Live virtual wine tasting event for the home winemaker - Done

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I could ask for a list, but they wouldn't have it by screen name. It might be better if people put their first name and screen name when they log into the Zoom call. I asked if they mind if I share the link, so that those that didn't buy the wine could listen in as well. I haven't heard back as of yet.
 
I asked if they mind if I share the link, so that those that didn't buy the wine could listen in as well. I haven't heard back as of yet.

I of course not being able to buy the wine, it still would be nice to listen in. If not live, then at least of a video of the event. Either would be good (especially considering time zone issues). Cheers.
 
Is it 8pm yet?

mr-bean-checking-time.mp4
 
Last edited:
I was enjoying the talk, until a tornado warning came up right near us. Headed to the basement, laptop battery died couldn't get back in. My wife and I still had a wonderful tasting. Would have loved to hear the comments and questions. No damage near us, but just South of us is the Weather Service and the abandoned the building, so we probably made the right call.
 
I was enjoying the talk, until a tornado warning came up right near us. Headed to the basement, laptop battery died couldn't get back in. My wife and I still had a wonderful tasting. Would have loved to hear the comments and questions. No damage near us, but just South of us is the Weather Service and the abandoned the building, so we probably made the right call.

Sorry you had to duck out, but glad you are safe and sound.
 
Ditto - thank you so much for setting this up! What a fun way to spend a Friday night with a MN snowstorm outside. So sorry the weather brought Craig and wife tornados and glad they prioritized safety. I am sure the wines were equally as good in the basement.
 
Thanks Ken for setting it up and for helping me with the Zoom setup. Jim was a good speaker my only complaint is he made us wait 20+ minutes before we could drink wine.

The were a few takeaways I thought were interesting.

1. The business of commercial winemaking: He mentioned the owner was a fan of Bordeaux style wines and that is how he set up his vineyard. Mark asked the question about Norton but the response related to a much broader spectrum of lesser know varietals. Since they are not a boutique winery they must cater to public demand and his message was the general public would not be as interested in something they never heard of. Being relatively new to wine, making wine has given me a much broader appreciation of less common varietals.

2. Different vintages and AVAs: This is one I have always given consideration to. He talked about a winemaker in Paso Robles, Sonoma and/or Napa all being relatively close have different growing conditions and soils requiring different considerations in the vinification.
Even though he knows where his fruit comes from and generally knows what to expect, conditions (primarily weather) alter what is generally expected and their process for example in 2019 might not be the same as 2020. We as home winemakers normally don't have this kind of information and although we do have the ability to test for certain things we are to an extent going into it blind.

3. Yeasts: I believe toward the beginning of his presentation he mentioned they don't experiment much with different yeasts. It seems that through the years they have found particular strains that appear to suit their wines the best. The comment he made about the description yeast producers use to describe the qualities their yeasts provide was interesting. To a certain point I understand where he was coming from but I really don't think these descriptions are totally blind. I'm a big fan of experimenting with yeasts though making decisions is not black and white to me. One example is, BDX is cultured in France for Bordeaux style wines but if I get my fruit from the west coast will it necessarily have the same results. Another is a red or white specific yeast, how the heck does it know what it's fermenting.

4. Making wine once a year: Being I was 61 when I started making wine 5 years ago I think puts me in a category of many here. I don't have years of past experience with my processes. I won't know if what I did this year will provide the product I was hoping for for another 2-3 years. If the wine I made 2-3 years ago is not what I was going for I'm not going to repeat the process. Was the fruit the same, did I learn more since, was my note taking accurate enough to know what I really did, do I think I made the right decisions, all of this makes it difficult to know what and when to change things. So I think he brought up a very good point on this one. I would imagine it's much easier for those who have more years under their belt.

I know there are others I'm not thinking about but all in all I thought it was very interesting not to mention my first Zoom conference. Thanks again Ken for your help getting me set up. It was nice putting a face to an avatar and screen name.
 
I am just curious. Maybe I am just really good at detecting RS (residual sugar) but did anyone else think the reds had a fair amount of RS? Especially the Cab Sauv.
 
Viognier was good. Again slightly off dry IMHO and I could detect just a hint of oak from being born and raised in an oak barrel. A little softer in texture.

I had a Viognier at Thanksgiving from WA State that was born and raised in a Nomblot concrete egg and it was amazing and yet very different than this wine.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top