Winemaker grape grower living near the US border in Canada near Blaine Washington

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Hazelemere

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Location
South Surrey, BC
I have been making wine for 54 years and making it properly for 26 years after reading Emile Peynaud "Knowing and Making Wine"

I grow and pick organic grapes, sweet cherries, sour cherries, raspberries, blackberries, apples, pears

I have come first in 2 farm fair wine competitions 2 years in a row out of 200 wines (grape and fruit) with organic raspberry wine from my own raspberries.

I grow:

Siegerrebe
Ortega
Regent
Marechal Foch
Madeleine Angevine
Reichensteiner

Van, Ranier, Bing, sour and wild black cherries
2 kinds of pears\
blueberries
Russet (Boskop), transparent, King, Cox apples
seedless grapes ( 4 varieties)
plums

I make meads, pyments, cysers and melomels from unpasteurized honey - Fireweed, blueberry, raspberry, blueberry, wild flower,

I use dried Oregon elderberries and medium toast American oak cubes with Lalvin RC212, Pasteur Red and Lalvin Bayanus yeast.

I make oaked fruit ports with raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, French Cassis or French Chambord.

I've also made fruit sherries with Turkish figs and sultanas, pitted fresh Italian prune plums, dried elderberries and premium rum on medium toast American oak.

I've also made wine from yellow plums and dandelions

I am or have made wine from these grapes:

Agria
Barbera
Cabernet Franc
Cabernet Sauvignon
California Muscat
Carignane
Chardonnay
Chenin Blanc
Gewurtztraminer
Grenache
Lemberger
Madeleine Angevine
Madeleine Sylvaner
Malbec
Marechal Foch
Mourvedre
Optima
Ortega
Petite Sirah
Petite Verdot
Pinot Gris
Pinot Noir
Regent
Reichensteiner
Riesling
Ruby Cabernet
Sangiovese
Sauvignon Blanc
Siegerrebe
Syrah
Wurzer
Zweigeltrebe
 
Welcome to WMT!
Wow, you've been busy!
yes it is true

My message for everyone here if you can do it an myself and and my winemaking tribe have been doing this is:

Never crush red wine grapes

Hand destem red wine grapes uncrushed as long as it takes

Then ferment the red wine uncruxhed grapes punched down just enough to flood them with juice with RC 212 or Pasteur Red yeast in your basement in pails so they ferment to SG 1.000 between 15 to 30 days.

We press them in a water bladder press (twice) and then let them undergo malolactic fermentations.

These wines are stunning as long as the acids-tannins-alcohol are in balance.

I stopped going going to winemaking clubs because they told me to crush red wine grapes.

I will never ever ever crush red wine grapes

Crushing white wine grapes is necessary but not reds.

Namaste all of you.

Klaus
 
Once we punch down red wine grapes to get enough juice to flood them we ad yeast and let it grow on top of looded berries for 24 hours to let the yeast grow and then gently stir the yeast in top to bottom but not all at once i.e. first day we do a gentle yeast stir on top, second day a bit deeper by stirring up some berries and so on. The key here is to stir up berries to get the slowest possible fermentation possible. This technique gives you killer smell with minimum seed tannin, maximum skin tannin and really good aftertaste in the wines.
 
Welcome to WMT. I’ve not made wine from grapes yet (except wild grapes) but I have seen others discuss that method here. Lots of ways to make wine… it’s right if you like it!
 
Hello Klaus, welcome to WMT. From your long list of wines, what's been your favorite?
 
Hello Klaus, welcome to WMT. From your long list of wines, what's been your favorite?

I don't have just one.

Commercial wines that have blown me away:

Courton Charlemagne Chardonnay (I could taste and smell it for 15 minutes after I tasted and swallowed it)

Mersault Chardonnay

Grange vertical tasting (10 different Australian Syrahs absolutely stunning)

New Zealand Central Otago Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir e.g. Amisfield - stunning Pinot Noir grown on schist rich soil. Intense rich Pinot Noir

New York finger lakes hillside Riesling e.g. Konstantin Frank and Heron Hills (IMHO the best rieslings in North America)

Homemade wines that have blown me away:

Meek Vineyard (Washington) homemade uncrushed Malbec - absolutely sensational

Meek Vineyard Grenache 87% Malbec 6% Mourvedre 7% - stunning after 9 years stored in a basement

Sangiacomo Chardonnay from juice - perfect Chardonnay. The best homemade Chardonnay that I have ever tasted!

Monterrey Pinot Noir - hand destemmed uncrushed grapes - absolutely first class

Dineen Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2020 (Washington) - had destemmed uncrushed RC 212 yeast - delicious and rich. I have 3 cases and will store this for at least 5 years. I'm tasting it right now. Here are my comments:

This was hand destemmed and fermented uncrushed with Lalvin RC212 yeast
It was oaked during malolactic fermentation with medium toast American oak
I have it stored at 57-59 degrees fahrenheit computerized air-conditioned walk in cooler i.e. all carboys and bottles.
This is rich, tasty, fragrant and well balanced. It has ~75 ppm total potassium metabisulphite so now should be around 20 ppm free sulphite which is perfect for a red.
This has a really good nose and aftertaste so it should absolutely improve. over at least he next 5 years.

Would I make it again?

In a heartbeat.

What I would love to make in 2023 inf I can get it uncrushedin boxes is:

Dineen Grenache, Petit Verdot, Malbec, Mourvedre, Merlot (which I've never made), Riesling, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon


My favourite right now is Dineen Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2020 from hand destemmed uncrushed grapes with Lalvin RC 212 Yeast fermented malolactic with medium toast American oak cubes.
 
Awesome, I'll have them on my list. Any wine you don't recommend making?
 
Awesome, I'll have them on my list. Any wine you don't recommend making?
cherry with pits left in during ferment

apricots, peaches or yellow plums with skins left on

California Sangiovese

Gewurtztraminer from a really hot climate e.g. Lodi

any berry wine with seeds left in for more than a week

destemmed crushed sulphited red wine grapes in a plastic drum
 
Sorry, how did I miss this.

Why not California Sangiovese wine?
 
Hello Klaus, welcome to WMT. From your long list of wines, what's been your favorite?
Courton Charlemagne French Chardonnay..............an absolute mind bender.

Homemade - Siegerrebe Reichensteiner home grown 1983.

Chateau Pavie ST. Emilion

Pommard

Gevrey Chambertin

Mersault

Carneros Chardonnays

recently Central Otago Pinot Noirs from the south island of New Zealand. These are amazing red wines IMHO
 
cherry with pits left in during ferment

apricots, peaches or yellow plums with skins left on

California Sangiovese

Gewurtztraminer from a really hot climate e.g. Lodi

any berry wine with seeds left in for more than a week

destemmed crushed sulphited red wine grapes in a plastic drum
Anything with peach, apricot or yellow plum skins. If you pit the fruit and take the skins off you can get something really good e.g. yellow plums.
 

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