Winterizing the Vineyard

Glass Tasting.

Yep. Glass Tasting. If you've ever been with me at a decent to high end restaurant, you know that I always ask the server for a red wine glass. I don't do it for the snob factor, because believe it or not, it actually makes a difference.

About 10 years ago, Kenny, our friends ,Bob and Cindy, and I went to a wine class weekend in the Hyatt at Beaver Creek. It was great. The first class we went to was glass tasting. At first, I thought I misread the agenda. Don't they mean wine tasting? No glass tasting. It was being sponsored and led by Riedel, the makers of expensive wine glasses. Aha! I get it. We have to sit through this spiel so they can get a few suckers to buy their wares. Right. I'm so on to them......so I thought.

We sit in front of a water glass, a mug, a Riedel white wine glass, and a Riedel red wine glass. They do their little routine about how the shape of the glass is the key to how the wine tastes, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, right, right.....let's get on with the drinking. It's almost 1030 in the morning.

(For emphasis, another friend Cindy illustrates the feelings I felt when drinking wine at the class)

Finally we get to the important part. We are told to pour white wine into the mug. I pour it into the mug, take a sip and think "this is okay wine". Then they tell us to pour the wine into the Riedel white wine glass and take another drink. I drink from the glass and think "wow"! Is that the same wine? I can't believe it. I repeat the mug drink "Hmm, okay". I sip from the Riedel glass "wow"! Okay, okay. It's a fluke. A glass can't make a difference, can it?

In order to really prove their point that the type of glass is important to enjoying the "real" taste of the wine, they bring us new Riedel glasses and tell us to pour our white wine in the red wine glass. Now taste the white wine now. It's just a little better than the mug. Short finish, one flavor. We do the same with the red wine and pour it in the white wine glass. Eh. Whatever with this wine.And then we repeat the whole process.

White wine, white wine glass. Red wine, red wine glass. Heavenly.

After everyone in the room is thoroughly impressed, they tell us why it is so.


The bowl of the glass allows the oxygen to mix with the wine, so a larger bowl works well with the red wine because it lets the tannins and oak flavors release. A white wine glass does not have a big bowl because it doesn't have tannins or oak. The design of the lip of the glass is also important. It positions where your tongue first touches the wine and positions the wine on various places of the tongue. As you can see from the picture, we have four different major tastes - sweet, salty, sour and bitter.

If the lip is thick, the wine will go more towards the back of your mouth were the bitter area is located. A thin lip will allow the wine to enter the center of your tongue where there is a mix of sweet and salty, giving the drinker a pleasant experience. Then the shape of the glass near the lip is important. A rounder glass will give the drinker more time on the tongue. More time on the tongue allows for all the complex flavors of a red wine to come forward. A straighter line at the lip of the glass will "throw" the wine on to the front of your tongue. So even a pinot grigio may seem sweetish.

With all that, we bought some glasses! Who could not buy with all that cool new information?

Right now I'm drinking a red table wine, J. Moreau & Fils, from France for only $6.45. I'm drinking out of a stemless, pseudo-Riedel glass with a medium size bowl with an average line near the lip. Perfect for the type of wine.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

Yum.......Wine......Our Wine

Here's where we are in the whole wine making process. We picked the grapes, we destemed the grapes, we killed the wild yeast, we added tame yeast, we mushed must (grapes with skins) for 10 days, we racked the must into the glass containers. There it stayed in our winery (aka ground floor closet) for three weeks and a day.

Thus, it is time to rack again (move the filtered wine to another container). In order to see if it is worth it, I open the little glass container first. Because for the past three weeks, the yeast is sitting there. The yeast has been eating sugar, making alcohol and pooping out carbon dioxide. And we have a vapor lock on the top of the container because the juice reacting with the oxygen in the air is not good for the wine making process. The vapor lock allows CO2 to get out and air to not get in.

Thus, I have not been able to smell the wine or taste the wine. For all I know, it could have been sitting there making vinegar as we speak. So I cautiously take the vapor lock off the 3 gallon carboy. I put my nose to the neck. Hmm, it smells good. I pour myself a glass. Hey alright, not bad for only a month old. Tangy (too tangy), berry, and a hint of tannins. If I am desparate I can pour myself a full glass right now. I've had lots worse from wineries that say their wine is done. Ours is not done. So it can only get better.

No vinegar, so we move on. We take the inital 5 gallon glass container and put the auto-siphoning tube about 3/4 of the way into the bottle. This is so we can avoid sucking up the lees. The lees are the dead yeast that lay on the bottom of the container. You can see them in the photo. They are the lighter color in the container on the right. Pinkee color. The beautiful red juice moves from that 5 gallon container to another container just like it, sans lees. But this time there is no room for air. The juice is filled all the way to the top. The vapor lock is put back on and more sitting continues. Next it will sit in the winery for 2 1/2 more months. And I haven't figured out exactly why as far as chemistry goes, but one book says 2 months, the other says 3. So in the middle it is. 2 1/2 months will be around in the midst of the holiday season. Perfect. I think I'll celebrate with a glass of wine.

The 2008 Gascon malbec is one of my favorites. When you take a first sip of this wine, you don't have to brace yourself. It's smooth. It's berry. It's fruity with a hint of tangy. Just like I like my malbec. I can only hope our wine tastes that yummy.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

Fluorescent Orange Alien

So now the wine is sitting in the winery (closet) becoming......wine. No work required for that.....now. Thus, it's time to pay attention to the ever changing vineyard. Geez, it's like a kid.

Thus, I'm walking on the south side of the vineyard and I see a bright, fluorescent orange. Shoot, you can't miss it. Oh-h-h-h-h no. It truly is fluorescent orange, super bright orange. It's weird. It's unnatural. It looks like that 70s silly string in the can, remember? You spray it on people, but it doesn't stick. It's just like that. Super- duper orange.

And even more unnatural is its super hero action of starting from a small, unobtrusive bunch white buds into a spider-webby big pile of choking death in a mere couple of hours. It wraps around the vine like a python, killing whatever it touches.

This spurs me to action, not so superhero, unfortunately. And thus, the job of the day begins. I walk up and down the rows with shovel in hand attacking the orange alien creatures. You have to dig down to get to the roots, otherwise they'll pop up again. Like the aliens. Fortunately, the roots are shallow.

I thought I'd look it up on the internet what this alien creature is for kicks, and I can't find any information about it. Anybody know? Everytime I search for fluorescent orange climbing vine, the internet comes up with something having to do with marijuana. Marijuana? I hope not. Otherwise I'm digging up my cash cow. Geez, who needs grapes? We got pot. Producing alcohol and drugs?! Alright.

While pondering what the heck this superhero vine creature is I'm drinking 2008 Santa Rita 120 Carmenere, $6.99. Carmanere is my favorite wine from Chile. It's always super cheap and never disappointing. Dark red and lucious, with great legs. It has strong tannins, but the fruitiness is so also strong. Thus, they compliment each other. Yum

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

Okay I got it.....for now

Once again I was clueless as to what to do for the next step in the game of wine making. The Ye Olde Winemaker said wait three weeks, then rack again. Well, okay but why? Your tired, just give it a rest or what?

Then came the ah-ha moment. It came when I was watching the small carboy's vapor lock dribble sterilized water into the grape juice. I saw that dribble leak into the red juice with panic.....again. That water may kill the yeast in the juice. It will kill the yeast.

And then I took a good look. Wait a minute. The yeast is already done. How do I know? The vapor lock top on the top of the container wasn't floating. And on the other two they were. That means that all the CO2 that the yeast was producing is gone.

Thus, those little yeasties are no longer of this world. Okay, okay I get it. When the vapor lock top is flat on the plug then the yeast is done doing its thing. Yeah!

Time to celebrate with a nice Valpolicella 2007 by Zenato. I'm a big Valpolicella fan anyway and this is a big wine. The blend of smoothness of berries and chocolate with a hint of tannins is a perfect wine with the raviolis I'm having tonight.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!