At the second workshop, on April 29, the team will discuss ways to advance high-quality grape growing, winemaking and wine marketing. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Buck Creek Winery, located southwest of Indianapolis. “Our spring wine grape workshops are a perfect opportunity to improve upon your sustainable vineyard and winery practices,” said Christian Butzke, associate professor of enology.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Growing wine grapes, making wine workshops to be offered in April
The Purdue Wine Grape Team will host two Extension workshops in April for those interested in commercial winegrowing and winemaking. The first workshop, on April 15, will focus on vineyard establishment and will help farmers and entrepreneurs who are planning to expand their businesses. The workshop will be at Oliver Winery’s Creekbend Vineyard in Ellettsville, Ind., from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Topics include vineyard layout, vine planting, trellis establishment, weed management, sprayer calibration and use of Driftwatch, as well as vine training and canopy management through year three after planting. Private pesticide applicators will receive recertification credit for attending.
At the second workshop, on April 29, the team will discuss ways to advance high-quality grape growing, winemaking and wine marketing. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Buck Creek Winery, located southwest of Indianapolis. “Our spring wine grape workshops are a perfect opportunity to improve upon your sustainable vineyard and winery practices,” said Christian Butzke, associate professor of enology.
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At the second workshop, on April 29, the team will discuss ways to advance high-quality grape growing, winemaking and wine marketing. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Buck Creek Winery, located southwest of Indianapolis. “Our spring wine grape workshops are a perfect opportunity to improve upon your sustainable vineyard and winery practices,” said Christian Butzke, associate professor of enology.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Assembly ships wine shipping toward governor
The Senate has joined the House of Delegates in passing a proposal that enables wineries to ship bottles directly to Maryland homes. All 45 senators who voted on the shipping bill gave it the green light.(Sen. J.B. Jennings is away at flight training and Sen. Ulysses Currie did not vote.)
Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he would sign the legislation. That's the only major step remaining, though procedural legislative votes remain. The legislation would take effect July 1, in time for late summer wine sipping.
After years of disputes about whether Maryland should join 37 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing wine shipping, the alcohol industry, consumers and lawmakers this year struck a compromise. The House passed the bill nearly unanimously on Saturday.
Wineries can pay a $200 annual fee to ship to Marylanders. Residents can receive up to 18 cases per year. Retailers, including those who feature "wine of the month" clubs, may not ship to Maryland homes. Only about a dozen states allow retailer shipping.
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Gov. Martin O'Malley has said he would sign the legislation. That's the only major step remaining, though procedural legislative votes remain. The legislation would take effect July 1, in time for late summer wine sipping.
After years of disputes about whether Maryland should join 37 other states and the District of Columbia in allowing wine shipping, the alcohol industry, consumers and lawmakers this year struck a compromise. The House passed the bill nearly unanimously on Saturday.
Wineries can pay a $200 annual fee to ship to Marylanders. Residents can receive up to 18 cases per year. Retailers, including those who feature "wine of the month" clubs, may not ship to Maryland homes. Only about a dozen states allow retailer shipping.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Lake Country Wines offers in-store wine making
Lake Country Wines is now officially open for business. Located on the northeast corner of Bob’s Adium gas station in Brandon, Lake Country Wines offers an extensive selection of concentrated grape wine kits and related equipment for the home winemaker. The owner of Lake Country Wines, Mike Cleary, is also offering an area exclusive – in-store wine making.
Customers have the choice of purchasing kits and equipment to make their own wines at home or to use the store’s equipment and make their wine on location. Cleary said he’s excited about the opportunity to introduce others to the growing hobby of home winemaking and is offering free classes and one-to-one instruction.
Making your own wine is legal and is exempt from both federal and state regulations, Cleary noted. Customers may make up to 100 gallons per year free from tax and up to 200 gallons per household. Each gallon makes about five 750/ml bottles of wine.
The wines kits offered by Lake Country Wines are all made from wine grapes grown around the world. Choices include cabernet, merlot, chardonnay, pinot and creative combinations like peach chardonnay, blackberry merlot, blueberry shiraz and green apple Gewurztraminer.
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Customers have the choice of purchasing kits and equipment to make their own wines at home or to use the store’s equipment and make their wine on location. Cleary said he’s excited about the opportunity to introduce others to the growing hobby of home winemaking and is offering free classes and one-to-one instruction.
Making your own wine is legal and is exempt from both federal and state regulations, Cleary noted. Customers may make up to 100 gallons per year free from tax and up to 200 gallons per household. Each gallon makes about five 750/ml bottles of wine.
The wines kits offered by Lake Country Wines are all made from wine grapes grown around the world. Choices include cabernet, merlot, chardonnay, pinot and creative combinations like peach chardonnay, blackberry merlot, blueberry shiraz and green apple Gewurztraminer.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Why Blending in Winemaking Matters
“Blending is the winemakers’ equivalent to chefs cooking up a signature dish,” says Brian Bicknell, owner of the New Zealand winery Mahi. While some wines — such as Burgundies — are made from a single kind of grape grown in a single year, most wines are blends of grapes grown in various years. Blending together wines made from different grapes allows winemakers to combine less-stellar batches — too acidic or tannic, say — to create a wine that’s better balanced.
Every year, Mr. Bicknell sits down with four or five people from his vineyard — including his wife, who he says has a “fresher and more commercial palate” — to make the blending decisions. They spend two weeks tasting and rating 30 or so unbottled wines in stock at the winery, aiming to craft from them an ideal blend, which is then bottled and sold.
As an exercise, you can try blending at home. Start with a few bottles of different mid-to-low-end drinking wines, and keep three rules in mind: Taste your wines at room temperature, not chilled, so the flavors blossom fully; taste the dry wines before the sweet ones; younger before old and more-acidic wines first; and take breaks to prevent “palate fatigue.”
“At the end of the day, the best blend is in the eye of the beholder,” says Mr. Bicknell. “Everyone has a signature style.”
Winemakers usually consider the following before they blend:
Grape type. Different grapes have innate flavors: Sauvignon Blancs, for example, tend to be floral and fragrant, while Chardonnays have a fuller body. And thin-skinned Pinot Noirs grapes are much lighter in tannin than thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignons grapes.
Vintage. Temperatures yield different flavors in grapes: Colder years tend to result in higher-acid grapes and warmer years in grapes with riper fruit flavors.
Vineyard. Besides temperature, certain vineyards also have specific soil characteristics that filter directly into the taste of the grapes. And certain wine-growing regions favor certain winemaking styles — California winemakers, for instance, prefer different tastes than French winemakers.
Machine or hand-picked. Grapes picked en masse by machines are usually harvested later in the year. Having spent more time on the vine, they produce wines that Mr. Bicknell calls “fruit bombs” because they’ve had more time to ripen and produce sugar. Hand-picked grapes, plucked at an earlier stage of ripening, tend to exhibit less in-your-face fruit flavors, and create wines that carry earthy expressions on the palate.
Pressed vs. free-run. When grapes are machine-pressed, much of the potassium from the skin also seeps into the liquid. This lowers the acidity of the grape juice and adds a “soapy” texture.
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Every year, Mr. Bicknell sits down with four or five people from his vineyard — including his wife, who he says has a “fresher and more commercial palate” — to make the blending decisions. They spend two weeks tasting and rating 30 or so unbottled wines in stock at the winery, aiming to craft from them an ideal blend, which is then bottled and sold.
As an exercise, you can try blending at home. Start with a few bottles of different mid-to-low-end drinking wines, and keep three rules in mind: Taste your wines at room temperature, not chilled, so the flavors blossom fully; taste the dry wines before the sweet ones; younger before old and more-acidic wines first; and take breaks to prevent “palate fatigue.”
“At the end of the day, the best blend is in the eye of the beholder,” says Mr. Bicknell. “Everyone has a signature style.”
Winemakers usually consider the following before they blend:
Grape type. Different grapes have innate flavors: Sauvignon Blancs, for example, tend to be floral and fragrant, while Chardonnays have a fuller body. And thin-skinned Pinot Noirs grapes are much lighter in tannin than thick-skinned Cabernet Sauvignons grapes.
Vintage. Temperatures yield different flavors in grapes: Colder years tend to result in higher-acid grapes and warmer years in grapes with riper fruit flavors.
Vineyard. Besides temperature, certain vineyards also have specific soil characteristics that filter directly into the taste of the grapes. And certain wine-growing regions favor certain winemaking styles — California winemakers, for instance, prefer different tastes than French winemakers.
Machine or hand-picked. Grapes picked en masse by machines are usually harvested later in the year. Having spent more time on the vine, they produce wines that Mr. Bicknell calls “fruit bombs” because they’ve had more time to ripen and produce sugar. Hand-picked grapes, plucked at an earlier stage of ripening, tend to exhibit less in-your-face fruit flavors, and create wines that carry earthy expressions on the palate.
Pressed vs. free-run. When grapes are machine-pressed, much of the potassium from the skin also seeps into the liquid. This lowers the acidity of the grape juice and adds a “soapy” texture.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Wine & Food Event at Olio
Most people don’t associate alcohol with education. This, Olio Restaurant hopes to change that by bringing in Bob Stashak, well-known winemaker, for its wine lecture and tasting event, Wednesday, March 16. Bob Stashak began his winemaking career at F. Korbel and Bros. after graduating from the University of California at Davis in 1973.
Twenty years later, he found Classic Wines of California, which had been looking to expand its sparkling wine production. There, Stashak implemented a traditional bottle-ferment sparkling wine program. Stashak, who’s been in the winemaking business for 38 years, now oversees all of Classic Wines of California’s sparkling wine programs, including bottle fermented and tank-fermented sparkling wines.
Stashak will bring his wine tasting expertise and wine knowledge to Olio Restaurant. Along with wine and wine education, there will be a specialized menu, including bruschetta, smoked trout fillet, white bean and tomato soup, medium-rare prime Angus cigarel, and a chocolate cupcake.
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Twenty years later, he found Classic Wines of California, which had been looking to expand its sparkling wine production. There, Stashak implemented a traditional bottle-ferment sparkling wine program. Stashak, who’s been in the winemaking business for 38 years, now oversees all of Classic Wines of California’s sparkling wine programs, including bottle fermented and tank-fermented sparkling wines.
Stashak will bring his wine tasting expertise and wine knowledge to Olio Restaurant. Along with wine and wine education, there will be a specialized menu, including bruschetta, smoked trout fillet, white bean and tomato soup, medium-rare prime Angus cigarel, and a chocolate cupcake.
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