sukeiasa wrote:there's a red blend muscato!?
man... sounds like y'all had a great time...
wish i could have been there... still recovering as we speak...

The Moscato wasn't a red blend, it just paired well with dessert!

mewalk, the Grenache blend we liked was the Ventana 2007 Rubystone, 60% Grenache, 40% Syrah. Very tasty!
Very food friendly, too.

Many of the wines we had were blends, but the labels did not specify of what the blends consisted. I've been searching online and have found info for some of the wines we tasted.

The Spier 2007 Pinotage from South Africa was not a blend. This is one of the best cheese-friendly red wines I've ever had. I prefer mostly whites (Riesling, Sparklies and some SB) with cheese, because most reds I've tasted just don't do the cheese any favors. I have tasted some very fruit forward red wines that pair well with cheese, but usually the whites do better; where the cheese and wine both taste more complex due to their pairing.

A few other notables:

koz 2007 El Dorado Red Alto Blend - 48% syrah, 21% grenache, 21% mourvedre, and 10% petite sirah. This wine was enjoyable on its own as well as with food.

The 2008 Purple Hands Oregon Red Wine - 15% Pinot Noir, 35% Syrah, 50% Merlot. This was also a fun every day drinker, very pleasant.

mr sanity visited our wine this week to plunge the cap. I'm going tomorrow. Monday at 11 am, we do the press.

btw, brix was 27.

sanity wrote:mr sanity visited our wine this week to plunge the cap. I'm going tomorrow. Monday at 11 am, we do the press.

btw, brix was 27.

Again? Yikes. Looks like we're looking at another high alcohol wine! Maybe next year we should try a week or two earlier to attempt to get that brix down...

cheron98 wrote:Again? Yikes. Looks like we're looking at another high alcohol wine! Maybe next year we should try a week or two earlier to attempt to get that brix down...

According to Charlie, our Barbera arrived just a couple days before our crush; others who had Barbera and had crush scheduled earlier in the week had to reschedule. With this type of operation (fruit is picked, travels in cold storage, sits a couple days in cold storage as opposed to being picked then immediately crushed), and everyone traveling out, it is more challenging to adjust crush schedule at the last minute. Next year, maybe just have me do the crush at the earliest possible time, and everyone plan to come out for the bottling.

We did The Press today. Very fun and messy!

This time around our wine is lighter in color and texture, and not nearly as chalky or overly bitter. Very pretty lighter ruby color.

We tasted juice from the barrel before the press, and after. It is amazing the difference in flavor just by removing the skins, and obviously the skins help filter the juice somewhat. Not ready to drink, but not awful, and very different from our first wine.

As a side note, tasted the pinot noir fruit and black malvasia. Wow, the malvasia had a wonderful flavour, and I keep thinking it would be a great one to blend with something......

sanity wrote:We did The Press today. Very fun and messy!

This time around our wine is lighter in color and texture, and not nearly as chalky or overly bitter. Very pretty lighter ruby color.

We tasted juice from the barrel before the press, and after. It is amazing the difference in flavor just by removing the skins, and obviously the skins help filter the juice somewhat. Not ready to drink, but not awful, and very different from our first wine.

As a side note, tasted the pinot noir fruit and black malvasia. Wow, the malvasia had a wonderful flavour, and I keep thinking it would be a great one to blend with something......

Thanks for the notes. Sorry I couldn't make it, I wasn't driving and we wouldn't have woken up on time anyway.

tenuki wrote:Thanks for the notes. Sorry I couldn't make it, I wasn't driving and we wouldn't have woken up on time anyway.

I didn't think y'all would be up too early ;)

I'm really looking forward to this wine. I'll see about getting to taste it in January when the wine is racked.

I would like to schedule the bottling the weekend of May 13-16, with the bottling on Monday the 16th. The following weekend has triple the number of visitors arriving in Vegas so I'm assuming the rates will be much higher.

I want to give everyone plenty of advanced notice to make travel plans. ALL are invited, whether or not you participated in the wine making. I also have some fun surprises planned, so I look forward to you all making it out for the bottling.

Thoughts?

sanity wrote:I would like to schedule the bottling the weekend of May 13-16, with the bottling on Monday the 16th.

Wendy & I are planning to be there. We figured it would be that weekend and both already have the weekend blocked off in the work calendar.

sanity wrote:I would like to schedule the bottling the weekend of May 13-16, with the bottling on Monday the 16th. The following weekend has triple the number of visitors arriving in Vegas so I'm assuming the rates will be much higher.

I want to give everyone plenty of advanced notice to make travel plans. ALL are invited, whether or not you participated in the wine making. I also have some fun surprises planned, so I look forward to you all making it out for the bottling.

Thoughts?

ddeuddeg and I would have to be at the airport by 3 PM on Monday so the bottling would have to be on the early side if it has to be on Monday. IIRC we did the bottling on Saturday this year and then, had our tasting and dinner at your place Sat.

bahwm wrote:ddeuddeg and I would have to be at the airport by 3 PM on Monday so the bottling would have to be on the early side if it has to be on Monday. IIRC we did the bottling on Saturday this year and then, had our tasting and dinner at your place Sat.

Correct. I would really prefer bottling Saturday, so we can get home without missing another day of school. I just can't take off whenever I feel like it, especially that late in the school year.

RE bottling dates, I'm open to doing it any day; my aim is to have an enjoyable experience and not be crowded as we were the first time (the first time was fun! i'd like more space). How about we do the bottling earlier on Saturday, 10-ish, then do our fun stuff after?

What's the weekend after, adult expo? I think you picked the weekend before pool again too, not sure how many back to back Vegas weekends I have left in me :P

tenuki wrote:What's the weekend after, adult expo? I think you picked the weekend before pool again too, not sure how many back to back Vegas weekends I have left in me :P

lol, well I picked the weekend that should be most economical for travelers. Is someone willing to check prices and compare for the 3 weekends before Memorial Day?

sanity wrote:RE bottling dates, I'm open to doing it any day; my aim is to have an enjoyable experience and not be crowded as we were the first time (the first time was fun! i'd like more space). How about we do the bottling earlier on Saturday, 10-ish, then do our fun stuff after?

That sounds good to me. I think maybe the second time around won't seem like as much fun, just because it won't be a new thing. For me, the main fun is getting together with fellow wooters. If someone had told me 3 years ago that I'd be willing to fly across the country for the weekend, just to be with people like you, I'd have said he was crazy. But we only had to do it once, and now we're hooked.

sanity wrote:lol, well I picked the weekend that should be most economical for travelers. Is someone willing to check prices and compare for the 3 weekends before Memorial Day?

Obviously, the event doesn't revolve around bahwm and me, but the weekend you've chosen seems best to us, and in any case, the following weekend is not an option because of a commitment at home. The weekend before is Mother's Day, which may well exclude some people. And Cat has the 13th to 16th slot already etched in stone at work.

ddeuddeg wrote:Obviously, the event doesn't revolve around bahwm and me, but the weekend you've chosen seems best to us, and in any case, the following weekend is not an option because of a commitment at home. The weekend before is Mother's Day, which may well exclude some people. And Cat has the 13th to 16th slot already etched in stone at work.

Haven't seen any responses to this, and wondering if the bottling weekend plans are any closer to being etched in stone.
Meanwhile, Cruisin' USA is having a 20% off anniversary sale through 11/8, so anyone who saw our sensational bowling shirts , and wants to have one, here's a chance for some savings, from one of the friendliest companies I've ever done business with.

ddeuddeg wrote:Haven't seen any responses to this, and wondering if the bottling weekend plans are any closer to being etched in stone.

Just checked with Southwest re: reward use. When the dates came up earlier, we could have flown round trip free. Not an option anymore. Sunday return is all blocked off for reward use.

Can we nail things down a little more for the bottling date? Will we be able to do it on Sat.?

sanity wrote:RE bottling dates, I'm open to doing it any day; my aim is to have an enjoyable experience and not be crowded as we were the first time (the first time was fun! i'd like more space). How about we do the bottling earlier on Saturday, 10-ish, then do our fun stuff after?

That sounds great!!!

MarkDaSpark wrote:That sounds great!!!

I wasn't sure if Sat. 10 AM was confirmed or not.

I will schedule the bottling for Saturday, May 14 at 10 am. Festivities and Activities TBD for Friday 13th - Sunday 15.

Everyone is welcome to attend, whether or not you joined in the barrel! Details to be fleshed out closer to event time.

d-dog and bam, I was waiting for more chirps from the peeps; so sorry about the flight. Hopefully something as lucrative will come around again in the next few months.

sanity wrote:I will schedule the bottling for Saturday, May 14 at 10 am. Festivities and Activities TBD for Friday 13th - Sunday 15.

Everyone is welcome to attend, whether or not you joined in the barrel! Details to be fleshed out closer to event time.

d-dog and bam, I was waiting for more chirps from the peeps; so sorry about the flight. Hopefully something as lucrative will come around again in the next few months.

Oh, well. Maybe somebody else will change their flight plans for the return trip and it'll open up for us, in the meantime, I've booked our free flight out. We still have time for the return flight.

Got lots of Southwest giftcards for Christmas, so I'll be flying on Southwest, although Wendy will likely be on Delta with her points

Yay!

I received this email yesterday:

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and now that things have regained a sense of normalcy it is time to do the third process of of wine making, THE RACKING. During the racking process, the wine is pumped into a stainless steel tank. The sediment is washed from the barrel and the wine is reintroduced into the fresh barrel. The barrel is topped off and returned to storage. This process is extremely easy, non messy and a good excuse to reunite with your barrel mates. Feel free to make it a very special occasion by bringing some light food, adult and amateur beverages.

Mother nature delayed the 2010 harvest two to three weeks so we have pushed back the RACKING WEEK. The racking sessions will take place from MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7th thru SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13th (9am-8pm) daily.

SCHEDULING ISN'T NECESSARY !!!! Because of limited space we cannot guarantee your barrel will be available for racking upon your arrival, but as always we will do our very best to accommodate you. We do guarantee that you can participate in a racking session and a barrel tasting of your wine. Thanks for your patience and cooperation.

IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO SHARE THIS INFO WITH YOUR BARREL MATES. Please let everyone know to park their vehicles on Whitney Mesa during the weekdays. As always, many thanks. Any questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call (806-3383) Let’s have some big time fun….Charlie Peters, Grape Expectations

sanity wrote:I received this email yesterday:



Mother nature delayed the 2010 harvest two to three weeks so we have pushed back the RACKING WEEK. The racking sessions will take place from MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7th thru SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13th (9am-8pm) daily.

Do you know which date you'll be going?

Imagine4vr wrote:Do you know which date you'll be going?

Not yet, though it will be mid-week.

sanity wrote:Not yet, though it will be mid-week.

Maybe I'll drive up - midweek is usually better and I can find much cheaper hotel. Please let me know?

Imagine4vr wrote:Maybe I'll drive up - midweek is usually better and I can find much cheaper hotel. Please let me know?

Of course!

sanity wrote:Of course!

When is bottling again? Want to make sure I set time aside for it.

MarkDaSpark wrote:When is bottling again? Want to make sure I set time aside for it.

If you look up there ↑ just a few posts, you'll see the date. Saturday May 14 at 10 am.

MarkDaSpark wrote:When is bottling again? Want to make sure I set time aside for it.

It's Sat. May 13th. We'll be arriving Fri. evening around 8:15--nonstop flight after teaching all day! Yippee!

sanity: you beat me by just a few minutes! I needed to check our flight--couldn't remember if we were playing hooky or not!

sanity wrote:If you look up there ↑ just a few posts, you'll see the date. Saturday May 14 at 10 am.

Doh! I remember seeing it now. I looked at the first post, but you haven't put it there yet, and didn't remember it was above.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Doh! I remember seeing it now. I looked at the first post, but you haven't put it there yet, and didn't remember it was above.

I'll add it to the first post. I'll start a new thread for the bottling in a few weeks.

SCORE! Just booked the free return flight from Vegas using ddeuddeg's Rapid Rewards award! woot! For those who might be traveling via Southwest, the rates just went down on that flight. Check the website for your info.

bahwm wrote:SCORE! Just booked the free return flight from Vegas using ddeuddeg's Rapid Rewards award! woot! For those who might be traveling via Southwest, the rates just went down on that flight. Check the website for your info.

Anyone know where they're staying yet? Started browsing 13-15th (Fri.-Sun.), don't really see good deals on the strip yet. South Point is having a sale that ends tomorrow, it'd be $70 a night, which for weekend isn't bad, they're not that convenient but they're a decent place. Hotwire has a 4 star east strip for $80 which I'm guessing is Hard Rock since they charge resort fee of $15 and the Hilton doesn't. Mewalk had fun running into people in the halls last year there I could probably find a better deal once the casino deals for Hilton roll around but ...

OK, I'll start a thread! I was nagged quite a bit this weekend!