The Understatement Of Disappointment
September 29th, 2005 | 
Author: More about my day yesterday and how much I enjoyed the “adventure” with my 3 year old son. For now though, I must say I’m quite disappointed.
I drove down to Lakeview Cellars yesterday to pick my Baco Noir must that I had ordered from them.
I was so excited about this; making wine from the fresh must instead of a “kit.” This year’s crop was supposed to be a great crop, quality wise. Here’s the sequence of events:
September 18 – Received a phone call from Lakeview advising me that this was a “heads up” call. The Baco was scheduled to be harvested shortly. I was told it depended on a variety of factors including weather. I was told I would also receive another phone call to let me know exactly when it would be harvested, but it might be an idea to think of a trip to the cellar over the coming weekend. But don’t come if I haven’t received that second phone call.
September 26 – The weekend had come and gone, and as I wanted to plan my week, I called Lakeview for an update. I spoke with a fellow who told me that he thought the Baco was coming off the field “tonight” but would have someone else call me back.
Later that day, I received a message from someone else at Lakeview that my Baco was ready.
September 28 – I drive down to Beamsville to pick up my Baco. I drive home. I bring in a pail of the stuff, strain some juice and measure the specific gravity. “Huh?” I ask myself. The reading is 1.014. “Am I supposed to add sugar to this stuff?”
Last night, I post a message in the active newsgroup, rec.crafts.winemaking, about this. Tom S., replies and suggests there is either something wrong with my hydrometer or that the must may have already started to ferment.
I double check my hydrometer against water and other wines I have on the go, and it seems fine. I taste the juice… interestingly it doesn’t have much of a fermented smell – but it sure doesn’t taste like fresh sweet grape juice.
I think someone at Lakeview Cellars screwed up. In fact, I’m pretty darn sure of it. I have a telephone that records incoming calls, and keeps a log. There are only two calls listed from Lakeview – the “heads up” call on the 18th, and then the call on the 26th after I had called them.
I also have a “redundant” voice mail answering system here as well – in case my power should go out and my internal voice mail not work for some reason, Bell Canada’s voice mail will pick up. There were NO messages at any time on either voice mail from Lakeview.
So it looks like I’ve got 40 kg (over 80 pounds) of half fermented Baco Noir that was supposed to be from one of the highest quality crops.
Blah.
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