Barrel Won’t Fit in Wine Cellar

Several years ago I built a wine cellar. Walls were paneled, Ikea wine racks were assembled and old wine corks were cut into quarter round and half round to use as molding. The capacity of the small area was seven cases. It served well until now.

For the past two years we were making a […]

Designing a Wine Bottle Label

I finally designed a label for the wine we are making at Tin Lizzie Wineworks. I’ll use the same label with modifications for the wine I’m making at home and at Vint Hill Craft Winery. Making the label is easier said than done. Because I have to deal with TTB regs at Vint Hill, I […]

Will Plans to Put Foil on the Bottled Wine Get Foiled

The wine I bottle at home does not have foil or wax covering the opening. It is easy to observe the cork for mold or seepage of wine through the cork. At wine stores and wineries since most wines are covered in foil, one cannot observe the cork. A wine with mold on the cork […]

New Year’s Resolutions

2009 was a year of learning about winemaking. Washington State University offers online courses in winemaking and I took the beginning course. Although I began the course in the spring, I quickly put it off to the fall when the winemaking processes the instructor talked about could be seen in practice at Vint […]

Missing out on one grape harvest

Harvest is not predictable even the California harvest. The best guess two months ago was that Cabernet Sauvignon from California would arrive mid-October. So we decided to squeeze a California trip in late September and early October to film vineyards and hopefully harvest. Unfortunately while we are flying to the west coast, the […]

Ready, Set, Wait!

I live by my calendar. Blocking out certain days is no concern, unless I don’t know when the days are. This is the case while waiting for the grapes to arrive at Vint Hill Craft Winery and Tin Lizzie Wineworks. We are at the mercy of the weather, harvest and shipment. Is there […]

Identifying the finished wine

It is always easier to drive to a location if you know the route. Chances are you won’t get lost along the way. Winemaking is similar. If you know what you are looking for, you can craft the wine towards that destination. In July we met with Chris Pearmund, co-owner of Vint Hill. […]

First decisions: the Vintner’s Work Order

If you are interested in making a barrel of wine at Vint Hill Craft Winery, your first decisions will be made when you complete the Vintner’s Work Order. Think of this as an application where you make some early decisions about the wine you want to craft. Your first decision is to select […]