What's in your glass tonight?
- Thread starter Boatboy24
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Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
Wegman's, actually. It was pretty good. Not the best one I've had, but I enjoyed it, and it went well with dinner.
Impressive wine selection for a grocery store!
Another fun wine to try if you like a food friendly white wine with loads of minerality and plenty of zing. From the Basque region of Spain and only clocking in at 11% ABV.
Cyser 2023
This is homegrown windfall organic King apples with a few windfall Russets at SG 1.040 chaptalized to SG 1.093 with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey to SG 1.093 ground and pressed, then fermented with 71B yeast and treat mid ferment with bentonite to SG 1.000, sorbated and then treated with 1.5 tsp citric acid in a 25 bottle carboy. This sample is taken from the carboy in my cooler.
Here are my comments:
Appearance - clear, deep yellow
Smell - no oxidation, intense honey smell, very fragrant, apple smell is evident
Tannin -good
Acid - acid balances the slight sweetness due to addition of citric acid. Citric acid may have helped create a more complex smell.
Flavour - this is slightly sweet, but tasty nevertheless. The next time I make it I'll try to get the SG below 1.000 so it is less sweet. It has a long finish with a nice, rich aftertaste. This is perfect for those who don't their wines bone dry. It could also be very good as a cooking wine in something like prawn linguine with a cream sauce or a Chinese food marinade for seafood, vegetables (including mushrooms) or pork in a chow mein or chop suey
This is homegrown windfall organic King apples with a few windfall Russets at SG 1.040 chaptalized to SG 1.093 with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey to SG 1.093 ground and pressed, then fermented with 71B yeast and treat mid ferment with bentonite to SG 1.000, sorbated and then treated with 1.5 tsp citric acid in a 25 bottle carboy. This sample is taken from the carboy in my cooler.
Here are my comments:
Appearance - clear, deep yellow
Smell - no oxidation, intense honey smell, very fragrant, apple smell is evident
Tannin -good
Acid - acid balances the slight sweetness due to addition of citric acid. Citric acid may have helped create a more complex smell.
Flavour - this is slightly sweet, but tasty nevertheless. The next time I make it I'll try to get the SG below 1.000 so it is less sweet. It has a long finish with a nice, rich aftertaste. This is perfect for those who don't their wines bone dry. It could also be very good as a cooking wine in something like prawn linguine with a cream sauce or a Chinese food marinade for seafood, vegetables (including mushrooms) or pork in a chow mein or chop suey
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Retaste:
retaste:
Appearance - clear deep cherry red
Smell - beautiful rich complex fruit bomb nose that lingers
Tannin - good
Acid- slightly high for the tannin level but should drop as it ages. This acid level should be perfect if I let this age for 3-5 years.
Flavour - This is a really tasty and fragrant fruit wine.
Bottom line- this is a really interesting fruit wine with a really good smell and aftertaste. The acid is high enough (from the raspberries) that I don't notice the SG 1.000 sweetness. I'm tempted to make some of it again as a fruit port. The wild black cherries really seem to improve the Black Iris (wild cherry blackberry elderberry blend). I'll definitely make some as a table wine.
What's in my glass? An Old Fashioned ... made with cognac.
For a few years my sons and I have been exchanging bottles at birthdays and Christmas, and I built up a collection of 30+ bottles of many things. Enough that I'm out of space. I like most liquors, but don't drink a lot of it on any regular basis.
So ... having run out of rye (my favorite for Old Fashioned), I've been trying other things in an effort to reduce the bottle count. My least favorite bottle of Scotch worked ok as did my least favorite Irish whiskey. When I say "least favorite" that's with respect to my other bottles, so it's all good stuff.
After work I made an Old Fashioned with cognac, Agnostura bitters, and black walnut bitters. Not as good as rye, but still pretty good,
For a few years my sons and I have been exchanging bottles at birthdays and Christmas, and I built up a collection of 30+ bottles of many things. Enough that I'm out of space. I like most liquors, but don't drink a lot of it on any regular basis.
So ... having run out of rye (my favorite for Old Fashioned), I've been trying other things in an effort to reduce the bottle count. My least favorite bottle of Scotch worked ok as did my least favorite Irish whiskey. When I say "least favorite" that's with respect to my other bottles, so it's all good stuff.
After work I made an Old Fashioned with cognac, Agnostura bitters, and black walnut bitters. Not as good as rye, but still pretty good,
retaste comments:
Here are my comments:
Appearance - clear, pale gold
Smell - pleasant, good complex nose that lingers from all components, more intense than last time. Honey smell is dominant.
Tannin - good from russet apples
Acid - good from Chenin Blanc and russet apples
Flavour - this is my palate. I'd make it again in a heartbeat, rich, complex dry table wine with a really good long finish.
Bottom line - If you make white wine from fresh grapes crushed and pressed consider soaking the press skins and 24 hour juice sediment with pectic enzyme without water or sugar as 2nd run white grape and then mixing it with apple juice from ground and pressed apples without water or sugar and add unpasteurized honey to it without heating in a blend of apple- honey - 2nd run white. The 2nd run white grape improves the acid on any apple juice. You can also blend white grape wine 1st run with apple-honey (cyser) which is what this is. Pyment is grape + honey. Cyser is apple + honey. If you grow white wine grapes and they are slightly acidic plus you grow or have access to really good apples then consider making Cyser Pyment from any white wine grape or any apple variety. This wine was made from Brehm frozen Chenin Blanc juice and apple juice from my homegrown Russet, King and Cox apples plus locally sourced unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey.
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- Apr 12, 2011
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I like Zin! This one has pepper and cherries on the nose, and cherries, strawberries and ? Spices on the pallate. 13.5 %.
Boatboy24
No longer a newbie, but still clueless.
I picked up a bottle of Casamigos Anejo today and intend to try out the Anejo Old Fashioned this weekend.
https://www.liquor.com/recipes/anejo-old-fashioned/
I have a mid-range white tequila I use for Margaritas, and a light amber for sipping. I also have two dark ones ... I made a Blue Margarita the other day with one and it was VERY good.
The recipe in the link is:
- 1/4 ounce agave nectar
- 1 dash Angostura bitters
- Orange peel
- 3 ounces añejo tequila
- Garnish: brandied cherry
I have Luxardo and Rex cherries. The Rex are a bit cheaper and are good, but Luxardo have a very nice crunch to them. Texture is worth the extra $$$.
Costco find (once a year) !!!!!!
retaste from a freshly bottled 1 gallon jug:
Appearance - inky purple
Smell - cherries, prune plums and black currants plus mocha chocolate. Good nose becoming more distinctive.
Tannin - good
Acid - fine
Flavour - this is decent, a good everyday house wine which I attribute to a 71B/RC212 yeast combination. It was picked at SG 1.086 in perfect condition, dry with no damage from mildew, botritis or wasps.
To follow up on this, I made the drink with dark tequila, maple syrup (only liquid sugar I had available), one dash each Angostura Aromatic and Orange bitters, 2 Luxardo cherries. It was pretty good.
The next day I purchased agave syrup and substituted for the maple syrup -- it made a huge difference, much better IMO.
Anyone who likes tequila may like this one. Anyone who doesn't, won't. It doesn't replace rye as my favorite, but it's a nice change of pace.
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2011
- Messages
- 644
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- 696
Meanwhile, back in the Okanagan, Hester Creek's old vine merlot is one of my favourite wines. Aromas and flavours of cherries, cocoa and mocha. Very intense! 14.6%.
retaste:
Appearance - clear, lemon yellow
Smell - lychees, cantaloupe and nutmeg
Tannin - fine
Acid - fine (my wife Carol's palate)
Flavour - good rich German muscat
This is a Portuguese red, blended from unspecified grapes, intentionally targeted at 10% ABV. The winemaker says so on the back label.
It has great color, strong tannin, great flavor, strong nose ... but the mouthfeel is a bit thin. To be fair, I'm used to drinking reds in the 13% to 14.8% ABV range, and the difference in ABV is significant.
I like it and would buy it again, but it's certainly different. Which is ok, no point in drinking the same wine, day after day.
It reminds me of a comment a friend made many moons ago. He went into the US Air Force and spent 3 years in Germany, drinking German beer. After exiting service he returned to his home area. He got together with his high school buddies, and consistently drank them under the table. He was used to drinking significantly stronger German beer, and when drinking American mass market beer, he could literally drink twice as much without noticing it.
It has great color, strong tannin, great flavor, strong nose ... but the mouthfeel is a bit thin. To be fair, I'm used to drinking reds in the 13% to 14.8% ABV range, and the difference in ABV is significant.
I like it and would buy it again, but it's certainly different. Which is ok, no point in drinking the same wine, day after day.
It reminds me of a comment a friend made many moons ago. He went into the US Air Force and spent 3 years in Germany, drinking German beer. After exiting service he returned to his home area. He got together with his high school buddies, and consistently drank them under the table. He was used to drinking significantly stronger German beer, and when drinking American mass market beer, he could literally drink twice as much without noticing it.
Chardonnay Muscat 2023
The Chardonnay is from Sheridan Vineyard grapes in boxes fermented with D47 yeast and bentonited mid ferment and then oaked with medium toast American oak (my son in law's choice). The Muscat is the homegrown one described above unoaked. This is an 80/20 Chardonnay/Muscat blend in a glass from 2 cooler carboys. Here are my comments:
Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow
Smell - complex fragrant nose, buttered popcorn, papaya, honeydew melon, lychees, nutmeg
Tannin - fine
Acid - fine
Flavour - oak is evident but not overpowering after 69 days, 23 medium toast American oak cubes in a 15 bottle carboy. This is rich with some oakiness in the finish. I gave my sone in law 12 Muscats for Xmas so he can make 60 bottles of this. Then I tried the same wines in a 60/40 blend (Chardonnay/Muscat). Here are my comments on that blend:
Appearance - clear lemon yellow
Smell - complex fragrant nose, same as above except buttered popcorn smell is weaker
Tannin - fine
Acid - fine
Flavour - oak is evident but less intense than 80/20 blend. This more delicate than the 80/20 blend above. Surprisingly I think that 80/20 blend is better due to its intensity. My son-in-law will probably go that route. Finally I tasted a Brehm frozen juice California Chardonnay unoaked with the Muscat which didn't have the Washington Sheridan Vineyard buttered popcorn smell. This is good too. What is best is entirely subjective i.e. how much do you liked oaked Chardonnay. My son in law loves oaked Chardonnay. Me less so but having said that it is really rich and tasty I'm ok with it.
The Chardonnay is from Sheridan Vineyard grapes in boxes fermented with D47 yeast and bentonited mid ferment and then oaked with medium toast American oak (my son in law's choice). The Muscat is the homegrown one described above unoaked. This is an 80/20 Chardonnay/Muscat blend in a glass from 2 cooler carboys. Here are my comments:
Appearance - clear deep lemon yellow
Smell - complex fragrant nose, buttered popcorn, papaya, honeydew melon, lychees, nutmeg
Tannin - fine
Acid - fine
Flavour - oak is evident but not overpowering after 69 days, 23 medium toast American oak cubes in a 15 bottle carboy. This is rich with some oakiness in the finish. I gave my sone in law 12 Muscats for Xmas so he can make 60 bottles of this. Then I tried the same wines in a 60/40 blend (Chardonnay/Muscat). Here are my comments on that blend:
Appearance - clear lemon yellow
Smell - complex fragrant nose, same as above except buttered popcorn smell is weaker
Tannin - fine
Acid - fine
Flavour - oak is evident but less intense than 80/20 blend. This more delicate than the 80/20 blend above. Surprisingly I think that 80/20 blend is better due to its intensity. My son-in-law will probably go that route. Finally I tasted a Brehm frozen juice California Chardonnay unoaked with the Muscat which didn't have the Washington Sheridan Vineyard buttered popcorn smell. This is good too. What is best is entirely subjective i.e. how much do you liked oaked Chardonnay. My son in law loves oaked Chardonnay. Me less so but having said that it is really rich and tasty I'm ok with it.
