Comments for Winemaking: Wine Trail Traveler

Comment on Birds Plundering My Grapes by admin

admin — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:05:36 +0000

Frank,
With birds netting seems to work best, but the grapes have to be covered before the birds discover their whereabouts. Even still we have birds discover where they can enter the netting, so did a chipmunk. Birds have been our worst problem as far as animals go. Hurricanes and the rain train did just about as much damage. I haven’t tried bird seed here because we have a large population of squirrels and they would get to the bird seed before the birds.

As far as deer are concerned, they will claim the vineyard as theirs and stare you down if you walk into it. Two possibilities to try is a high fence or an electric fence. One grower, here in Maryland, installed an electronic fence. He then put out bait. The deer went after the bait and were shocked. They learned to stay away from the bait and fence. However they could easily jump over the fence but haven’t made that connection, yet.

Terry

Comment on Birds Plundering My Grapes by Frank

Frank — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:24:27 +0000

Hi. Curious to know how or if your bird seed attempt worked out. We’re just now clearing land in anticipation of putting in vines next year. Thus, I’m all over the internet raking in all info I can find on such problems as wild life. We’ve got a heard of deer ourselves which, until next Spring (when we put the vines in), have served as calming, inspirational sightings. While my wife looks forward to each sighting, I’m behind her rubbing my chin with thoughts of how to get rid of them. Anyway, glad to have come across your site and wish you all the very best in your vineyard. Frank

Comment on Wine Room Survives Rare East Coast Earthquake by Tim

Tim — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:14:23 +0000

Cheers !!

Comment on It Wasn’t Plonk by Karin

Karin — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 00:09:21 +0000

Props, Terry. You’re living my dream. Considering how freely some of us “critique” wine, jumping into the “making wine” foray is bold. I do envy and would love to taste your craft.

Comment on Our First Wine, Three Years Later by admin

admin — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:51:38 +0000

Bert, Two things that I would do differently if I could make the same Cab from the same kit is to add less water thereby raising the hydrometer reading and raising the potential alcohol and not add the potassium sorbate before bottling. I can understand why wine kit makers include the potassium sorbate, however I do not like its taste and adding it to a dry wine isn’t necessary. Of course, I could have bought a more expensive kit, but I didn’t know then what I know now. My real winemaking education came from making wine at two different wineries with two different philosophies.

Cheers!

Comment on Our First Wine, Three Years Later by Bert

Bert — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:34:41 +0000

My first try at a cab was a disaster (I think I ended up with some cleaning solution/acid in my batch). Since that first attempt, I have found that it is both a science, and an art! My second batch was a success, and a good one if I don’t say so myself. I did find a website that helped a ton though (broke down and paid, but well worth it) at http://www.how-to-make-wine.com I am sure there are others too. Cheers!

Comment on A Delicious Wine Fault by admin

admin — Wed, 04 May 2011 10:36:41 +0000

Why should one label an altered modern wine any more than a traditional wine? Even traditional winemakers add stuff to their wines that consumers are unaware of such as yeast, sugar, tartaric acid and potassium metabisulfite. Then there are a range of winemaking products such as HE Grand Cru, VR Supra, Tan’Cor, Quertanin and the list goes on. Many of these winemaking products come from the Bordeaux company Laffort. Prior to making winemaking products, the Laffort family were pharmacists. During the 19th century it was common for winemakers to take their wine to pharmacists to have it evaluated and fix problems. The Laffort Company was founded in 1895.

Either all wine should list what went into it or no wine should have to list everything that went into it.

Comment on A Delicious Wine Fault by Rob@sat nav reviewed

Rob@sat nav reviewed — Tue, 03 May 2011 22:36:29 +0000

Hi really enjoyed reading your article and was wondering When a traditional wine style is altered by modern winemaking, should the winery have to label it thusly?

Comment on A Delicious Wine Fault by admin

admin — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:54:57 +0000

We liked it. Will try more today with family. Next year I’ll ferment the Niagara to dry and sweeten with concentrate. Still like the fizz and may experiment with different bottles that can withstand some pressure.

Comment on A Delicious Wine Fault by Ben

Ben — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:24:32 +0000

If you ask me, if you liked it, it was success. With that said, personally I would avoid splenda just because of the extra chemicals. Most of the time, we are adding a number of chemicals to turn juice into wine and I prefer to keep it to a minimum. Good luck on the beer! I don’t have much advice to offer there.