Stomping the Niagara Grapes

After the Niagara harvest we sorted the grapes and weighed them. Having almost 13 pounds we had to decide to make jelly or wine. We decided to make a very small batch of wine from the juice. Since we didn’t have a press we were uncertain of how many liters of juice we could press. […]

Was I Crazy for Making a Cabernet Sauvignon/Tannat Blend?

I recalled that Bob Biale of the Robert Biale Vineyards in Napa said I was crazy to consider blending Cabernet Sauvignon with Tannat. Other California winemakers had raised eyes when I mentioned my plans a year ago. There were also those who said unenthusiastically to “go for it.” So I recently bottled my experimental wine, […]

Harvesting the Niagara

I decided, for better or worse to harvest the Niagara grapes. They only reached a brix level of 16 and stalled. The seeds were brown and the flavor was good. Normally, I’d let them hang but since some of the berries were beginning to rot and I don’t have many clusters, I decided to pick […]

Barrel Tasting Cabernet Sauvignon

Kathy and I traveled to Vint Hill Craft Winery in Virginia to taste our Cabernet Sauvignon in the barrel. Our Cab has been in French oak for nine months, since last November. I can keep it in the barrel until next summer. DJ (Vint Hill’s winemaker) explained that the longer a wine remains in a […]

Labeling Bottles

I decided to design a very simple bottle label. Since 2009 was the first vintage of making wines from grapes. To say that we were enlightened at making wine in two different wineries in two states is an understatement. The only thing that was the same at both wineries was the varietal name. However the […]