The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: white blend

Starting Yakima Synergy Cellar Craft Reserve

This is my first Cellar Craft kit.  I’m looking forward to this one for several reasons.  I’ve read a lot of good things about Cellar Craft on winepress.us.  Also, the description of this white blend sounds beyond yummy;  it’s a blend of Marsanne and Roussanne from Yakima valley in Washington state, two lovely rhone whites.  […]

Stabilizing & Clearing Argentinian trio

The Argentinian Trio was a bit full after racking, so I took out about 550 mL before degassing.  I’m glad I did, there was a LOT of foam!  It was foamy for the first and second set of stirring, then I waited about half an hour an stirred again to try to really degas the […]

Starting Argentinian Trio Reserve Kit

Time for another reserve kit!  This one is also from RJ Spagnols, and is an unoaked blend of Viognier, Riesling, and Chardonnay.  The starting SG is at 1.10, so I should get a final alcohol of about 14%.  It smells yummy already, I can’t wait to sip this one over the summer!

Bottling with Enolmatic Bottling Pump

I rationalized that I needed a bottling pump, since we would have SO much wine to bottle from the barrels, and also then I could bottle solo and not pester my hubby.  This is one of those investments that I really hope pays off, because I have high hopes for it.  I did a lot […]

Pacific Quartet is Soooo Gooood

We’re really plowing through the Pac quartet, it’s such a great summer wine, so refreshing.  I saw it marked down online, so it was a no-brainer to get another kit.  I wonder how long the second batch will last …..

Bottling Pacific Quartet and Chianti

The Pacific Quartet is very nice for day of bottling. 10.3% final alcohol, no oak, but did have a “susse-reserve” pack added after secondary fermentation. Did not filter, but wine is still very clear and very light greenish-golden in color. A lot of acidic notes in the nose, with citrus and apple. Zingy flavors of […]