Last weekend was our once a month or so “Saturday night at the cabin - Eat, Drink and be Silly” Time. A chance to escape the heat of home, visit Mom, sit out on the deck, enjoy the forest, play card games, drink a few bottles of wine, eat great food (at least it always tastes like great food) and laugh for hours.
We started with my 2012 Merlot made from a 6 gal Lodi Juice Bucket along with a 96oz can of Vintner’s Harvest blackberrys. This was the first bottle I’ve opened since bottling and I didn’t quite know what to expect BUT it was really very good, I might even have to enter it in Cellermaster’s Contest this year. Unfortunetly I only brought up one bottle so we pulled a bottle of my WE coastal red from the cellar and started to drink it. Until now I’ve been very pround of my slightly tweeked coastal reds but now realize they’re really weak by comparison. A lot thinner, almost watered down feeling and tasting too. I kind of feel embarrased that I thought my kits tasted so good but in fairness “you only know what you know”.
Check off another point on the experience/learning curve meter, cheap kits NOT SO GOOD - Juice Buckets MUCH BETTER. So I’m hoping this year to step up another notch, I’ve ordered Sanoma County 5.5 gal juice buckets and a 36lb lugs each for both Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir all to be picked up Oct. 3rd. That weekend will be Our first mini Crush party but hopefully it will also be another giant leap in learning to make a better quality wine.
Mike
We started with my 2012 Merlot made from a 6 gal Lodi Juice Bucket along with a 96oz can of Vintner’s Harvest blackberrys. This was the first bottle I’ve opened since bottling and I didn’t quite know what to expect BUT it was really very good, I might even have to enter it in Cellermaster’s Contest this year. Unfortunetly I only brought up one bottle so we pulled a bottle of my WE coastal red from the cellar and started to drink it. Until now I’ve been very pround of my slightly tweeked coastal reds but now realize they’re really weak by comparison. A lot thinner, almost watered down feeling and tasting too. I kind of feel embarrased that I thought my kits tasted so good but in fairness “you only know what you know”.
Check off another point on the experience/learning curve meter, cheap kits NOT SO GOOD - Juice Buckets MUCH BETTER. So I’m hoping this year to step up another notch, I’ve ordered Sanoma County 5.5 gal juice buckets and a 36lb lugs each for both Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir all to be picked up Oct. 3rd. That weekend will be Our first mini Crush party but hopefully it will also be another giant leap in learning to make a better quality wine.
Mike
