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At my post-holiday inventory reduction tasting event this past weekend, several of the bottles of wine I had made were opened. The most impressive (by my opinion as well as end-volume comparisons) was the Mosti Mondiale Meglioli Rojo Intenso. As I've said before, it's amazing what a little time...

At just under two years, the MM AllJuice Montepulciano wine that I made back in October of 2008 has started to come into its own, even right out of the bottle, with some really pleasant fruit character and bright red color. While the other AllJuice wines that I made around the same time still...

If you're looking for a nice green-chile looking sauce, give tomatillos a shot. Here are the ingredients for the recipe... 1 pound of tomatillos, husked, destemmed 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar (more if a sweeter sauce is preferred) 3 cloves of garlic...

I didn't see a specific spot for making wine from grapes, so I'm dropping the post here in hopes that a moderator will relocate it if it's better housed somewhere else. This past Saturday, I picked up 12 lugs (216 pounds total) of Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. I was concerned that the...

After spending two weeks and more than 2,400 km driving travelling from the bottom of Spain up into Bordeaux, France and then back to Madrid before returning home, many interesting sights were to be had. Here are a couple of the pictures from that trip. This is a picture of the Maison du...

Last night, the partially filled Super Tuscan bottle that has been hanging out on my countertop decided to start waking up and show me what it has to offer. This wine was a blend I made from the Meglioli Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Sangiovese kits. After 10 days, the wine started showing me...

Last week's question seemed a bit too deep and potentially required too much research to answer, so I'm thinning it out this week. You have a backer that will be able to cover up to $2 million in real estate investment for the vineyard that you plan to build into a winery over the next two...

I have read articles that tested how wine lasted when partially left in the bottle comparing methods like leaving a cork in the bottle and sticking it in the fridge to using a VacuVin, etc. Generally, these articles note that no wine can last three days on the counter with a cork in it. Well, I...

Here's the noodle-baker for this week - have your deep thinking caps ready... Different wine grapes have different personalities that come through when they are made into their liquid gold form. Which one Vitis Viniferagrape do you most resemble? And most importantly, why do you feel this...

I'm not sure how many people have pursued the Mosti Mondiale AllJuice Bourg Royal Rouge when purchasing kits from George. It has a funny name and the description on Mosti's site is rather cryptic and does not provide any idea to the source fruit. Back when I was ordering this, George had it on...

Here's the weekly noodle baker for you. This week it's short and sweet, but nonetheless thought provoking. Wine has been stored, transported and served from a variety of containers throughout history. From the clay vessels of the Roman era to the variety of modern glass bottles. As wine storage...

Sure, the luge, skeleton, and bobsled races are fast. Sure, there are loud outfits and crazy crashes/stunts in downhill skiing. But none of those sports rank for me as my favorite Olympic events. Today is a 'curling' day for the Olympians competing up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I...

As a child, I was subjected to Brussel Sprouts that were overcooked, and therefore not eaten in their ideal state. While I enjoy cabbage, I went for some time ignoring Brussel Sprouts by simply recalling the memories of involuntary convulsions. Taking the matters into my own hands lately, I...

Okay - time for another question of the week. This week, I wanted something that would require a little more effort than the fruit wine question from last week, to which there were an impressive number of responses. Without further ado here is the situation at hand... You are a winemaker that...

This week, we've got an interesting question that could really bake your noodle: If you could only make one type of wine for the next year solid and that wine had to be a fruit/country wine, which single type of fruit would you use? - Jim

Here's a wine postulation for the forum to address: If you could select two places in the world to go learn about wine making, assuming that time and money were not an issue, which two places would you choose and why? I believe my two selections would be the locations of Mendoza, Argentina...

I hosted my first blind wine tasting of 2010this past Saturday. The theme was Zinfandel/Petite Sirah in the $22-30 range. Five wines were tasted and eight people were in attendance. The line up... 2006 Chateau Montelena Zinfandel (Napa) 2007 Old Ghost Zinfandel (Lodi) 2007 Ridge...

Last night, two friends visited with Mila and I and we enjoyed chicken breasts stuffed with caramelized apples, cherries, and Fontina cheese along with pasta and a meat Bolognese sauce and some zucchini. The wine we consumed was a Kaesler WOMS (Weapons of Mass Seduction). Everything rocked. I'm...

I have a Nero d'Avola that I had started in the middle of October 2008. It has been in the bottle since July of 2009 and I opened a bottle this past Sunday to see how it was developing. While it was earlier than I would normally open a red wine to test (only 15 months), there were three of us...

We were hosting a friend of ours from Madrid on Tuesday and I tried two new dishes - stuffed baked red onions and rigatoni with a vegetable Bolognese sauce. It was enjoyed with a 2006 Melka CJ Cabernet Sauvignon, a splendid wine that really opened up and was very smooth. - Jim