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I am awaiting a very important phone call at this late hour (3:30AM) from the most special woman – to let me know she arrived at her house safely. Due to some circumstances beyond our control at this time, she lives a four hour plane ride and then about a two hour drive away. Tonight, I dropped her off at the airport in Toronto after we spent a wonderful five days together. Some of that time was enjoying some of the homemade wine and mead I’ve made. But one of the highlights of our weekend was being able to take in Leonard Cohen together in London, Ontario on Sunday night.

Mr. Cohen is such a fine old gentleman that we decided to dress for the occasion, and it was very nice to get compliments from the staff at the John Labatt Centre as we walked through the turnstyles and had ushers and usherettes direct us to our floor level seats. And I was able to “whisper sing” in my beautiful lady’s ear, along with Leonard Cohen, “If you want a doctor….. I’m your man.” Of course, in his older age, and his Marlboro cigarette “enhanced” voice, Leonard does it much better than I do, but the sentiment is the same.. if not deeper.. when I sing it.

Anyhow, as I wait for that phone call to know Colleen has arrived home safely, I thought I might as well add a post here. If you enjoy it, very good. If not, perhaps some of the other content here will be of more interest to you. I don’t mind.

I haven’t started another batch of kiwi melomel yet, but am thinking I might do that on the weekend. My beekeeper friend/client might be dropping off quite a load of honey to me on Friday. Thus far, the kiwi melomel has been met with compliments and this time, I’m going to make sure I make ten gallons of it. It will make for a very good gift to friends and clients.

I was also going through some photos and came across one of my six year old son helping me cork some bottles. He’s a great wee man, and perhaps this photo says it all about his constant happiness and love for doing things.

Ok… here’s the photo… and hopefully, the phone will be ringing in minutes!

Ring…! There’s the phone!

I came across a couple of articles that may be of interest to wine drinkers and winemakers. It seems there has been another study done on the health benefits of red wine. Apparently, men who smoke but drink 2 glasses of red wine per day cut their risk for lung cancer by 60%. No similar benefits were found for those that drank white wine or beer.

Could it be the presence of resveratrol? Or other antioxidants that are found in red wine? No one is totally sure but resveratrol is suspected:

“”Red wine is known to contain high levels of antioxidants. There is a compound called resveratrol that is very rich in red wine because it is derived from the grape skin. This compound has shown significant health benefits in preclinical studies,” Chao said.”

~ Science Daily

We all know that red wine can stain teeth – but did you know white wine can cause staining as well? In other news about wine, researchers decided to use cow teeth to find out what effect white wine would have on them. After soaking them for an hour in white wine, they were then soaked in tea. Because of acids in white wine, the teeth became darker than when they were soaked in water prior to the tea soaking.

Toothpaste that contains tooth whitener worked to lessen the stains. You can read more about this study, here.

I have finished reading a book I started a few weeks ago. I know I will be returning to this book many times as it is a source of enormous and helpful information. I’ve posted my review of Techniques in Home Winemaking: The Comprehensive Guide to Making Chateau-Style Wines here.

Go read the review. Then go buy the book.

I have seldom had a stuck fermentation. When it happens, it can be a bit annoying, to say the least. I’ve written a few times about my “Mystery” Wine that I’m not exactly sure what the fruit berries are. The other day, I mentioned that the fermentation was sluggish, so I added some yeast nutrient. That seemed to get things going for a day or so, but the past two days have shown no movement on the specific gravity scale.

So I have a stuck fermentation. I don’t know why. It’s not from unsanitary equipment. I know that for sure. It’s not because of any temperature extremes. Other wines I have fermenting right beside it in the same room, and that room is about 70 F. The only concern I have about it is the PH is at the low end of the scale – 3.1 – but that should have nothing to do with the fermentation.

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps the packet of yeast I used was just not up to the job. I had some fresh packets (always, always, always have fresh packets of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast on hand!) of yeast, so I have reinoculated it, and we’ll see what happens. Before reinoculating, I did rehydrate the yeast first for a couple of hours and hopefully get a head start and get this thing going again.

More on this one in a couple of days. Ah, the joys of home winemaking!

Ever had one of those days where things went really well, you were very productive, and not only that, some hard work over the past several weeks was starting to pay off? Those who own their own businesses will probably know what I mean – sometimes, you can work very hard at a project or an idea, and nothing much comes of it – other times, it can be very exciting to see that an idea and then implementing that idea shows a heck of a lot of promise!

That was my day today, and another reason why we should always be optimists no matter what. Examine what things don’t work, change them, adapt, and try again when you believe in something. Sort of like home winemaking!

A couple of things – I took another specific gravity reading today of the “Mystery” Berry wine that seemed to have a very sluggish fermentation. Two days ago it was at 1.042, today it is 1.030. It’s probably a bit lower in reality as there is still bits and pieces of the berries in the juice, which will affect the reading. I had a thought – not sure if it was a good thought or not – but I decided to make up a bentonite slurry – just under a 1/4 cup of boiling hot water and 3 teaspoons of bentonite stirred in, and added that. Perhaps it will help some of the pulpy bits to settle over the next few days, when I hope to rack it.

The other thing I did was start the second part of the “Special Wine” that I wrote of previously. As I mentioned, I’m planning on blending a KenRidge GSM with a Cru Select Australian Bush Vine Grenache.

This evening, I started the Grenache kit. Interesting kit – lots and lots of oak! A little bit different than the KenRidge GSM – and here’s my review of the Cru Select Premium Australian Bush Vine Grenache.

You’ll note there are a couple of minor issues with the instructions that come with the kit, but overall, a good kit – and at $110.00 retail, here’s hoping it will turn out superb!

Happy Home Winemaking to you!

My “wee man,” Data, The Who, and an interesting read. What does it have to do with home winemaking? Well, just read on!

It’s about 3AM. Normally, I’d be falling asleep by now, or soon to be sleeping – but it’s an atypical night. We’ll get back to typical tomorrow, I’m sure.

For those who have read this blog for any length of time, they will know that I have a “wee man” (who is a real good looking boy!) that I adore, and from time to time, he sometimes expresses adoration toward me. Lately, his adoration has been more about Lego sets that he wants, and has already written down on Christmas and Birthday lists – events that won’t occur for 5 and 10 months from now. But he knows I enjoy making wine and has been a companion on more than one trip to pick up juice or fruit so the “auld man” can experiment and do some home winemaking.

This evening, he decided he needed to help me with some home winemaking. During that time, he wondered what he would be when he “grew up.” A magician? Maybe on stage with The Who? (He loves The Who – he’s probably got the record for being the youngest to take in a The Who concert). Perhaps a fireman. And then, when we started using the Hydrometer, he thought maybe he should be a “Detective.”

“Detectives are good at writing things out and figuring out stuff, right Dad? And I’m good at that.”

I took him into the wine making area, with a piece of paper and a pen. He was to write out the specific gravity readings for the wines I was testing. “How do you spell ‘Zinfandel’, Dad?” I spelled it for him. “Do you want the number beside or below?”

“Beside will do fine, son!”

I spelled out Z-I-N-F-A-N-D-E-L for him. Put the wine thief into the carboy, pulled out a sample, and said, “David, write this down – 0.996.”

He did. And went through it all in the same way. I’d take the sample, read it, call it out after he’d written down which wine batch it was.

Zinfandel: 0.996
GSM: 1.000
Mystery: 1.046
Potato: 1.032

And I’m keeping his piece of paper with his recordings on it, in my winemaking log book. Maybe someday, he’ll decide to be a winemaker!

So that was the Data part of the evening.

Other thoughts:

As mentioned above, The Who is one of my wee man’s favorite artists. He comes by it well! His “auld man” has been a fan of the hard rocking, often libertarian, sometimes about heart wrenching, other times about personal integrity, and always awesome music of The Who. And I’ve been reading Jack Keller’s list of music (on his blog) that has something to do with “wine” in the title. And of course, there is “Old Red Wine” by The Who. I’m listening. Has something to do with Keith Entwistle, apparently. Very good song to listen to, as are all The Who songs.

I’ve also been reading a book. I thought I knew a good amount about home winemaking. Wow.. I have learned so much this past evening, reading this book! I think I might become a mad scientist… although winemaking is not just about science. Or is it? Maybe there’s just not enough data, observations to go with the data, and other situations that seem uncontrollable to making wine that is awesome for any occasion (including to listing to The Who).

I’ll have more about this incredibly interesting book I’m reading shortly. I wonder if many people realize just what goes into that wonderful flavour on their tongue when they put a wonderful wine to their lips and take it into their mouths. Most don’t care about formulas for acids, alcohol accuracy, or learning about the tiny vermin that make wine what it is… yet, it is fascinating to learn about in detail.

And those are enough thoughts to write about, for now. But I’m looking forward to soon pulling out another bottle of Zinfandel that has been aging down in the basement, to be shared and enjoyed. Very soon! While I make more that in years to come, will be enjoyed and shared and perhaps memories of the times while that wine was fermenting can be laughed about, sung about, written about, and even made into poetry.

And with all of that.. it’s the data that is still important!

The day this book arrived, I started going through it, reading some chapters and sections that immediately grabbed my attention while gazing at the beautiful photographs. I wondered how one person, Andre Domine, could have ever written such a volume! 926 pages thick, and covering such an enormous amount of information…

read the rest of the review.

Sometime ago, I was asked about the “easiest” way to make wine. A question that is not necessarily easy to answer, depending on what one means by “easy.” But let’s assume the person also wants something that is going to be drinkable and enjoyable. The “winemaking for dummies” version of winemaking.

For centuries, wine was made by simply leaving out juice and hoping wild yeast would inoculate the juice. And by all means, you could do that today as well. I’ve heard of people leaving out a mixture of pressed/crushed raspberries, water and sugar – and there’s a good chance that will ferment. Who knows what you’ll end up with though? It could very well be wine, but I wouldn’t recommend that method if you’re hoping for something good.

So, if you really are looking for the “winemaking for dummies” seriously consider a wine kit. The less expensive ones can be had for less than 50.00 which will make net you 30 standard 750 ml bottles of wine. You don’t even have to make it at home. Many wine supply stores also have an area where you can “make” your wine on their premises. In Ontario, there is one legal requirement: You must sprinkle the yeast on the juice. Almost all the other work is done for you, (for a small additional fee) including the mixing of the concentrate with water, the addition of fining and preserving agents, and the racking.

You’ll have to come back on the day the wine is ready to be bottled to help with that part, most likely.

So, if you really want the winemaking for dummies version, visit your local winemaking at the premises shop. You won’t learn a lot if all you ever do is make wine from kits, and especially if it’s all done on the premises of the shop that you purchased your kit – but you’ll likely have better wine than leaving out raspberry juice for wild yeast.

The “wee man” has coloured all the labels, and we’ve glue sticked them to the bottles. They look really good on the green bottles!

So I was browsing the Advintage website and came across their FAQ’s. You can have a look here yourself.

Scroll down to Question No. 16.

“Can I age my wine in the carboy?

This is commonly known as bulk aging and is usually an accepted practice for people who are making their wine from grapes. When you are making your wine from a wine kit, you do not need to bulk age your wine and your wine WILL NOT benefit from doing so. Follow all the instruction perfectly in the time frame recommended and then bottle within one or two weeks”

Ummm.. your wine “WILL NOT benefit from doing so?” This is incorrect. All you have to do is look at their next answer to realize how silly their answer to question #16 is:

“17. How long can I age my bottles of wine for?

All wine kits are designed so that they can be consumed right away. Your wine does have a shelf life however and can be stored and consumed at a later date. The length of time that it will last depends on many factors. There is no set aging time. A lot of it has to do with the care that was taken during the winemaking process, and of course, the conditions you have for storing your bottled wine. Optimum conditions are a constant 55°F. Many people do not have these conditions. The most important thing, however is that the wine is kept at a constant temperature and not in a place where the temperatures fluctuates up and down on a regular basis. Another fact to consider is that the corks we supply with the wine kits are not meant for long-term aging. If you want to age your wine, we recommend that you purchase a higher quality cork.”

Let’s see what they have correct in that last answer first. They are right. There is no “set aging time.” It does depend on many factors, including the variety of grapes the juice came from, the chemical make up of those grapes the year they were harvested, and yes – the conditions in which the wine was aged!

I’d disagree that optimum conditions are a “constant 55F.” It’s more like a range of temperature that does not have sudden changes. If you could get a constant temperature of 55F, that would be optimum I guess, but a degree here or there isn’t going to do damage.

But here’s the thing: In question #17, they say “Many people do not have these conditions.” I’d suggest that “MOST” people do not have those conditions available to them. And this is one of the reasons why bulk aging a wine will benefit many people. If they can bulk age their wine, their wine is not going to be affected negatively as much if it’s a bulk of 5 gallons than it will be affected if the wine is in 750 ml bottles. And if there do happen to be some sudden changes in temperature, 5 gallons of bulk will handle that far better than 750 ml will.

What’s your opinion or experience?