Growing grapes and making wine in Bellevue
Posted in measurement & testing on Sep 8th, 2008
So what’s that contraption pictured above? I wrote about it back in February, and I think it’s a better way to measure titratable acidity (TA). It works by adding a measured sample of wine to sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). The baking soda reacts with acid in the sample, giving off carbon dioxide gas (CO2) in [...]
Posted in bonsai vineyard on Sep 1st, 2008
I photograph my grape vines as closeups, so the leaves and clusters are clearly visible. Here I took in the entire vine, with a devilishly handsome model to provide a sense of size and proportion The vines in my bonsai vineyard look like this except that most of them are in 5-gallon plastic buckets. I [...]
Posted in gardening on May 29th, 2008
This time last year, I was trying to make up for lost time, “better late than never!” I thought as I belatedly weeded, watered, and fertilized. I didn’t want spindly plants this year, so I tended my rhubarb in March. The payoff came in May when I harvested 1 lb 14.5 oz (865 g), putting [...]
Posted in competitions and events on May 1st, 2008
As I said in my previous post on shipping homemade wine, one of my readers and I are experimenting by shipping our wines to each other. He shipped two bottles of tomato wine, and they arrived in great shape – no breaks, no leaks. I sent back two bottles of mead. I hope they arrive [...]
Posted in winemaking on Apr 14th, 2008
I just received this very impressive sample kit from the Oak Solutions Group. There’s a lot to experiment with: different types of oak, in different forms, with different levels of toast. I hope to be trying it all out, and writing about it, over the next year. To get one for yourself, follow this link, [...]
Posted in climate & weather, gardening on Apr 2nd, 2008
This is not what I expect my backyard to look like in Spring! I start paying close attention to the weather this time of year, because I’m starting my garden and a lot of what I grow will end up in a primary fermenter. How’s the weather looking thus far? It felt cold to me [...]
Posted in chocolate wine, mead, Recipes on Mar 25th, 2008
I mentioned this one yesterday, when I was commenting on existing wine and mead recipes that used chocolate. Here it is in its entirety: Chocolate Mead aka Liquid Sex Mead Lord Rhys, Capten gen y Arian Lloer, Barony of Andelcrag, Midrealm This recipe may be quoted, borrowed, copied, or stolen by anyone under three conditions. [...]
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 peapod burgundy on Feb 20th, 2008
This blog is about making wine, so I don’t talk about my vegetable garden very much. My gardening and winemaking overlap in some ways like rhubarb wine, oregano wine, tomato wine, and the one-pint (500 ml) batch of wine from my own grapes. Well there’s going to be some more overlap this year, because I’m [...]
Posted in enology, mead, measurement & testing, winemaking on Feb 8th, 2008
I talked about five of my meads yesterday, and how I might decide if they were ready to bottle. I looked at clarity and specific gravity (SG) because I didn’t want the mead throwing off sediment or fermenting in the bottle. I tasted, probably the most important test of any wine or mead, and I [...]