Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in enology, troubleshooting, winemaking on Oct 9th, 2007
Great news for fungi, bad news for grapes
The cool climate, here in the Puget Sound Region, keeps growers on the edge. We want to grow noble varieties like Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which will ripen here but just barely. We also want reliable grapes that ripen even in bad years like this one. Grapes like […]
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 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 enology, herb wine, troubleshooting on Jul 25th, 2007
I tested a sample of my oregano wine yesterday. The specific gravity is 1.053 and the pH is 2.62. These results are virtually unchanged from 7/13/07 when I first noticed the pH crash that stopped the yeast in their tracks. I’ll try to get them going again by neutralizing some of the acid, raising the […]