The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: chardonnay

Oak Trials: Into the Bottle

It is finally time to bottle the oak trials today!  I am also bottling the 2009 Petite Sirah that I did egg white fining on, so I can compare it to the unfined wine side-by-side.  The chardonnays all cleared out really nicely, which is great so I can bottle directly from the individual jugs — […]

Oak Trials Continue

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 […]

Visit to Milagro Farm

Our May SDAWS meeting was held at Milagro Farm today.  Jim Hart hosted us and gave us a tour of the vineyards and told us about his recent wine releases.  He is winemaker for Milagro Farm Vineyard & Winery and also at Hart Winery in Temecula.  Milagro Farm Vineyard & Winery is in the Ramona […]

Australian Chardonnay Tasting

Finally ready, just in time for summer! Citrus and oak in the nose. Crisp, slightly tart flavors of green apple and pear with light butter notes. Very nicely balanced, great!

Australian Chard Retasting

Even though it’s only been a few weeks, I wanted to pop another one to try.  Still not quite ready. However, after a few days in the fridge it did mellow out and was quite drinkable. It’s close!

Australian Chardonnay 4 Month Tasting

Coming together very nicely, almost there. A little off odor in the nose, strong scent of oak with nectar. Nice flavors of peaches, apples, and some pear with oak integrating nicely. Actually, tastes a lot like a caramel apple. Doesn’t taste quite like chewing on a stick like it did when younger. Should be ready […]

Early Tastings: Aussie Chard, Chamblaise, Cab-Merlot, Burgundy

A few notes on the latest wines.  It is a little early for most of them, but you don’t know how they’re developing without tasting! Australian Chardonnay: A little soon after bottling to taste, but I couldn’t help myself.  Still too young, but nice. Buttery nose, lots of heavy oak in the attack and flavors […]

Bottling Aussie Chard

I actually got 30 full bottles plus 2 glasses to taste. Had to filter, did not completely clear, although pretty clear, could have bottled. Already pretty well developed. Fruity nose of apples and pears with hint of vanilla. Greenish-gold (and clear) in color. Round flavors of apple with citrus flower and some vanilla, a little […]

Second Racking Australian Chardonnay

The chardonnay is clearing nicely.  This kit gets racked once before bottling time, to give it an extra polish.  I hope it settles out as well as the Pinot Gris did.

$8 Chardonnay Label

I wanted to call my chardonnay “Torrey Pines”, after the state park here where the rare Torrey Pine grows in a protected area.  They are really neat pine trees, they grow near the coast and so tend to have a windswept shape to them.  So, to get a good picture we drove to the park […]