Posts Tagged ‘cru select’

I know of a few fly anglers that also make their own wine. Jack Keller is one, and so is Ernie Kalwa, the Captain of the Fly Fishing team (The Osprey’s) that I used to be a member of. Not sure which one of us ties the better flies, but I know it’s not me! Although I do enjoy doing that. Today and yesterday, I had two good days to combine my two hobbies. And one advantage a home winemaker has if they’ve brought a fish back to eat for dinner is that wine selection is not difficult. Whatever is there! For me, the bottle of Liebfraumilch was a good pairing with the baked trout and rice I made. And on top of that, the fly that I caught the trout on yesterday was made with hair from my Maltese dog named Rudy. You can read about the afternoon fly fishing here.

Winemaking activities included racking and degassing. The maple wine I started on May 5 is expelling lots of co2 gas still, even though the fermentation is complete. The specific gravity was at 0.996 yesterday when I racked it – it’s cleared nicely on it’s own since the last racking on May 28th. It has a very interesting taste – I just had very teeny sip of it, and could taste maple candy – but without the sweetness. I’m looking forward to seeing how this will age a few more months.

I started three wine kits two weeks ago – a Chamblaise and two Vieux De Roi. All are four week kits – I generally use 8 week kits for red wines but I wanted some Vieux De Roi and it was only available at the time in the more economical priced version. I noted that these two kits in the instructions called for 14 days in the primary fermenter. Anyhow, these three kit wines were racked and degassing is on going in all of them before I add the fining agents.

Then there is that potato wine! I’ve had a few interesting questions and comments about that. Like, “what does it taste like?” Yesterday, I racked and checked the specific gravity which was 1.002. It does taste a bit sweet – I’ll have to check my records on that one, but otherwise it is pleasant. I am reluctant to describe its taste just yet as it was only a very small amount and not quite what I expected or can really identify. The demerara sugar certainly has left it’s mark though.

The other day, I was snooping around some “stuff” I had and discovered two more wine kits I had forgotten about! They were purchased about September of 2007, just before I headed off to Grande Prairie, Alberta for the Canadian Fly Fishing Championships. I guess I had meant to start them upon my return, but totally forgot I had them. Both are Cru Select RQ’s: a Montepulciano Cab Merlot, the other Unoaked Chardonnay. I’m hoping and believing the juice will be fine but I will use fresh yeast when I start them, probably in about two weeks from now.

So there’s another connection between fly fishing and winemaking. One can get in the way of the other at times! Actually, it wasn’t the fly fishing that distracted me from these two kits back in 2007…

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!