Trader Joe’s to give another of their budget Cabernets a try. Like the Fetzer, this comes recommended by Jason, and it set me back $6. Running the numbers Couldn’t find any information about this wine, so the only reported measurement I have is 14.75% alcohol. My [...]
Posted in commercial wine on Jun 15th, 2009
Jason mentioned this wine favorably on his blog, and I decided to give it a try. I bought it at Trader Joe’s for $6.50. That’s a good price to go along with the good recommendation. Now lets have a look under the cork. Running the numbers I’ll start with the usual analysis. Fetzer didn’t have [...]
Posted in commercial wine on Apr 13th, 2009
I had high hopes for this wine ($9 at Costco), because the Kirkland brand is usually pretty good and I liked the Kirkland Sauvignon Blanc. So how did it stack up? Running the numbers When I make wine at home, I measure the specific gravity, titratable acidity, and pH. I thought I’d start doing that [...]
Posted in commercial wine on Mar 2nd, 2009
A lot of cheap wine is overpriced, so it’s a real treat to find a $4 bottle that I want to buy more of. A friend recommended Panilonco 2008 Reserve Chardonnay/Voignier and I bought a bottle at Trader Joe’s – a great place to hunt for bargains. I like my white wines to have a little [...]
Posted in commercial wine, maintenance & cleaning, storage and aging on Sep 23rd, 2008
Vote For Washington Winemaker! Grapeseek is a directory of grape and wine related links, and they are having a vote for their top ten. I would love it if you voted for Washington Winemaker. Click here to cast your vote. My dad has been keeping this big old bottle of wine that none of us [...]
Posted in commercial wine, tasting on Sep 15th, 2008
For those of you who don’t know, Costco is a chain of warehouse stores, mainly in the US and Canada, that allows you to buy in bulk from a limited selection at terrific prices. It can be a good place to buy wine, but I hadn’t seen them sell it under there own label – [...]
Posted in cherry wine, commercial wine on Jul 14th, 2008
I’m still trying to get the hang of cherry wine, but while I tinker and tweak I might be able to buy some from the Ten Spoon Vineyard. This Montana winery uses Lambert cherries from Flathead Lake to make a dry red wine. I always get excited when I find the pros making “fruit wine.” [...]
Posted in commercial wine, tasting on Mar 19th, 2008
I’ve written about Olympic Cellars before. They’re the winery being threatened by the United State Olympic Committee for using the word “Olympic” in their name. They also make a cranberry wine. Well the Lady of the House and I have recently tried some of their wine, and the Dungeness Red (a 2004 Lemberger) really stands [...]
Posted in commercial wine on Mar 3rd, 2008
The Lady of the House has a sweet tooth, so we don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to wine. This sweet rhubarb wine from Lynfred Winery was a big hit with her, but it was also one of the rare sweet wines that was well balanced enough for me – we both [...]
Posted in commercial wine, rhubarb wine, winemaking on Feb 13th, 2008
Most Rhubarb Wine recipes call for 3-5 lb of fruit – and a lot of water – for each gallon of wine. Commercial wineries aren’t allowed to add that much water, so how do they make rhubarb wine?