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 […]
Tag archive: tasting note
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 […]
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, […]
Since we are four tonight, I decided it was finally time to do a head-to-head comparison of 2008 Mosti Mondiale Chianti with the 2009 WE Chianti. Overall, both tasted very similar; very basic, clean, nice table wines. We tasted alone and with a spinach salad with blue cheese, toasted walnuts, and balsamic vinaigrette. Both wines […]
After picking on one of my fellow winemakers endlessly about drinking his wine too early, I’m opening a “Cabernet Nouveau” for Thanksgiving. It is too early to be opening it, but my husband’s parents are here, so it seemed to call for a very special wine. I opened the wine and decanted it about 2 […]
Although this blend is still very young — only about 2 months in the bottle! — I really wanted to try it out. Decanted very briefly. Very sharp, acidic nose. Hint of raspberry and blackberry with spice. Very clear, garnet-purple in color. Very vegetal flavors of green pepper, raspberry, plum, and oak. After about an […]
Nose of crisp apples with hint of vanilla. Very clear, pale yellow-green in color. Crisp flavors of green apple and peach with hint of bell pepper and vanilla. Wow, really came together VERY nicely, and sooner than I expected!
Time to get the syrah started. I met Dave at the office, and he set up the “server room winery” with plastic sheeting while I revved up the yeast. I heated up some water and dissolved in go-ferm, then added ICV-D254 yeast and let it wake up for about 15 minutes. Then I added some […]
Today I bottled 30 bottles each of a cabernet sauvignon kit (for Dave) and chianti (for me). As I was putting labels on the chianti, I noticed one cork with wine seeping out of the top. I’ve never had this happen before. I yanked that one out, and wine spewed out – we had overfilled […]
Time to bottle the sauvignon blanc that had the battonage treatment. That added another 6 weeks of waiting to the kit, I’m very curious how this wine will compare to the “untreated” kit. I will let these bottles wait for about 3 months before doing a side-by-side, to give it as much of a fair […]