The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

The oak trials continue!  All wines were stabilized and cleared about a week ago.  Today I’m racking them all, and the unoaked wine kit will be split into 1-gallon batches.  I had just under 6 full gallons after racking, so I used the little bit left over to top the pre-fermentation oak batches.  I realize [...]

We finally set a date and bottled the 2009 Merlot and Petite Sirah from Van Alyea Ranch in Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma.  The wines are tasting great, and we could have bottled before now but I realized I didn’t have a spigot to attach a hose to clean out the barrels after they were empty. [...]

I was inspired by Tim Vandergrift’s Hands-On oak trials at the Winemaker Magazine Conference in Santa Barbara to set up my own set of oak trials.  I decided to just get a basic chardonnay kit, the Winexpert Vintners’ Reserve Chardonnay.  This kit does come with a small pack of oak, but I pulled it out.  [...]

I don’t like to give up easily on a wine, but the nasty Cabernet Sauvignon from Paul was beyond any help. When I first tried it, I thought maybe some racking and Kmeta would help it. Today I went to splash rack it, and it was just gross. There is no help for this wine. [...]

The awards ceremony for the San Diego County Fair Homemade Wine Competition was yesterday.  I couldn’t make it because I had to run the shop, but my hubby went to enjoy the fun and bring home my awards. I submitted 3 wines, and they all won medals: the 2010 Winexpert limited edition Pacifica White won [...]

My “Hotel Del Coronado” Winexpert 2008 limited release Brunello is coming up on 3 years post bottling now. My first reaction to drinking this wine was, WOW! It is definitely at its peak, and is exceptional. Big, bold aromas of blackberry, sage, and light spice. Perfectly integrated flavors of currant, blackberry, and raisins with cedar [...]

I’ve been somewhat unhappy with my 2008 Lambert Bridge Merlot lately, but the blend of merlot with cabernet sauvignon is officially ready to drink! It is finally perfectly balanced and integrated, with big, bold, brambly aromas of ripe blackberries and spice, and mouthwatering flavors of ripe red fruits with a hint of leather and eucalyptus. [...]

I bottled both the Cellar Craft 2010 limited edition Marsanne-Viognier-Roussanne and the Winexpert Spanish Rose today, getting ready for summer sipping.  The MVR wasn’t quite clear, which I think might be due to my use of marbles for topping up my wines.  When wines with marbles are moved at all from their place of rest [...]

We recently attended the Winemaker Magazine conference in Santa Barbara, California.  It was a two-day conference loaded with seminars covering all aspects of winemaking — wine chemistry, wine kits, growing grapes, fermentation.  We learned a lot of great information to add to our arsenal of winemaking techniques and met several home winemakers from around North [...]

I bottled the Cellar Craft limited edition ‘Chateau du Pays‘ today.  I intended to bulk age this wine 6 to 8 months, but realized I was a carboy short for upcoming winemaking and didn’t have time to get another one fast enough. As usual, there was one partial bottle left at the end, which went [...]