What's in your glass tonight?

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.
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
 

Attachments

  • 20240122_140310 (1).jpg
    20240122_140310 (1).jpg
    1.6 MB
Last edited:
I bottled 15 of these. My comments are the same as before i.e. let it age for a long time so the acid and/or tannin can drop 2 years in the bottle in my cooler should do it.
Retaste:
Black Iris Framboise 2023

This is a 60% Black Iris 40% Raspberry table wine blend. Black Iris is 68% frozen wild blackberries from my neighborhood, 32% frozen pitted wild cherries from my neighborhood and 1 lb dried elderberries per 25 bottle carboy medium toast American oak cubes and 1 bottle of Bols cherry liqueur. Framboise is frozen organic homegrown raspberries with 2 bottles of French Chambord liqueur (black raspberries).. I fermented raspberry and wild cherries with 71B yeast, pectic enzyme and vitamin B containing nutrient, blackberries and elderberries with RC212 yeast, pectic enzyme and vitamin B containing nutrient.

Here are comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear deep cherry red

Smell - beautiful rich complex nose

Tannin - good

Acid- slightly high for the tannin level but should drop as it ages

Flavour - first class young fruit table wine. I was going to bottle it but I think I'll leave it alone in my 25 bottle carboy until Valentines

Bottom line- this is a really interesting fruit wine and I will definitely make it again e.g. a couple of cases per year. It is back-sweetened with dextrose and sorbated at SG 1.000. It should improve for at least 5 years after it is bottled. This is the lowest sweetness level I've ever had on a raspberry wine which tells me that 71B is the way to go on wine containing raspberries..
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,
 
one more

Chenin Blanc Cyser Pyment 2021-2022

This is Brehm frozen California Chenin Blanc juice mixed with homegrown organic apples ground, pressed and chaptalized with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey i.e. no water.

Here are my comments:

Appearance - clear, pale gold

Smell - good complex nose from all components

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. I have 3 left and will share those with 1) 2 of my soulmate winemaker friends who've never tasted a cyser pyment who I know will enjoy it and love Chenin Blanc 2) sister and brother in law #1 3) sister and brother in law #2. A lot of people won't like it because of the tannin and acid.. It seems that high acid white wine grapes can improve a cyser a lot (for certain palates). In 2024 I may try a Madeleine Angevine Cyser Pyment since I have 2023 cyser and grow Madeleine Angevine. This will be fun because I've never made it before and never ever thought of making it! Winemaking should be fun and this will be fun.
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.
 
Last edited:
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,

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 picked up a bottle of Casamigos Anejo today and intend to try out the Anejo Old Fashioned this weekend.
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
Before reading it my thought was Angostura Aromatic bitters + Angostura Orange bitters ... after reading the recipe I need to get a bottle of agave nectar and I'll try that variation on the recipe.

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 $$$.
 
I re-tasted this from a carboy in my cooler. I have 60 bottles. Here are my comments:

Appearance - inky purple

Smell - slight stink is gone, cherries and black currants plus mocha chocolate. Good nose becoming more distinctive.

Tannin - good

Acid - fine

Flavour - this is decent and should improve as it ages. I've never had a Regent this good which I attribute to 71B/RC212 yeast combination.
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.
 
Last night, it was guava juice, Jameson and Sprite. No photo, but it was tasty. Come to find out this morning that combo was darned close to a Guava Whiskey Sour.
 
I picked up a bottle of Casamigos Anejo today and intend to try out the Anejo Old Fashioned this weekend.
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.
 
This is Carol's Muscat Dry Auslese 2023 from a carboy in my cooler made from 27% Ortega, 55% Siegerrebe and 18% Reichensteiner homegrown organic at SG 1.093, 1.092 and 1.092 respectively with un-chaptalized juice, bentonite treated mid-ferment with 71B yeast and nutrient. Here are my comments on this wine:

Appearance - clear lemon yellow

Smell - very fragrant muscat similar to Gewurtztraminer

Tannin - fine

Acid - I thought it might be flat from malic acid conversion by 71B yeast but it isn't. Carol my wife says don't mess with it.

Flavour - this is delicious, the best one I've tasted in 10 years. I'll get 40 bottles. If it does go slightly flat I'll bottle 25 of those for Carol and 15 for myself spiked with a tiny bit of citric acid. I'm tempted to leave it until the end of the summer before tasting it again and then bottling it after I adjust the sulphite level and acid. I'll post an image as soon as I have one. The grapes were picked dry, hand destemmed and sorted, undamaged by wasps, mildew or botritis. Just for fun I mixed it 50/50 in a glass with California Chardonnay 2022 from Brehm frozen juice. That is also good with more acid, an interesting Chardonnay-Muscat nose and a good aftertaste. In future if I could I'd make all three 1) Carol's unacidified version 2) my acidified version 3) my version with Chardonnay e.g. Washington Sheridan vineyard Chardonnay in boxes.
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.

number ten.jpg
 
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.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top