i find that I always have this issue....assuming it is high tannin wine....its tough to figure out which is the oak and which is from the skins. anyone have this same issue also?

I make mead, fruit wives and cider. Adding tannins often improves structure of these products. That's why people add tea or 'real' wine/grape tannin. The latter is hard to get for me, and the former might not get me the same result as the real wine/grape tannin. It is possible for me to get grapes with stems in the supermarket though. Has anyone experimented with using grape stems as a source of tannins? I suppose I could dry them, make a tea out of them and add it to the must?

I found a recipe in the book True Brews by Emma Christensen for cider that calls for the addition of grape tannins.

Has anyone ever used grape Tannins in cider? If so, how did affect the finished cider?

pBp

Howdy! I'm in zone 8b, looking to follow a pickle recipe, and it calls for leaves that contain tannins. The recipe gives several ideas for what types of leaves can be used, and I saw "grape leaves" (of course) listed.

I know that muscadine grape leaves are a good choice, but I happen to have a wild mustang grape vine right outside my door. Does anyone know if those also contain tannins, and if it's enough to be used in a pickle recipe?

Thanks so much!

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 75%. (I'm a bot)

> You can, but before trying to make wine from fruit, it pays to understand why most wine is made from grapes.

> You can add sugar, acid or tannins to balance the juice from any fruit and ferment it into a delicious fruit wine.

> Over the summer, I'll explain how to make fruit wine from a few of the more popular fruits.

> Wine grapes contain sufficient acidity to make a wine that isn't "Flabby" - lacking enough crispness from acidity to be pleasant.

> In the right amount, tannins give a slightly puckering mouthfeel that gives wine "Structure." Grape skins usually contain sufficient tannins to give a wine structure and many wines are aged in oak to supplement the level of tannins.

> In many cases, old school country wine makers would kill two birds with one stone by diluting their fruit juice with grape juice.

Summary Source | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: wine^#1 fruit^#2 Grape^#3 acid^#4 contain^#5

Post found in /r/todayilearned.

NOTICE: This thread is for discussing the submission topic. Please do not discuss the concept of the autotldr bot here.

also prefer it to have medium to low tannins. i'm in canada so if its available at LCBO that would be great.

To preface this, I would just like to say I am an absolute amateur. I had my first bottle of wine (Pinot Noir) when I was 21 and primarily stuck to Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon since. Lately I've wanted to expand a bit and figure out what suits my tastes best. In addition, I've been making my own fruit wines and meads for a few years now, and I figure learning what I do and do not like in a wine may help me improve in that regard.

If I say anything just blatantly stupid below, I apologize in advance: again, I am an amateur looking to expand my view on wine. I have never once written a review before now.

I'll start with a list of what I've purchased this month, then get into what I've drank so far with a bit of review attached. Again, any feedback on how to improve with notes would be greatly appreciated, and any recommendations for future wines even more so! I'll break down the purchases as well as the source.

Bright Cellars (Figured I may as well try it out)

• 2020 La Cueca Carmenere Dancing Juice

• 2020 Nihilist Wine Co. Malbec

• 2020 Obscura Pinot Noir

• 2018 Crypsis Petite Syrah

• 2018 Worst Evils Grenache

Wine.com

• 2018 Chateau Laribotte Sauternes

• 2017 Adriano Marco e Vittorio Barbaresco Basarin (Nebbiolo)

• 2013 Il Molino di Grace Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Il Margone

• 2018 Louis Guntrum Rheinhessen Dry Riesling

Canals Bottle Stop

• 2016 Domaine Huet Vouvray Moelleux Le Haut-Lieu

• 2015 Tenuta Caparzo Brunello di Montalcino 50th Anniversary (Sangiovese)

• 2014 Condado de Haza Ribera del Duero Crianza

• Blandy's - Madiera Bual 5 year

• 2015 Caparzo - Brunello di Montalcino

• 2012 Chateau Musar - 'Musar Jeune' Blanc, Bekaa Valley

• 2009 Cypres De Climens - Sauternes

• Graham's - Tawny Port 20 year old

• Graham’s - Six Grapes Reserve Port

• Savory & James - Amontillado

• Williams and Humbret - Dry Sack Sherry Medium Dry

Grocery Store Purchases

• 2018 and 2019 Cooper & Thief Red Wine Blend

• 2019 Apothic Merlott (I know, I'm sorry)

• 2017 Marques de Caceres Rioja Crianza

• 2019 Luigi Bosca Malbec

• 2016 Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva

• 2017 Faustino Crianza

• Beringer Bros. Barrel Aged Bourbon Red Blend

• Buck Shack Zinfandel

Now for what I've actually drank and some notes. If you're still with me at this point, I apologize for the length of this post.

• 2019 Louis Guntrum Dry Riesling

This bottle for me runs into the same issue I have with most dry whites. High acidity that doesn't really feel

1. Sleeping with your bird

-This might seem really obvious but I already directly heard from this subreddit a month ago that there bird died because of this and I also hear my friend telling me a similar story. And even if you don't sleep with your bird make sure to lock their cage door at night (or whenever you go to bed or they are left without any supervision). While you might be sleeping they could fly/climb to you, attempting to cuddle while your unconscious and you could crush them.

2. Toxic Foods

-avacado (The leaves of the avocado plant contain persin, a fatty acid-like substance that kills fungus in the plant. When ingested by a bird, this substance may cause heart damage, respiratory difficulty, weakness, and even sudden death.)

-Caffeine (Caffeine can increase heart rate, induce arrhythmias and hyperactivity, and even cause cardiac arrest in birds.)

-fruit seeds and pits (especially apple seeds)

-Dairy products (Not toxic but bad for their health.. Parrots never evolved to produce lactase, the enzyme necessary to help digest lactose. Essentially, birds are highly “lactose-intolerant” species.)

• Cheese ("I want to emphasize this because lactose intolerance is just the tip of the iceberg. Because birds cannot digest dairy products, cheese can remain and accumulate in the digestive track and has caused fatal blockages in the crop and intestines. If your parrot loves cheese (and what parrot doesn’t?) you can feed vegan cheese made with nuts. I make mine mini pizzas made with whole grain English muffins, tomato sauce (Hunts brand because they use only steam, not lye in processing) and almond cheese. They love it !")

-Chocolate (Chocolate contains both theobromine and caffeine which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, increase heart rate, result in hyperactivity, induce tremors and seizures, and even cause death in birds.)

-Salt (Even one salty chip or pretzel can upset the electrolyte and fluid balance in a bird’s tiny body, leading to excessive thirst, dehydration, kidney failure, and death.)

-Fat (Consumption of high-fat foods, such as butter, oil, fatty meats, and nuts can result in build-up of cholesterol deposits in the walls of our arteries (known as atherosclerosis), predisposing to heart disease and stroke. Excessive ingestion of these foods also can lead to obesity and all the health problems that accompany this condition. The same processes occur in birds, and certain bird species, such as Amazon and Quaker parrots, are prone to d

Hey all, cider is a pretty easy beverage to make, but I see a lot of issues people run into on reddit and other forums. I've been making cider for quite a few years and work in the Washington apple industry. These are some things I've learned that I wish someone would have told me earlier on, some mistakes I've learned from and overcame, and tips to improving your cider:

1: sweat your apples. I could write paragraphs on this, but I implore you to research yourself if your curious. You don't want hard, crisp apples for hard cider, you want them soft and almost mushy but before they rot. Apples are harvested depending on variety at various starch to sugar conversion ratios, unless it was grown specifically for cider and allowed to overripen on the tree. This is rare because storage time is basically nonexistant at this point. You can test your apples starch to sugar ratio at home with an iodine kit, or base it off softness as it ages. If you want to bump your sugar levels up and not add sugar/honey/whatever people add to their cider nowadays, I encourage you to do it. Depending on if it's an early season apple or a late season apple this process can take anywhere from 14 days to 3 months at room temp. To give an example of how much of an improvement this can be, I've bumped Newtown Pippin gravity levels from 1.055 OG at "optimal" harvest time to 1.068 OG after sweated.

2: Macerate, you can use pectic enzyme to do this as well, but allowing your ground up mash to oxygenate (turn brown) will quickly increase your juice yields, especially if you're using a cheap press that doesn't get good juice returns. Adding enzymes speeds this up but I would still recommend doing it for 4 or so hours. The French and English do it for a few days, but I think thats pretty excessive.

3: Use the right apples. Seriously, stop using tree top apple juice. That stuff is awful. There is a reason people dump sugar into it to make it tasteful after its fermented. If you don't have access to true "cider" apples, look for Winesap, Newtown Pippin, Arkansas Black, Northern Spy, Gravenstein, etc. Blends of tart apples are way better than "sweets". Honeycrisp, fuji, ambrosia, goldens, reds, and the rest of the common storeboughts are terrible apples for cider unless blended to hell, and despite being sweet and crisp very few contribute a ton of sugar to a blend. If you're looking for high ABV cider apples, blend in crab apples or hunt down some golden russets, ashmeads kernel, or roxbury

Hi everyone. I remember reading here (ages ago) about a certain chemical that can be added to pickled vegetables like gherkins, to make sure they don't get mushy.

The context was that the OP was worried because their store-bought canned tomatoes didn't properly cook into a pasta sauce, and someone suggested it might be because said chemical had been added to the tomatoes, which turned out to be the likely solution.

As I'm now in the process of making a batch of pickled gherkins/cucumbers, I was trying to find what this was all about, but to no avail. Can anyone help me out? Thanks :)

(Wasn't sure about the flair, "Ingredient Question" might also be correct)

Took this guy home from work, a new addition to our wine list. This is one I sell based on the lacryma christi myth of grapevines springing from the earth after Jesus Christ wept on it and the Vesuvio appellation. I believe these wines tend to be blends of "ancient" grapes such as Piedrosso?

https://preview.redd.it/na55yh93z0781.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=566e105a1511a491e153f654fe2a8d9b221e5a7f

Turns out it's a pretty solid wine! Medjool dates, cherries, figs, plums, leather, and black pepper on the nose and palate - strong tannins given the age of this wine. Otherwise medium-bodied. Heavy sediment is present, I would consider decanting the next time I pour this bottle. Could stand up to lamb, beef, and game pretty well. We once ran a green chile rabbit lasagna as a special, I can't help but wonder how the two would have been together.

I'm fairly young but I'm working really hard to develop my abilities to taste and discuss wine. Please let me know if there's anything I may have missed or described incorrectly. Salud!

I know several folks have either done or heard about the Bud Light dry-hopping experiment (inspired by this: https://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html) but I wanted to share my experience first hand. Long story short, you add dry hop pellets to Bud Light, let it rest for a day or so, then drink the beers.

I just tasted 12 popular NEIPA variations last night and WOW, I highly recommend people give this a shot if you are thinking about it. I was really pleased with how unique each sample tasted, and how you can honestly evaluate the different nuances of hops. I've included some tips/observations if you're looking to give it a shot. This is posted on my blog with pics etc if you want to check it out.

Some Tips:

• The hops tend to swell up and get stuck in the neck of the bottle. This experiment would be a lot easier if you used something like the wide-mouth aluminum Miller Light cans. Maybe glass mason jars (not sure if pressure capable)? At the 12 hour mark, I laid each bottle on its side to help the hops fall to the bottom of the bottle. This caused some fizzing in the beers as the hops sloshed around.
• I degassed each bottle by barely cracking the cap and letting some extra CO2 escape. I don’t know if this actually helped as these beers all gushed when I opened them.
• I opened every beer in the sink, and let the foaming run its course for 2 minutes. The good news is, the foaming pushes most of the hop matter out of the top of each bottle. You will still have at least 6 ounces of beer in each bottle.
• Pour each beer through a fine mesh strainer. This is going to collect 90% of hop matter that could end up in your tasters. I would say my beers were pretty clean in general. Let the beers rest in the cups for 10 minutes before sampling so more hop matter can sink to the bottom. Warmer samples will also help your tastebuds detect the flavor.
• All of the beers were nice and hazy (to be expected).
• Don’t overthink it. I added about 8-10 pellets of each hop variety to every bottle. I thought about measuring it out but decided it probably wasn’t worth the aggravation. This is not about scaling recipes, this is about understanding flavor. 10 pellets rendered strong hop character without producing intense hop burn.
• None of these beers tasted like Bud Light anymore.
• Pour some ground coffee in a small bowl to cleanse your nose in between smelling each sample. T

I'm wondering whether anyone has recommendations for detailed resources on strategies to plan and manage cold soaks, punch-downs, and overall maceration times. The books I have (for example, Modern Home Winemaking by Pambianchi) are frustratingly short on details, beyond longer maceration = more color and tannin, etc.

Full story: I'm making my first wine in several years - 50% cab sav, 50% sangiovese, from Washington State grapes. 10 gallon batch fermented all together from about 145 lbs of grapes (no separation of varieties or of free run/press run). Cold soaked for 48 hours, then pitched yeast. Fermentation in stainless steel held steady in the mid-to-upper 70s, three punch downs per day, pressed at 1.010 after 12 days of primary, racked off the gross lees three days later and pitched LAB at that point.

Took my first taste and critical look at it yesterday. It has fermented to dryness and clarified really nicely. My only complaint is that the color is lighter, and the tannic structure less assertive, than what I was shooting for given the cab content. It's a bright and clear ruby color, maybe tending a bit toward garnet. Tannins are subtle. The wine is balanced, and even though MLF still has a little ways to go, it's delicious and crushable. Admittedly, when I say I was "shooting for" a bolder more tannic wine in this case, it is more of a blind stab than anything else. The wine is definitely pleasant, but also definitely more in the mold of a light-bodied Chianti than anything that is 50% cab.

I'd love to do some more reading or YouTube watching about processes that prioritize extraction. Any books or links you know of that you care to share?

Valtellina is one of my favorite wine regions in Italy. It is the most northern wine region in Lombardy. The vineyards stretch for 45 km mostly on the north bank along the Adda River. It is a region at the foot of the Alps, and the vineyards are organized in rocky, steep terraces built using stones collected from the area.

Nebbiolo, or Chiavennasca as it is locally called, is basically the only grape used to make wine in this region. Among other things, due to the difficult terrain and few optimal locations for the demanding grape, the vineyards had to go up. As a result, so called heroic viticulture is the norm in Valtellina - hard work using only one's own hands, and some plots are on such narrow and steep terraces that harvesting is only possible by carrying fruit baskets like backpacks.

Valtellina has 3 main appellations - Sforzato di Valtellina DOCG, Valtellina Superiore DOCG, Rosso di Valtellina DOC, and Alpi Retiche IGT. In the appellations DOC/G is allowed to produce red wines from Nebbiolo, where the content of the strain must be a minimum of 90%. In practice, virtually all wines in these appellations are 100% Nebbiolo. Only IGT is allowed to produce rose, white and other experiments mainly with Nebbiolo. Sforzato is a wine created in a similar method as Amarone - that is from dried grapes, in this case of course from Nebbiolo.

The Valtellina region includes 5 sub-zones, each producing wines of different character:

- Valgella: wines with a lighter, more floral character

- Inferno: the name strongly suggests the conditions under which the wines are made here ;-) here the wines have a strong structure, tannins, the right amount of % and great potential for ageing

- Grumello: aromatic wines with less aggressive tannins than Inferno

- Sassella: the oldest sub-zone with fantastically balanced wines

- Maroggia: the youngest and smallest sub-zone offering beautiful, smooth wines with strongly marked tannins

In future posts I will suggest specific wines from Valtellina. Let me know if this format is interesting for you, after all, one writes for someone to read it :)

Hey everyone – I'd like to share a couple of my last year's notes and gains in knowledge. Sure I know it's not good style to just hit you with a wall of text, but I suck at taking (food &) drink pictures – so often enough that's what keeps me from posting in real time.

I've wanted to buy and explore and discover plenty of fancy stuff since 2010, since I got my first taste of wonderful old Bordeaux, courtesy of my grandpa (my grandpa's still alright; though unfortunately after 2004 he ceased to buy wines to age. His table wines are still wicked, but I suppose the holiday bottles are my job now?). This past year is the first I've had any extra money at all – I'm still a piss-poor art student, but an extraordinarily lucky one, managing to scavenge just enough funds to buy six or twelve or even eighteen funny single bottles a month again and again and again (always according to the subject line said grandpa likes to use on the occasional Christmas cash transfer: "Sinnvoll verprassen!", or: "Splurge sensibly!").

And I'm wondering whether these precarious circumstances might cause the most fun I'm ever going to have in wine matters? Right now, with little means, every bottle that's better than expected is a major win, and I'm somewhat afraid of the day when I can just buy whatever I want – hard to imagine that'll be inspired by the same explorer spirit!?

The highlight of 2021 has been a gift – 2018 Pago de Carraovejas. I got it in a random package, not knowing from whom; so it was a perfect blind tasting – and only after tasting and realising this was the bottle of the year I figured out it was, in fact, the most expensive bottle in my humble collection (though not by a large margin, at ~32€). The notes say: Dark, chocolate, tar, cloves; accomplished all-round, with an especially phantastic nose. At the back marzipan and leather. Medium-length, perfectly clean finish.

Coincidentally, the second-most expensive bottle ties for first place. Not hoping to catch a truly great Barolo or Brunello or suchlike, I especially focused on nearby less-prominent varieties. The 2009 Sagrantino di Montefalco Sacer by Còlpetrone had a dark nose of chocolate and some herbs. Such strong tannins and so soft at the same time. Savoury notes in the end, roast and smoke, and still so mild!

(Another Sagrantino by Còlpetrone, the 2013 Memoira, made for a really lacklustre impression)

Contenders for a third place might be the **2017 Aglianico del Vulture Re Manfre

I often hear some variation of a study where tasters were given two wines to sample, one being fairly cheap, and one being fairly expensive, and many of them preferred the cheaper wine. Whenever this is talked about in enthusiast communities (such as this one), the frequent response is that some wines are meant to age, or that more expensive wines are more complex, which beginners tend to find inaccessible. I'm curious about this aspect, because I've been noticing this effect myself. A while back, I had Guigal's base level Cotes du Rhone, and quite enjoyed it. A few weeks later, I tried their Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and liked it a lot less. I tend to enjoy Beaujolais (especially Nouveau, which seems to be frowned upon even by aggressively "anti-snob" writers like Wine for Normal People and Reverse Wine Snob), but both times I've gone shopping for Cru Beaujolais, I've just found it quite sour and unenjoyable. I'm guessing that a lot of it has to do with the amount of acid/tannin present in the wine, which I'm still working on adjusting to, but is there any particular reason for those differences, even when the wines should be fairly similar? Is it just grape selection, or are there significant differences in production to bring out the "age-worthy" characteristics?

I'm sort of planning to make meads that go well with certain foods.

My first plan is to make a batch that will go well with smoked salmon. If you were drinking wine a Riesling would be a good choice, so a fresh relatively acidic mead with fruity notes would be a good idea. I think a cyser, maybe with some added apricots or peaches, and fermented with D47 to build fruity and floral aromas would be a good choice. After the fermentation the acidity could be bumped further if necessary with the addition of tartaric acid. A tiny amount of CO2 in the bottles wouldn't hurt either.

But what would go well with a steak? If I was drinking red wine I would like something full-bodied and tannic. How do you do that with mead? I'm thinking a load of mixed berries for complexity/flavour/colour, some of the dried grapes whose name must not be mentioned for body and then some tannin powder and oak after fermentation. I don't know what yeast to use, maybe some red wine yeast now that I'm trying to make a red wine substitute?

Spices and herbs could also be interesting additions to either of the two meads. I think a little bit of black pepper would be nice in the dark tannic mead.

What are your experiences with pairing mead and food and making recipes to compliment certain dishes?

Hi everyone,

After lurking here for a bit and reading the book “Wine Simple” I finally decided to take the leap into the fascinating world of wine. I have yet to go to my local wine store, but I ended up picking up a bottle of the vietti barbera d'asti 2019 from my local grocery store (I asked for the bottle that was lying down on its side from the back). My only other experience with wine was with a 2014 Viognier from Sonoma that opened with pretty jasmine like florals and peaches, but had a harsh finish. I don’t know if that could be due to the 14% ABV or my palate not being used to the alcohol taste of wine. I still need to buy a wine glass and an opener, but am extremely excited to taste the wine and go deep down this rabbit hole :)

If someone has any advice/suggestions/recommendations on how to drink this wine, glasses, other wines to try, I would love to hear them. Glad to finally be a part of this awesome community.

A big thank you to Chateau Garreau who reached out and offered their current portfolio sampling to share for review.

This is my first experience with this particular producer/bottler and I quite enjoyed the ride. The brand has been putting in some serious work to establish a presence stateside, and after a lazy 5 months of sitting on these reviews, I'm finally caught up enough to post them. These reviews feature my abbreviated outturn style for large portfolios of product, and are posted as one so you can get the side-by-side feel without having to keep 8 browser tabs open.

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac Blanche

40% ABV

Fruit salad, cream and sugar, a bit of pear and plum on the nose.

Sweet on the palate, a touch bitter at first but patience is rewarded with pear, peach, a bit of cobbler and creamy sweetness.

Short to moderate finish, more sweetness here and a satisfying complexity that isn’t often found in unaged brandy.

5/10

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac 2015 Cask #126

100% Folle Blanche, 55.4% ABV

Woop woop, a happy helping of caramel, candied nuts, bright and expressive peaches and cream, now we’ve got some grape firing here. It’s the youngest vintage in the set, but you wouldn’t know it blind.

Sweet initially on the palate, low on tannic but high on acid and pepper character. Sweet cream, honey, wood shavings. Light cherry character. Great tradeoff of tannin and grape.

Long finish, a little hot, but a good time. Again, satisfying complexity. Cobbler, raspberry, lightly bready.

6/10

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac 2013 Cask #71

100% Baco, 58.3% ABV

Oh yup, that’s Armagnac. More oak here, dry and tannin forward. A touch of berry, sweet cream and lovely pepper.

Moderate mouthfeel, woody and dry. Tannin is high, blackberry and vanilla bean second in line. A touch of pepper and light barrel char.

Long finish, a little grating and hot, but complex and interesting. If you don’t mind a touch of bitter oak and a bit of spirit, you’re golden. At 58% it’s not punishing, and the complexity is welcome.

6/10

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac 2008 Cask #16

100% Ugni Blanc, 47.8% ABV

Rock on – it’s fruit salad’o’clock again. Butter cream, bright pepper, a touch of orange rind, Cassis, blackberry and that lovely tanninc Armagnac bite.

Moderate mouthfeel, once again the tannin shines. Peach cobbler, cocoa, a touch of tannin and nougat. Dole cocktail fruit syrup. Starting to shine quite nicely.

Long finis

Hi Team,

I've been making wine at home for three years, but I still call myself a beginner. I'm just now figuring out some basic winemaking principles. I haven't tried backsweetening my wines before, and I get a lot of comments that they're too dry.

I've read articles and watched videos about different methods to sweeten wine, and I heard a method described as "step sweetening" that I'm curious about. Basically, you add sugar in stages after secondary fermentation is complete until the ABV is high enough that the yeast can't survive to ferment the newly added sugar.

Here's what I understand of the process:

- 1. Rack and rerack the wine until it's as clear as possible

- 2. Add a measure of simple syrup

- 3. Let the wine go for a week or two and watch for signs of fermentation/changes in hydro readings

- 4. Repeat 2 & 3 until there are no signs of fermentation and the wine tastes good

- 5. Bottle it up

Do I understand this properly? Have any of you done this, and how would you compare it to using sulfites and sulfates?

Here's the recipe I've followed for these wines:Grape wine (5 gallons)- 10 gallons of grapes from my backyard vine- Wild ferment - I just crushed them and let them ferment on their own- Added a magnum of Moscato when I started secondary ferment to eliminate head space in the carboy

Peach wine (5 gallons)- 20 lbs peaches- 6 lbs sugar- black tea for tannins- 1/2 cup raisins- 2 gallons of water- D47 yeast

https://preview.redd.it/vp01g4kqkf081.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f2fa85abf62ae5cf976a2ac35f7cf7ff4cfea576

^(January-February 1502)

In Vino Veritas | The business of grapes

Among the tapestry of royal reds, like Avana, and Freisa, and the crystaline whites, like Luglienga, and Rossese bianco, in the March of Montferrat the Marquis William IX took in the the gentle hillsides around the villages near Castale Monferrato.

In Monferrat, where the peaks of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn lie in the distance, Nebbiolo grapes sting the tongue and cut the hearts of locals. Exclusively grown in Monferrat and often used for joyous occasions, the variety makes a wine with punch, high acidity and tannin. Smelling of rose petals, and earthly delights, it is a grape that takes longer than any other in all Italy to age and mellow. What makes it truely special though is the exclusivity of it, and in this exclusivity William sought to find profit.

He turned to his steward and gestured to the dusty red grapes growing on the vines.

“Fifty years ago, my family started something with this grape, and now it grows here wild and thriving. I have a mind to see our wine take hold where lesser vints currently hold sway.

He smirked at the streward and together with an escort of guardsmen they rode through the vinyard. William describing the expansion he wanted to see, the lands nearby he though possible to use, and how he would utilise the grapes from now on.

"This season we will send our best cask directly to the Vatican, as a gift to His Holiness, the next will go to the King of France, and the third will go to Savoy for our family there should not be forgotten."

Beside them wsa a young boy, William's brother, John, or in the French Jean, he was dressed in a simple tunic and at fourteen was boyish in the face. He plucked a grape and squeezed it between his fingers until it burst with a bloody pop, and William patted him on the head.

"Careful brother, the juice will stain your jacket."

The steward nodded and scribbled something down to remind himself later, then flicked a look up at the Marquis.

"How much should you wish to invest My Lord?"

"Enough to double our production."

Came the reply as quickly as the question was asked. Together the two men ran through a series of numbers and calculations, factoring in seasonal losses, and yearly increases. There was discussions on the local guilds, and nearby vinters who also produced the grape - consideration given to buying out their stocks or else coopting them into market control.

"We should ensure the guild knows that you ar

Do your worst!

I’ve recently started getting into wine a bit in the last two months. My modus operandi has just been to buy a bottle and see what I like and don’t like. I think recently I’ve begun to get a sense of that, and would appreciate some recommendations for what directions I should head in. Also being new to this, I don’t have a good grasp for the terminology so I’d appreciate any corrections or clarifications.

So far I seem to prefer reds to whites, and reds that are dry, tannic, and have a sort of strong or bold flavour. The two most recent wines I’ve tried were a cotes du rhone and a Bordeaux. The cotes du rhone I liked, but felt it was too smooth and easy to drink, with not enough tannins. The Bordeaux has been my favourite that I’ve tried and hit the notes of everything I seem to like so far, except I felt it was too low in what I’m guessing is tartness or acidity.

Is that tartness something I might find in other Bordeauxs or where else should I look? Also my budget is $20 and under, though I’m willing to stretch that to around $25. I appreciate the help :)

Usually, when saying Lombardy wine drinkers think - Lugana, Garda, Franciacorta, possibly Lambrusco fans may also associate Lambrusco Mantovano, the only appellation outside Emilia-Romagna where Lambrusco is produced. And yet Oltrepò Pavese is the largest wine sub-region of Lombardy. A sub-region where we find a whole range of styles, varietals, DOCs and DOCG (sparkling).

Most red wines are based on the local Croatina grape, but many are also made from Barbera or Pinot Nero (mainly Burgundian clones), Uva Rara or Piedmontese Vespolina. White wines are mostly Moscato Bianco (also appassimento) and Welschriesling, Riesling, and other international wines.

The sub-region historically and currently is still dominated by a large production of everyday wines for Lombardy, Milan in particular. Alongside this, some gems are mainly found in specific DOC/G. The most crucial are:- Oltrepò Pavese DOC - the most general and largest appellation of the sub-region, a little wild west where almost anything is possible ;-)- Bonnarda dell'Oltrepò Pavese DOC - territorially a large appellation, but wines from this DOC must contain at least 85% Croatina. Usually, wines from this appellation are slightly sparkling - vivace or frizzante. Could be interesting for Lambrusco fans ;-)- Pinot Neto dell'Oltrepò Pavese DOC - wines with a growing reputation and ageing potential. Based on Burgundian PN clones. Wines with good character, led by red fruit, earthiness and also liquorice.- Buttafuoco DOC - previously part of the overall O.P. DOC, but due to the high quality since 2010, its own DOC. The wines are mainly blends of Croatina and Barbera. Full body, barrel, tannins.- Oltrepò Pavese Metodo Classico DOCG - the second DOCG with the classical method after Franciacorta, but here 70% of the wines are Pinot Nero. Minimum 15 months of contact with yeast. Look for bottles labelled as Cruasé, as these are the best bottles of Rosé (prices around 20€) or Millesimato, i.e. vintage (up to 30€ a lot of good stuff).

Sample bottles coming soon :)

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For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

Now that I'm back to making fruit wines, I'm recalling a batch of dry strawberry made in the 1990s. It was back-sweetened with fresh strawb' juice and was delicious! ... very very fresh fruit taste & nose profile. I laid down the last bottle for three years and upon opening the fresh strawberry profile had faded to a weak, sour flavor...barely a hit of fruit left. I now have a batch of nectarine, peach and sweet cherry in production. How do I preserve the fruit flavor? Or is it best to just drink fruit wines while they're fresh?

In the next few days, I will endeavor to create my first wine. I recently moved to a house that has grape vines in the back. Since my wife and I are not the biggest fans grapes, we decided to give wine making a try.

In my reading, I have learned that reds are to be left on the skins, while whites should rest on the skin for no more than 8-12 hours (if at all).

If the skin of the reds make the wine better, why would they not make the white better? Does it have to do with standard convention of flavor? The only explanations I have been able to acquire, speak on the technical aspects of why it “ruins” white wine, which in truth I do not really understand yet, nor do I have the luxury of time to fully comprehend since I do not want to leave the grapes at the mercy of the elements much longer. It was only about 10 days ago that we learned our grapes were real grapes.

In truth, I do not have a refined palate. I think Panda Express is the pinnacle of flavor and I cannot tell a good wine from a bad (I only recently discovered there are some wines I like). My wife’s palate is only a little better than that.

For this season, we have little hopes of making good tasting wine. We are making wine simply because we enjoy growing, planting and making things, such as sauces and beverages. I also studied classics in college, and I really enjoy the idea of engaging in activities of the ancients (albeit with better biological tools at my disposal).

Tl;dr / summary Will leaving the juice of the white grapes on the skin for the primary fermentation truly result in the abomination promised by so many? Would anyone be able to describe how it affects the flavor in less technical terms?

Or is it simply not a conventional practice and is this frowned up?

Thank you all for your input!!

I passed the Certified exam a few weeks ago, somehow winning the Walter Clore award for highest score - which was seriously unexpected. Wanted to share some advice which others might find useful. Apologies for the length but these are all things I wish I'd known earlier in my studies.

Tasting...

1. Tasting is a learned skill. Blind tasting was quite intimidating for me at first - I was in awe of fellow workshop students and their deductive reasoning skills...feeling dumb as they'd confidently rattle off one descriptor after another, none of which I'd detected. But like most things it gets much easier with practice. OK lots of practice. But hey there are tougher things in life than tasting wine. If it ever becomes too much of a grind then drink your favorite bottle and try to remember why you're doing this in the first place.
2. Calibrate your palate for structure with tasting groups or workshops. It's important to establish a baseline for low/high acid, low/high tannin, low/high alc etc. Structure rarely lies (unlike aromas...at least for me) and is critical for narrowing the list of possible grape varieties.
3. Learn classic markers but also personalize them. Albarino reminds me of the diluted orange juice I drank as a kid. Pinot Grigio smells like Champagne. N Rhone Syrah reminds me of prosciutto. Comparative tasting can help e.g. open 5 bottles of Chablis and taste non-blind and note the common markers (lemon, lime, green apple, oyster shell, <whatever markers you find common>). For classic markers you can't beat Tim Gaiser's blog e.g. http://www.timgaiser.com/.../classic-grape-variety..., http://www.timgaiser.com/.../classic-grapes-variety...
4. **Memorize the testable grape varieties and reg

I opened a bottle of last years redcurrant wine today

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My wife fell in love with these berries when she moved to my country, and planted them all over our garden. Last summer we had a bumper crop, and I made wine.

When the wine was fresh, it was too acidic, and had a some carbonation. Even so, we drank most of it in the fall. Three bottles were saved. Now two are left.

Today, it's still a bit acidic, but it has mellowed. Apart from that it's simply good. Not just good for being home made, I'd prefer this over half the commercial grape wines I've had. The aroma has honey and berries, and reminds me of summer. Flavor is redcurrant, minerally, fresh. Good mouthfeel. The should be zero sugar left, but there's still some sweetness. Pretty magenta-red color, too.

Method/recipe:

I put a cheesecloth bag full of cleaned, washed and frozen redcurrants in a large pot, and mashed the berries up a bit. Some of the berries were under-ripe, I hoped to get tannins from those.

SG of the berry juice was something like 1.035. I dissolved table sugar in a small amount of water, and added this syrup to the berry juice until SG was high enough that I expected to get just over 12% ABV after fermentation. Then put in a packet of Lalvin EC1118.

(Many fruit wine recipes call for 50% or more water, I went with as little as possible for this wine, just enough to dissolve the sugar)

First fermentation was in the pot with just a lid on. I turned and squeezed the bag occasionally. After about 10 days I removed the bag, squeezed what I could out of it, and racked the wine to secondary (a PET bottle with an airlock). It spent about a month in secondary before I bottled it. Fermentation temperature was about 21-22°C

Although I cleaned everything to avoid off flavors and gross contamination, I didn't sanitize the fruit. I figured anything that could survive 12% ABV, pH ~3 and a zillion EC1118 killer yeast cells deserved to win.

What will I do differently next time? More degassing, and I'll try to reduce the acidity before bottling.

Hi there - I’m an amateur wine drinker looking to develop a more sophisticated understand of wine. I know enough about wine to navigate a wine menu with some competence - I understand broad basics of different grape varietals, wine region, old world vs new world, good years, aging. I know basics of tasting (judging appearance / color, legs, tannin, acidity, heat) but little beyond that. And I know what wines I like best (Piedmont reds and old world reds broadly).

I’d like to develop a better understanding of wine tasting and how to take tasting notes and read / understand tasting notes. I’d also like to broaden the horizons of the wines I drink and know (I have very little experience with white wines, new world wine). And lastly I’d like to more deeply explore the wines I like best (Piedmont wines specifically).

I know this is a broad ask, but any helpful advice or resources you could point me towards for even one of those questions would be appreciated. If if helps, I live in NYC so do have access to classes / resources locally to the extent any of you can recommend one. And I am willing to commit substantial money and time to this to the extent that is necessary. Thanks so much!

Hey all, I’ve recently received a big bag of Concord grapes and think it’d be cool to make wine. Currently have the grapes, some red star yeast (premier blanc) water and sugar but unfortunately no carboy.

Does one need a carboy to make wine? Or just a big container? I’ve never done this before but think it’d be cool, I just have no idea how to go about it beyond a basic process.

A big thank you to Chateau Garreau who reached out and offered their current portfolio sampling to share for review.

This is my first experience with this particular producer/bottler and I quite enjoyed the ride. The brand has been putting in some serious work to establish a presence stateside, and after a lazy 5 months of sitting on these reviews, I'm finally caught up enough to post them. These reviews feature my abbreviated outturn style for large portfolios of product, and are posted as one so you can get the side-by-side feel without having to keep 8 browser tabs open.

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac Blanche

40% ABV

Fruit salad, cream and sugar, a bit of pear and plum on the nose.

Sweet on the palate, a touch bitter at first but patience is rewarded with pear, peach, a bit of cobbler and creamy sweetness.

Short to moderate finish, more sweetness here and a satisfying complexity that isn’t often found in unaged brandy.

5/10

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac 2015 Cask #126

100% Folle Blanche, 55.4% ABV

Woop woop, a happy helping of caramel, candied nuts, bright and expressive peaches and cream, now we’ve got some grape firing here. It’s the youngest vintage in the set, but you wouldn’t know it blind.

Sweet initially on the palate, low on tannic but high on acid and pepper character. Sweet cream, honey, wood shavings. Light cherry character. Great tradeoff of tannin and grape.

Long finish, a little hot, but a good time. Again, satisfying complexity. Cobbler, raspberry, lightly bready.

6/10

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac 2013 Cask #71

100% Baco, 58.3% ABV

Oh yup, that’s Armagnac. More oak here, dry and tannin forward. A touch of berry, sweet cream and lovely pepper.

Moderate mouthfeel, woody and dry. Tannin is high, blackberry and vanilla bean second in line. A touch of pepper and light barrel char.

Long finish, a little grating and hot, but complex and interesting. If you don’t mind a touch of bitter oak and a bit of spirit, you’re golden. At 58% it’s not punishing, and the complexity is welcome.

6/10

Chateau Garreau Bas Armagnac 2008 Cask #16

100% Ugni Blanc, 47.8% ABV

Rock on – it’s fruit salad’o’clock again. Butter cream, bright pepper, a touch of orange rind, Cassis, blackberry and that lovely tanninc Armagnac bite.

Moderate mouthfeel, once again the tannin shines. Peach cobbler, cocoa, a touch of tannin and nougat. Dole cocktail fruit syrup. Starting to shine quite nicely.

Long finis