The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Most of the east coast is blanketed in snow today.  Meanwhile, we finally got our southern California sunshine back — just in time to prune the syrah vines at Live Oak Vineyard. Mike Hoffman gave us a short tutorial on pruning for his vineyard; he already cut off the bulk of the canes, so we […]

It’s been 6 months since I touched my “La Jolla Caves” Winexpert Montagnac Vieux Chateau d’Oc, wanting to give it time to come together better.  Now it’s at the 2-year mark, which sounds like a good time to test it out.  I did not decant this time, I wanted to see how it developed out […]

I’ve been looking for an excuse to open my 2008 Winexpert Limited edition Chilean carmenere, and Moroccan Braised Beef (recipe courtesy of Chef Jenn Felmley!) sounded like just the ticket. Today is  just short of 2 years in the bottle. I decanted about an hour.  There is  some foam, but not too bad.  Slight soapiness on the […]

I discovered that one of the 4-liter bottles of merlot has a funky white layer similar to the one I found on the rescued petite sirah. I hope I can remedy this one better, since the infection came back in the petite sirah after racking.  Before racking I dipped cotton swabs in a Kmeta solution […]

I got an email from Dave today, he and Paul checked out the merlot and petite sirah on Friday. Since this is our second year in the barrel, neither wine is very oaky yet. By this time last year the wine in the barrels had much more oak.  The petite sirah is a little more […]

It’s not quite a year and half yet, but I thought it was a good time to give the Brunello another taste to see how it’s progressing. Still a weird soapy aroma, with light fruit and spice. Good flavors, coming together nicely;  no soapiness on the tongue, though.  Slightly tart and tangy, rich fruit, cedar, […]

The primitivo has been settling out since October, so it seemed like time to poke at it.  I like to splash rack my wine that is bulk aging in carboys at least once to try to give it a little oxygenation while it’s hanging out. The primi has become wonderfully clear already, a lovely purple-ruby […]

We opened the 2007 “Overlook Heights” Cabernet-merlot tonight, the first wine I made.  Two and a half years later, this wine has come together really nicely.  Very smooth, no more foam!  Yummy aromas of dark fruit and cocoa, with juicy flavors of plum, black cherry, and blueberry with hints of spice and milk chocolate.  Unfortunately, […]

A collage of our year in winemaking from my buddy Paul.  Happy Holidays!  And Happy Winemaking!

Another full day of wine racking and shuffling!  Dave sent me an email that the merlot barrel needed to be topped, so first I racked off the smaller bottles of merlot and took 2 cleared bottles to the office winery to top off the barrel.  I thought I had enough to top off and leave […]