The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: grapes

Veraison Starting at Live Oak Vineyard

We went to visit Live Oak Vineyard today to see how the syrah is coming along this year.  Veraison is already starting in the syrah, so harvest might be a little early this year! Here is the second year growth of the Deaver clone Zinfandel, not yet starting veraison.  Check out the giant clusters: And, […]

Bottling 2009 Vintage Barrel Wines

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. […]

Dumping Yucky Cabernet

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. […]

Unhappy Cabernet Sauvignon

At the bottling party, I was talking with Paul about getting some of his Cabernet Sauvignon (also from Lambert Bridge Vineyard in Sonoma) to make a Paraduxx-like blend with my merlot and primitivo.  He mentioned he had several gallons of cabernet that seemed to have a VA problem.  I hate to dump wine without trying […]

Bottling Party in Fallbrook

We drove up to Fallbrook yesterday to meet up with Paul and a bunch of his neighbors to bottle his 2009 Merlot and Petite Sirah from Lambert Bridge Vineyard in Sonoma (the same grapes we made wine from that need to be bottled soon).  It was a very nice day, sunny and warm but not […]

2008 “Belmont Park” Lambert Bridge Merlot Tasting Note

I’m mostly disappointed with this wine. But, perhaps there is some hope. After pouring through a Vinturi aerator, the flaws of this wine really mellowed out. Aromas like vanilla ice cream with edge of lemon. Still very sweet on the tongue, but not so sharp. Oak is becoming prominent. I might as well give it […]

“Fiesta Island” Cabernet Sauvignon 1 1/2 Year Tasting

It seems to be time to catch up on wines I haven’t visited for a while. Tonight I opened our Lambert Bridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, which I bottled as 83% cab sauv and 17% of a Lambert Bridge Vineyard merlot that I fermented as a small batch. In lieu of decanting, I aerated with Vinturi […]

Visit to Fallbrook Winery

We visited Fallbrook Winery yesterday with some of our friends.  It has been unusually cold and dreary around San Diego, but the sun eventually came out later in our tour.  We were greeted by Vernon Kindred, one of the winemakers at Fallbrook.  He walked us through some of the vineyards while describing the growing season […]

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 […]

Syrah Malo and Oak into the Barrels

It’s been about 4 weeks since I added fresh malolactic bacteria to the syrah to try to get MLF going again.  I’ve been stirring it once or twice a week and keeping a heat pad on it overnight and in the cool parts of the daytime to keep the temperature between 70 – 80?F.  I […]