Search results

When we built our house in the mid-90's, about half of new construction planted Bradford Pears. We didn't, as our lot is heavy wooded and the builder planted only ornamental shrubs in front of the house. A few years later we were told that planting of the tree was banned in Wake County (where...

I've been lazy. I bottle the last of the 2022 wines in late November, and have been sporadically labeling & capsuling the wines. I finally got off my duff and finished it today. From left to right: Tempranillo Tempranillo blended with 5% Rhone Blend; we tested the blends and liked both the...

Folks who live in the southeast USA know what this is -- yellow pine pollen. This yellow stuff covers everything for 4 to 6 weeks each spring. I knew it was out -- this morning I woke with plugged sinuses. Yup, allergies. But not to the pine pollen; it's supposed to be too large to be an...

Tonight I racked 4 liters of Cabernet Franc, as I needed top up for the barrel. The plan was to top the barrel, then move the remainder into 750 ml bottles, which I plug with a #3 silicon stopper, which makes great temporary storage. Added 500 ml to the barrel, tasted the barrel sample against...

Our membership does a fair amount of home repair and construction, so it makes sense to have a thread for sharing. My first post is a tip that avoids smashing fingers with a hammer. Weekend before last I assembled a new business desk for my home office, and one of the tasks was to nail a "L"...

The following chain of emails was in Post a Meme regarding vehicles purchasing and pricing, and per usual, it's easy for many of us to dive into that rabbit hole. So ... this thread now exists. At this time it's not stickied, although if it proves popular that's a future possibility. Per usual...

@BigDaveK, I found a new item for you to try to make wine from. I'll even harvest it for you! This "living" roof is a friend's neighbor, and yes, people live in the house. I suspect it currently or in the near future will feature an inside shower.

I installed a Windows 11 update on my laptop, and after reboot there was an icon for CoPilot on my taskbar. I have no interest in so-called "AI", so I found out how to turn it off, and there was an option to send feedback to Microsoft. Later I received an automated reply which includes my...

I spotted this in the Facebook group Winemaking Supplies and Used Equipment For Sale: https://www.poochamwinery.com/forsale They're located in New Hampshire.

We bottled our 2022 Grenache and Tempranillo, including a glass aged Rhone blend (Mourvèdre, Petite Sirah, Syrah). The Rhone Blend was produced with the intention of blending it into the Grenache, and possibly the Tempranillo. To figure out what blends we want, my son & I conducted bench...

For folks on the east coast USA, finding grapes can be tough. When I lived in NY, there were several vineyards that were happy to sell to home winemakers. Many vineyards don't as they want to sell grapes by the ton, not the lug, and I can see their point. When I moved to NC I had a hard time...

In the past I ordered 1 lb Fermax yeast nutrient from North Mountain Supply via Amazon, and I've had good results with them as a seller. This year the cost for Fermax nearly tripled, so I ordered from BSG HandCraft Store, also via Amazon. The product arrived today ... and it's LD Carlson yeast...

On Saturday I drove to @VinesnBines vineyard, Highland Meadow Vineyards, in SW Virginia, where we crushed 120+ lbs each Chambourcin and Vidal for me, and more Chambourcin, Vidal, and Chelois for her and her husband. Winemaking is a lot more fun as a group activity! I'm conducting 2 experiments...

Yesterday @VinesnBines, her husband, and I crushed grapes from their SW Virginia vineyard. I purchased ~120 lbs each Vidal and Chambourcin, which were each in 3 different containers for transport home. Last night I separated out 4 gallons of Vidal juice and put the remaining juice and pulp in a...

If all goes well, next Saturday I'm purchasing Chambourcin and Vidal from @VinesnBines from her western VA vineyard. For the Chambourcin, I'm planning a short EM -- seal the fermenter when SG reaches 1.010, and press on Day ~14. Nothing exceptional or exciting. The Vidal is going to be split --...

We are planning to purchase a couple of juice buckets at the same time as grapes. The plan is to ferment the grapes, lightly press, then add the juice buckets to the pomace to extract all the goodness possible from the pomace. Last year we did the same with Merlot kits, and the results are...

I'm considering repeating last year's experiment -- adding the pomace from grapes to kits, making a superior version of a second run wine. I'll have pomace from Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and am thinking of adding it to a Cabernet Franc kit. The only one on the market that I've found is...

Does anyone have experience with the ABC Crafted Series brand? My niece found a Gamay kit she'd like to make, but we are unfamiliar with the vendor. Good, bad, or indifferent? Thanks! EDIT: I fixed the typo in this post, but can't change the thread title.

I frequently tell people to record their tasting notes, to experience how wines change as they age. It's the best tutorial on wine aging that we can give ourselves. Today I opened a bottle of a Barbera kit I started in August 2021, two years ago. I looked at my notes and realized I have not...

A new forum has been created for buying/selling fruit: https://www.winemakingtalk.com/forums/small-quantities-of-fruit-buy-sell-trade.133/