Refrac.....what!

I was told that we need a refractometer even if we weren't going to make wine. Now that we're making wine we REALLY need this thing. This thing measures brix.

I give a blank stare. Right. Sure. Brix. Uh-huh.

So I leave the winery and find myself a computer to google all these things that I must know.

Brix. "Symbol Bx is a unit representative of the sugar content of an aqueous solution. One degree Brix corresponds to 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution and thus represents the strength of the solution as a percentage by weight." Hmm. Okay. Hmm. Bottom line, it is the measurement of sugar in the grape.

Ok. Now we're getting somewhere. What's the Brix supposed to be for Malbec? More google. Well, some say 22. Some 25. Some 26. After reviewing about a dozen of totally unacademic articles, blogs, and chat room responses, I think between 25 and 26 should work.

The refractometer measures the Brix of the grape. When the measurement is at that magic number of 25 or 26 (whatever), we should pick. Okay, now that makes sense....sort of.

I order one of those refractometers (see above) from our neighbor who owns a hydroponic supply store in town. Funny, a number of those stores sprang up after using medical marijuana became legal. Hmmm. That aside. Finally, the expensive, needed device comes to our doorstep.

It comes in this official looking case which I guess makes it worth the 100 bucks alone. The refractometer allows us to measure those Brix with just 2 or 3 drops. What's not to love? The directions say I should go out in the vineyard and pick a representative sample and mix them together.

I pick out 4 precious grapes from four rows and squish them together in a cereal bowl. Maybe I should of squished them right on the glass because getting any drops out of the bowl is pretty impossible. Thus, I take my handy, mostly clean right index finger and dip it in the bowl. I bring my saturated finger to the refractometer glass and spread it around. This does not look scientific. I close the plastic cover on top, bring the refractometer up to the light to see....something. Nothing. Nothing.

I now review the one page of directions that came with the case. Seems alright. I do it again. Nothing. Bummer, I'm starting to run out of precious grape juice. Then I notice something different on the actual refractometer versus the picture. There is a dark , peel off cover on the clear plastic cover. For protection I guess.

Okay, now I do it again. I put my eye to the eye piece and hallelujah, I see something! What do I see, it's all blurry. I focus the lens and see the bluish half on top and clear on the bottom. Yeah! What's it say? 21.5 Cool. We have time.

How much time? I have no idea. I'll check it again next week.

Meanwhile, I think I'll indulge in Sterling's 2008 Vintner's Collection Meritage. It's a yummy blend of cab sav, merlot, cab franc, petit verdot, and malbec. And quite a bargain at only $7.99. Go get yourself some.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

Ye Olde Winemaker

So after netting last week, we got a full look at how many grapes we are going to have this year.


To get a feel for how many grapes we think we're going to harvest, listen in as I mimic our phone conversation with our potential buyer....

Buyer: Hey, I'm really excited to have your Colorado Malbec to bottle this year. When should I bring over the half ton crates? Do you think five will be enough? I scheduled the semi to come the evening you harvest to bring them back over to the Front Range right away. How's that sound?

Seller (Us): Well, we think one crate should hold everything pretty well and I'd cancel the semi if I was you. Your crazy uncle's beat up pickup truck should be able to haul the grapes back to the winery just fine.

Buyer: Huh?

Seller: Yeah. We were a little optimitic on the output this year. We're thinking we're looking at about between 100 to 200 pounds of grapes.

Buyer: (click and dial tone)

That really didn't happen, but it's what I imagine could happen. But by the way, we really ARE only going to have about that 150 pounds of grapes.

So what do we do? What do we do? Because we don't have anything else to do, we decided to go into the wine making business. Well, not really a business because that production is only going to produce about 48 bottles of wine, but the wine making hobby all the same.

We bought our own "all you need" wine kit (see pic above) from a friendly fellow at the beer and wine making store. And it looks like we can intially ferment it in the kitchen. And let it sit and age in the closet downstairs.

We got a fermenting bin (aka trash can), 2 car boys for final fermenting, and all the stuff that goes with it. Including a book telling us step by step what to do. That's good since we have no IDEA what to do.

Now we need to save 48 wine bottles so we can reuse them for our wine. We should have that in about 4 weeks or so.

Have you tried the 2007 Bolla Pinto Grigio? Nice, crisp, fruity but not too fruity, lemony and grassy. Just right. I highly recommend it.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

The Birds!!!!!

Ack!!!! Ok, ok, ok, I totally need to vent here so bear with me. After weeks of cutting, mowing, pruning, training, repeat, repeat, repeat, the vines are happily producing the final product we put our blood, sweat, and tears into for the past three years.

Our grapes, for whatever reason decide to ripen early. We were the only game in town with purple grapes. And THAT was the problem. Is the problem.

Well, there's another problem too. What you ask? We have a freakin' neighborhood bird "sanctuary" in the yards just south of the vineyard. Lots of big, leafy trees surrounded by always full bird feeders and bird baths. Sounds like heaven if you're a bird, doesn't it? With that kind of nirvana, why the h#ll are they pouncing down on these grapes?!

Because they taste SO-O-O-O good. Like little sugar candies. All of our final product going up in smoke, or in those little birds' stomachs. We had to do something quick.

Thus, we had an emergency netting event on Sunday. Never having netted before, it was quite an experience let me tell you. We borrowed pieces of netting from our neighbors who have the perfect vineyard. This amount of netting available was just right for us because we only have one row that is fully in bloom anyway. The others are a vine here, a couple of vines there. So piecemeal was perfect.

Laurel & Hardy (aka Kris & Kenny) grabbed those nets and made our way to the grape producing beauties. How hard can this be? I see old ladies doing it, what's the big deal? Well let me tell you, with this netting, you just think about it getting tangled and it's off to the races.
Here's how it went.....we untangled everything in the yard. And made piles of short, medium, and long lengths. Then we took those 3 bundles in three separate trips out to the grapes that needed the nets. We surmise we need a short net, for example, and pull a neatly folded net from the......hey wait a minute all the short nets are back in one tangled mess. Same for medium and for long.

Still determined, I take one side and Kenny takes another and we begin the journey of re-untangling the nets. Ahh, ok let's put it on the vine. I on one side throws the net over the 8' trellis wires, and in the process the net tangles with the leaves and branches. Kenny is taller than me so he begins to untangle the net from the branches, ripping the netting in the process.

This defeats the purpose of putting on nets because the birds can now fly through the holes in the nets. Not to worry, we clip, or use clothes pins (handy for laundry too) to close the gaping holes. After a couple more we don't rip the nets, but we still can't look at those nets funny without them tangling. Even when one of us would hand over the net, it would tangle. Imagine a Laurel & Hardy comic routine for sure.

Tenacious we are and the nets are on! The birds are still loitering about at the bird baths trying to think up ways to get under that netting. Thus, things are all right with the ways of a vineyard.

Ok now that the grapes are under control....for now, it's time for some 2005 Bin 70 Lindman's Chardonnay Riesling. Chardonnay Riesling? Yep, that's right. I got it at World Market for $5.99, so I felt gutsy with the blend.

It's nose is unique with the distinct aroma of honey. The flavor has the weight of a Chard with the tanginess of a Sav Blanc. It is very similar to a Viognier which is one of my favorite whites. I don't normally EVER want to drink sweet wines. I wouldn't call this sweet, but there's that honey essence throughout your palate. Not overpowering though. In a good way. Try it if you find it, shoot especially for the price. You don't like it, use it to thin a white sauce.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

Premature Veraison

Veraison. The time has come. No, no, this is not a subsidiary to the cell phone giant, it's a phase of a grape. Why they just don't call it "the grapes are ripening now" is beyond me. It's all part of the secret club. The secret grape growing club. Shhh.

Veraison is a viticulture term meaning the "onset of ripening". It is originally French but has been adopted into English use. The official definition of veraison is "change of color" of the grape berries. Veraison represents the transition from berry growth to berry ripening, and many changes in berry development occur at veraison.

The berry ripening signals that its sugar concentration is increasing. In addition, malic acid degrades and there is an increase of tartaric acid. This acidity will decrease the pH and help in aiding the degradation of chlorophyll.

That said, the only problem is that our grapes seem to be ahead of the curve. Until a couple of days ago, everyone else's red grape were green.

Being a head of the class is not good in this case. It means our grapes will mature too early, and the tartaric acid will not have enough time to degradate from the vine. Meaning the grapes will be very tart.

Sitting back drinking Malbec from a nice open-mouthed Ridel wine glass staring at the vines, I realize there is absolutely nothing we can do. I think we'll just watch them be over achievers and turn that beautiful dark purple color I love so much.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

My Kingdom for a Contract

Ok the initial pruning of the vines is complete. Yeah! I'm praying all that doesn't have to be done again. It would be the fourth year in a row. Geez. Give it a rest will ya?

The grapes (the photo is not our grapes, I just want to imagine it'll be our grapes someday) are growing and ripening as I write. Yeah!

We won't have a huge crop, but a crop none the less. And it gets even better.

When we went to the Colorado Mountain Winefest last year we tasted the wines and the wines that we liked we talked to the winery about buying our grapes. We figured that if we didn't like what they were doing to the current finished product, why would we want them to ruin our grapes too. Thus, we came up with about 4 wineries that we liked and they liked that we were growing Malbec. We really liked one winery in Denver because besides making good wine, they have a good marketing program. Key to selling more wine, and thus they need more grapes. Aha!

So we have this winery that want to buy our grapes. Whatever we can give them. That makes me way nervous......in a good way. What if something happens?

Maybe we'll have nothing after the birds pick everything off the vines. Maybe we'll have rot with "all" the rain and "cool" weather we've been having here. (Yes, you midwest people would be WAY jealous of the past couple of days) I'm having nightmares about being late to put the nets on the vines. I dream I get out there and they've picked away everything, even the leaves. (I definitely need a better sleep dream coordinator.)

But all that aside, I imagine we'll have something. Thus, we need something more than a firm handshake and a hardy pat on the back. We need a contract. I figured our local vintner and vintnerculturist organization would have a library of buying and selling contracts for every flavor under the sun. But no.

So off to the internet I search. There's contracts....kinda. There's no real template but then there's no actual grower's contract either. The information somewhat tells you what to do, but suggests this is only an example, not one that should be used in any legal environment. Now that lingo was written by a lawyer if ever I read one. Thus, it'll be an ask around process. Partially putting together what info I did gleam from the internet with the trials and tribulations from others in the same boat.

I think I need a drink. And this 2007 Blackstone Merlot from California is just the ticket. Priced at only $9.99, you can't go wrong. Drinking it along side a plate of lasagna (yum) or by itself, the wine can stand up to both challenges. It's hint of oak and light tannins are just right, and it's finish is smooth. It's spicy with a taste of berry but not jammy. We definitely need to buy another bottle.

Remember imbibe and enjoy!

Poodle Shearing

Poodle shearing you ask?

Why yes, that's what it looks like when pruning the vines.

The vines are all bushy, green, large, and unruly like you see here. Bad vine!

The weeds are everywhere. Four o'clocks (no longer the pretty, petite flower of my yesteryear) are racing to see if they can choke out the vine and get its share of the bamboo pole to the top. The grasses are a foot high trying to bury the vine.

When I'm done pruning the vine, they are merrily prancing before me like a newly shaven poodle. Kinda scrawny, skinny, and definitely a little embarassed. This photo to the left definitely tells the story.

When I see those scrawny, newly shaven poodles I think "Oh, you poor things. Who did that to you?" Who started that tradition of shaved poodles with bows and nail polish? Seems like a French renaissance thing to me, doesn't it to you?

Well it's the same primping with the vines, sans bows and polish. The vines when they're newly pruned are free of all big leaves down below the fruit wire. The area around the base of the vine is free of big weeds and any other invasive flora beside vine. The trunks are tied around the bamboo support stick to ensure they "want" to grow up to the sky. Just like a newly shaved poodle, don't ya think?

Have you tried the 2008 A to Z Pinot Gris from Willamette, Oregon? Yum. You can't go wrong with a white from Oregon grown the Willamette valley. This white wine is lemony and fresh with hints of fruits. It feels like summer. Perfect with caprese. Give it a try.

Remember imbibe and enjoy.

This Weekend's Eco-tourism a Great Success!

Everyone that attended the eco-tourism had a great time! There was sunshine, and cool breeze. No fingers were missing and all backs were strong as boards. Our resident dogs, Elsie and Marley, were keeping cool in the shade of the vines. They were making sure that everyone was having a good time.

At the crack of dawn, lattes, croissants, and fresh fruit was ready for the enthusiastic crew. With ties, wires, and pruning shears in hand, the tourists ventured out into the vineyard to commune with nature while NPR was playing in the background, giving the listeners Click-n-Clack, What'd Ya Know, and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Kenny, one of the founders of K Squared Eco-tourism, is shown here really getting into the pruning vibe. He's making sure that the vines are properly attached to the fruit wire, the bottom wire. You can see he's making sure the bamboo pole that the vines use for support is perpendicular to the wire.

Later that morning, after a refreshing shower and a jump in the hot tub, we asked Kenny how he enjoyed his first eco-tourism adventure.

Kris: "Kenny, so how'd it go this morning? Did you have a great time?"

Kenny: "Kris, I loved the French style breakfast, and my machiatto was out of this world! Delicious. The attention to detail was first rate."

Kris: "When you got out in the vineyard, did you feel at home? Like you knew what you were suppose to do?"

Kenny: "Ya know, Kris, K Squared Eco-tourism did a really fine job prepping us on what to expect and what to do once we got out there. When I finally reached my first grapevine, I already felt like an old hand."

Kris: "That's great. What do you feel was the best part of the eco-tourism morning?"

Kenny: "I felt like being one with nature, feeling the sun and the breeze, and really being a part of the event was all really good. It's hard to pick just one."

Kris: "How did you like the peach-infused Goulart Torrentes 09 white wine served chilled when you returned to the main house?"

Kenny: "Wow! That was really a surprise. The wine was peachy, grassy, with a hint of flowers and citrus. A nice wine from start to finish. Delicious."

Kris: "Well, that's all for now folks. Come join us for our next eco-tourism weekend at harvest time."

Remember imbibe and enjoy.