A couple of years ago, I decided to try my hand at making wine. I like to drink it, and I'm a reasonably intelligent fella - so I thought to myself "self" I thought "if hundreds of years ago mankind was able to make a good tasting wine having no knowledge of why or what was happening, surely I can do so too - how hard can it be?" Well, turns out it's harder than I might have thought, but I've got a few batches under my belt now and am learning more and more each time I do it. Is it any good? Well, I've not made anyone go blind yet 8-) Thus far I've got a red zinfandel, a supertuscan, and another italian blend for the dry reds, and a number of sweeter reds and a sweet white under my belt. There's something fundamentally intrigueing about the process to me - starting with the rough raw materials and refining them, changing them via living processes that continue to affect them and change them over time long after the fermentation portion of the process is complete. I'm getting pretty good at making the sweet wines - they're easy to tell if they're successful or not because they're ready very soon after bottling and they disappear quickly, so I know no one's trying to be sensitive about bruising my ever so delicate ego. The dry reds are a bit tougher to rate - they take years to mature to the point of drinkability, and only now are my first batches coming around to being ready to taste.
The label I choose for them is Chateaux la Feet - because I was worried that the finished product would taste, well, like feet 8-) Plus it sounds like it could be something real, and I like how it sounds. Here's the bottle neck label and bottle label from my last batch:
I've built a rudimentary wine cellar in the basement to house the ever growing collection of bottles (currently dozens and dozens, as each time I make a batch, I get about 30 bottles from each variety - and knowing that most of the batches I make take a couple of years to age before I want to drink them... well, I need somewhere to put lots and lots of bottles)! Someday I'd like to build a 'real' cellar, but that day's not today...
6 comments:
Hi Scott,
I always wanted to try making wine but never got to the point of actually doing it. Would be fun to see how you went about doing it. If you are coming to the reunion on 7-6-07, maybe you can give me some secrets you have learned.
Later,
Ron
Probably the best place i've found is www.winepress.us - they've got a forum section there where many winemakers, from the average joe to those who run full blown commercial wineries, go. i've learned a lot from there. Brehm Vineyards in California is a good place to order grapes from - you should see if there are any local places already importing grapes, as that'll help keep your shipping costs down. Happy to help anyway I can!
What does Luna Rossa mean?
Have you started the new job?
Red Moon. if you look closely at the label, theres a picture of a red moon fading into the rest of the picture...the gradient was too strong so it's tough to see
Well, blog ettiquette says you should post once a week...but once a month is minimum. I was hoping for so much more from one of MLE's college buddies.
I, for one, was looking forward to hearing how your job change is going.
Lis--MLE's oldest friend
How old does one have to be to be MLE's oldest friend anyway?
I know, I know 8-)
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