Firemonkey Posted September 30, 2006 Report Share Posted September 30, 2006 I am so tired that I read that as "Bum Wine"! I had a nice chuckle over this site a while ago: http://www.bumwine.com/ The have some pretty humorous reviews on there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted October 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 I took some samples to the lab today to see how the malic acid fermentation is doing. The wine is coming along just as should be expected. While I wait I'll just enjoy a glass of Cab Franc. My current plan is to let half of it age for one year before I bottle it and the other half two years before I bottle it. I'll post a picture of the wine when the malic acid is all converted to lactic acid. There is also this true saying here in wine country. "It takes a lot of beer to make wine." I think at some wineries around here they drink more beer than wine they produce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted October 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 Jasen might find this interesting. This is a quote from Wine Business Monthly. One of the most important features of a press is the ease with which it can be cleaned and sanitized. To this end, you may want to avoid presses with wooden cages. A wood surface is fine in an anaerobic environment, like the inside of a full barrel. Barrels tend to be replaced pretty regularly anyway. In a press, however, wood is merely a Brettanomyces, Acetobacter and Pediococcus inoculation point. This is exacerbated by the fact that presses tend to have fairly long operational lives, spanning several decades rather than just a few years. As a winemaker myself, I would consider a stainless steel basket much more important than a computerized control system. http://www.winebusiness.com/html/Monthl ... taId=37549 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted October 3, 2006 Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 Jasen might find this interesting. This is a quote from Wine Business Monthly. One of the most important features of a press is the ease with which it can be cleaned and sanitized. To this end, you may want to avoid presses with wooden cages. A wood surface is fine in an anaerobic environment, like the inside of a full barrel. Barrels tend to be replaced pretty regularly anyway. In a press, however, wood is merely a Brettanomyces, Acetobacter and Pediococcus inoculation point. This is exacerbated by the fact that presses tend to have fairly long operational lives, spanning several decades rather than just a few years. As a winemaker myself, I would consider a stainless steel basket much more important than a computerized control system. http://www.winebusiness.com/html/Monthl ... taId=37549 Yup, interesting, but I follow the same wine philosophy as I do with beer, "Relax, have a homebrew". Since I am not making 100 gallon batches - it will not hurt too bad if I lost one. Knock on wood - hehe - have not lost one yet. Now, if some really nice perforated stainless steel just dropped into my lap - ouch - but then I might would make one!! I am not into buying that kind of stuff - I have to make my own. I even made a counter pressure bottle filler for filling bottles of homebrew artificially carbonated. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted May 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2007 Just a little update to the wine. I have one barrel that is coming along fine. The malic acid has been converted to lactic acid so I added SO2 to the wine to protect it from turning into vinegar. Not much else to do but check that wine once a month and keep the barrel topped up. I'm still looking to bottle it in August. Oh and it tastes really good and the people at work like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted November 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2007 I bottled one barrel of wine in August like I planned, 23 cases of wine. I like how it tastes. If anyone wants some wine just drop by and pick up a bottle or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish Posted November 11, 2007 Report Share Posted November 11, 2007 Well leaddog...I'm game...that is if you didn't stomp it with your feet! you said it was Zinfandel right? does it come with a free glass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcoliver Posted November 11, 2007 Report Share Posted November 11, 2007 Any chance of shipping some to GA? I'll pay shipping (just don't tell the feds since thats supposedly illegal). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted November 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2007 Trish every last grape was crushed by my feet. tcoliver sorry but I don't want to take the chance of shipping wine. Someday I would like to have a bonded winery but if the Feds find any black marks on your record they just deny your application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish Posted November 11, 2007 Report Share Posted November 11, 2007 LeadDog wrote: Trish every last grape was crushed by my feet. You dog! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted November 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 One of the reasons that I started this topic is the take the mystery out of how wine is make. Making wine really isn't that hard. The next thing you have to ask yourself is about the price for a bottle of wine. Now if I was selling wine I would want as much as I can get for it but you guessed it I think a lot of wine is over priced. It really isn't that hard to make wine and it doesn't cost that much to make it either. Another reason for making the post is to educate people about what goes into waking wine. Trish if you think my feet are bad then you never ever want to drink wine again. The grapes are exposed all summer long to all kind animals living among them. When the grapes are picked they are not washed or cleaned in anyway. You can't imagine what I have seen come in with the grapes. The good news is the the acid and the alcohol in the wine kills of all of that nasty stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curly Posted November 13, 2007 Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 Hmmm, that's wine? I've never seen it in a round bottle, thought it only came in the flat bottles...well, that and those cardboard boxes And you are right, that good stuff always seems to be the cheapest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish Posted November 13, 2007 Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 Leaddog...making wine may not be that hard.....making wine that people want to drink might be more challenging. There is some pretty bad wine out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted November 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 Leaddog...making wine may not be that hard.....making wine that people want to drink might be more challenging. There is some pretty bad wine out there. I agree. That's why the marketing people get paid all the big bucks to get people to buy that bad wine. The worst wine I ever had was so bad I could only take one sip of it. That wine sold for $45.00 per bottle at that time and sells for more now. The way to make good wine is to use good grapes. You don't hear a lot of winemakers or wineries telling you that either do you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish Posted November 14, 2007 Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 I agree that price does not always guarantee a good wine. Many times I have tasted and thought "I don't get it". I've had plenty make me pucker. A good wine to me is what tastes good on my taste buds. I lack the ability to taste something and be able to know that it will be a good wine in another year or so when it is tasting a little sour to me. I am not a wine expert, but I enjoy a wine that tastes good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted November 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 As I say all the time about wine it is the marketing. Agreed I drink wine that I like. If I don't like it I don't drink it. Best compliment so far is my neighbor who is a GM for a local winery. She drank some of my wine and told me she could sell it. She ended up drinking 3/4 of the bottle. Sadly I told her I couldn't sell the wine because I didn't make it at a bonded winery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted November 14, 2007 Report Share Posted November 14, 2007 Well, doggy, at least when you sit down and enjoy your wine and a sunset, you know you're drinkin the good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeadDog Posted November 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 15, 2007 Sanny that just reminded me of something else about wine and food. People have different likes and dislikes for various reasons. One of the reasons is the density of taste bubs on your tongue. The writers of the major wine publications have a low density of taste buds in the range of about 60% to 70% of them. This is just the opposite of the general population who have dense taste bud density in the range of about 60% to 70%. Now that just strike me as odd that people should follow their recommendations because they say something is good. But they can make or break a winery just by what they write in a review. Personally for me and the wine that I made, I'm the only person that has to like it. I know just by the our differences that there will be people who will not like it. That is just a given in the wine industry. I totally forgot about the common practice of having feet in the wine until today. Wienbusiness.com did a survey of wineries to see how they removed the grape skins from the red fermentors to press them. They found that 70% of the wineries put people in the tank to shovel the pomace out. When asked how the winery moved pomace from the fermentor to the press, more than three-quarters of the respondents stated that they do not use a pump. Most, 70 percent, shovel into bins which are then moved by forklift or pallet-jack to the press. A few use augers, 5 percent, or flat conveyors, 1 percent, to move the pomace. The remainder, 24 percent, use pumps to sluice the pomace to the press. And I even found a picture or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulR Posted November 15, 2007 Report Share Posted November 15, 2007 They found that 70% of the wineries put people in the tank to shovel the pomace out. And I even found a picture or two. Thanks for ruining my wine appreciation, I thought that was only done last century (well mid-last century), So I'm drinking stuff that people had their feet in.... PS If you know something like this about the beer making process DON'T TELL ME Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted November 15, 2007 Report Share Posted November 15, 2007 PS If you know something like this about the beer making process DON'T TELL ME Man, how do you think they crush the grains for brewing? hehe -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
