Blog entries

Pairing and Enjoying Finger Lakes White Wines

Jason Phelps — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:58:59 +0100

With a month or less to go before the 2012 WineMaker Magazine
Conference in Ithaca, NY I’m continuing to take the opportunity to share my
experiences with the regions’ wine and people. For any conference-goers reading,
make sure you tuck the following tidbit away. The best wines that I have had
from the region are the aromatic whites, with R...

Enthusiastic

Chris Henry — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:48:27 +0100

Before embarking on my forays into kit winemaking there are
a few things to update. First off,
I was able to confirm that, despite my confusion over a 25 vine limit in their
FAQ, Vintage Nurseries was not
doing me a special favor by sending me two vines, but they indeed will supply
anyone from 1 to 100 vines via their website. Buying in small quantities isn’t cheap
with shipping but there aren’t many alternatives. The rootstock order is in, so I will report on the
experi...

The Wise Man Knows he Doesn’t Know

Chris Henry — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:02:00 +0100

Having settled in after my foray into a snowy Middle East, my
whole urban vining effort is in full swing again with the fermenting of my kit,
the order of my replacement vine, the decision to switch from wood mulch to
living mulch, and the emergence of this year’s new growth. I will cover all these things in future
posts but for today I will focu...

Coq au Vin with Homemade Petit Verdot

Jason Phelps — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:52:48 +0100

I use my slow cooker all the time. Slow cooking bone-in
chicken with vegetables, herbs and various cooking liquids is the most frequent
combination. Wine is often one of those cooking liquids, also fueling the cook
and pairing with the finished meal. Check out a pork
and wine pairing from 2010 that I still remember quite vividly.

Some time ago I adapted a straightforward recipe for Co...

Pumped Up

Chris Henry — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:21:45 +0100

It has been an eventful month since last post, starting with
a Valentine’s getaway, meandering into a snowstorm in the Middle East, and
finally ending with a possible solution for replacing my vine. In parallel with, and because of, this
unusual string of events I have not yet started my first kit, but rather been
slowly building up my winemaking supplies in preparation...

Ice Wine Makers: a Little Bit Fanatic

Tim Vandergrift — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:07:11 +0100

Makers of ice wine probably don't sleep very soundly in the autumn, waiting for the turn of the weather. In the eyes of most ordinary folk in Canada and northern Europe, they must seem absolutely nuts: they actually look forward to the night of the first frost after a warm summer and autumn. And when that frost comes, they leap early out of bed, instead of burrowing under the covers, bursting in...

Heart & Hands Wine Company – Union Springs, NY

Jason Phelps — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:54:44 +0100

What do you call a 2000 case production winery? Small. Tom
& Susan Higgins, the proprietors of Heart & Hands Wine Company,
call it just right. Heart & Hands Wine Company is located in Union Springs,
NY on the Eastern shore of Cayuga Lake. Production is focused on Pinot Noir and
Riesling sourced from vineyards on several lakes and made in small lots using
tradit...

Back In The Finger Lakes

Jason Phelps — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:35:02 +0100

Winter in the Finger Lakes. Cool climate wine tourism definitely has an off-season and despite some producers taking time off and open restaurants hard to find, the quieter pace of the season provides plenty of opportunity to network, taste and have fun. And if, as in my case, you are doing recon for future visits, the extra time can be put to good use.

Tra...

Filling the Fourth

Chris Henry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:27:55 +0100

With the room that is to contain my future winemaking
station undergoing a home makeover, it was time to shift back to the vines
outside. The leaves having
abandoned their vines, and the harsh Southern California winter in full force,
I braved the elements and snipped away for their winter pruning in the
forbidding 78 degree (F) winter su...

Hey You Young Wines, Get Off of My Lawn!

Tim Vandergrift — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 02:07:27 +0100

“I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.” - Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer

“All things must pass.” - George Harrison

Conventional wisdom suggests that older things tend to be better: the wisdom of age, the usefulness of long tradition, the lasting legacy of well-written books, and of course, well-a...

Pinot Noir: Up Close & Personal

Jason Phelps — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:00:27 +0100

I first wrote about my ideas on developing one’s senses and
improving wine tasting skill in March of 2011 in a post entitled Approaching
Wine that was guest authored for the Seacoast Beverage Lab, a beer blog
based in Portsmouth, NH. In that post I recommended tasters closely study
freshly cut grass and lemon to develop a sensory memory for better recognition
in wines. I suggested that Sau...

Spaced Out

Chris Henry — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:53:02 +0100

The biggest challenge for me in my Urban Vining endeavor has
been a lack of space. I am finding that same challenge persists as I move
toward the winemaking side of things.
On the viticulture side, space was the most limiting factor, as our .23
of an acre speck of land (much of which is taken up by the house) did not
provide much of a canvas ...

Take Two Glasses of Wine and Call me in the Morning

Tim Vandergrift — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:55:39 +0100

“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.” (1 Timothy 5:23)

Note: I'm not a doctor--I don't even pretend to be one to pick up girls--so this is not medical advice or a recommendation to use alcohol in anything other than a reasonable and moderate way, conducive to a healthy lifestyle embracing a go...

Flour Leather

Chris Henry — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 23:14:30 +0100

The New Year will bring with it a new experience in my urban
vineyard endeavor. As the picture
shows, most of the leaves have fallen.
There are still a few stubborn stragglers remaining, some leaves
clinging on, reluctant to be separated from the vine, while others merely need
the slightest of touches, or a gentle breeze, to let ...

A New Year and New Projects

Jason Phelps — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 22:52:19 +0100

Home winemaking is very much a seasonal hobby, fruit is
ready in its own time and when that time comes we crush it. That said, the
turning of a new year does bring thoughts of “what should we make this year”
and “is there something new I’d like to try this year?” These are the
resolutions you and I might actually keep . . .

In 2012 I can see a few directions emerging already.

Christmas has come early for me, as a very generous reader
of winemakermag.com has given me a potential replacement for my
deceased Mourvèdre. In a previous
post I had outlined how I had inadvertently killed one of my four vines and was
looking to replace it. About a
month or two back I received an em...

Meadmaking is Catching a Fire

Jason Phelps — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:17:02 +0100

We’ve all had those moments when we realize something has
our attention and we can’t deny it. Earlier in the year I shared the
inspiration and the recipe for my Orange/Vanilla
Mead. As my second ever batch of mead the Orange/Vanilla came out better
than most other things I’ve made this year. Everyone who has had it had said
somethi...

Garden Camel

Chris Henry — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:50:49 +0100

This year I can count the number of times I have watered my
vines on one hand with some to spare.
No, I was not born with an abnormally large number of digits on either
hand (nor an abnormally small number to be clear). Further, while is has rained of late, is has not been a wet
year here in San Diego with very little rain in spring and none in the summer.
In ...

Wild Weather Will Leave Its Mark on the 2011 Sonoma Wines

Jason Phelps — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 19:35:21 +0100

I had a one day commando mission to Sonoma earlier in the
month, my first actually. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Not long enough. I get it.
Read about the larger context for the trip at the post One
Day In Sonoma at the Ancient Fire Wine Blog.

How I heard it, some Sonoma producers saw 50% crop loss due
to badly timed rains and other weather im...