Tuesday, April 30 2013
I'm a huge fan of synthetic corks. While I'm also down with natural corks, the price-point on them for equivalent quality is so high that synthetics beat the heck out of them for most purposes--they never chip, rot, leak, split or taint, go in easy, come out easy and are extremely uniform in size and appearance. Nomacorc is my product of choice, as they have excellent quality control and great research on their products.
But have you ever wondered how synthetic corks are made? Vectored from the wonderful site, Wine Folly, here is a short video of the process:
...read more
Posted by Tim AT 7:42AM
|
|
|
|
|
Email |
|
Tuesday, April 23 2013
Nebbiolo grapes looking ripe. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Oh my, this is some kind of record. I'm going to talk about Winexpert products for the third time this year. Wow, you'd swear they paid me or something.
But I'd talk about our Limited Edition wines even if they weren't my baby: top quality grapes from extremely cool regions and viticultural areas, varietals and styles that can be unfamiliar (at first!) and the opportunity to make a vintage wine to age and enjoy in the coming years--what's not to love? This year was totally cool because it was the first time we included a grapeskin pack in one of our LE 2012 wine kits.
...read more
Posted by Tim AT 11:16AM
|
|
|
|
|
Email |
|
Monday, April 1 2013
This is going to be good!
This is without a doubt the most exciting announcement I’ve ever made in the 13 years I’ve been with Winexpert—and it’s something that’s going to change everything about the Consumer-Made wine industry, from coast to coast!
Let me explain: in Canada there are two ways to make your own wine. The first is obvious: you buy a wine kit and a few pieces of necessary equipment and in the comfort of your own home you go through the process of making up the batch, pitching the yeast, transferring the resulting wine, clearing and stabilising it, and finally bottling it so it can age until it’s ready to drink.
...read more
Posted by Big Tim Sports Camper AT 12:17AM
|
|
|
|
|
Email |
|
< View March 2013 Archives
Send this post to a friend
Comments
Thom Green
Posted 9 months ago
Tim -- Whew indeed!! I have been a home winemaker for over 11 years and Winexpert is generally my kit of choice. There has been only one year I have not ordered, made and consumed at least one of if not all four and then five Limited Edition kits.
Since you have pushed the idea of reading the directions before I started the kit, I did. It's kinda like a guy telling a guy, "yeah, ya better look at the map".
What a shock when I followed all of the directions and discovered the SG to come in at 1.080 and nothing better.
I couldn't believe WE made a mistake, and so, before adding sugar, I thought I would check your blog. Good thing I did. I would not have known about the problem with the Brix/SG readings.
Again, whew! and thanks!
Thom Green, Fort Wayne, IN
PS: Patterson Hardware in New Haven is my WE shop of choice.
Thom,
Glad that we caught it in time to avoid major confusion. The gravity reading caught me off guard as much as anyone--the longer I stay in this business, the more I realise I have left to learn.
The folks at Patterson are lovely people--glad you've found a fine shop.
Cheers,
Tim
Dave
Posted 8 months ago
This is also one of the first kits to have the "don't top up" instruction in stage 3, stabilization. I have found that the grapeskin kits give a little extra back when thoroughly squeezing the bag of skins, and with a little extra diligence when racking from the primary, may carboy was just about full. When I racked before stabilizing, I did not use the sediment bowl on my auto-siphon, and as a result, had to reserve a little wine to leave enough room for stirring. When I finished adding the reserve back into the carboy, it was about full again. 8ish days later, when I racked it off the sediment, I added about 1/2 bottle of a commercial Barolo (man that was expensive). It's now sitting for a little longer carboy aging, and it already smells and tastes very good. I will have a hard enough time getting some to 18 months, let alone 3 years.
I did finally find the instruction that says it's OK to top up with wine for bulk aging, in the bottling (step 5 instruction). I must confess that I have not read the bottling instruction in quite a few years.
Cheers Tim, it's going to be delicious!
Cheers to you Dave--I've got three carboys getting ready to bottle and I'm looking forward to trying it as it evolves over the next decade.
Tim
Charlie Jones
Posted 5 months ago
Using the formula O.G. - F.G * 131.25 = ABV I'm trying to figure out how to calculate the alcohol by volume of the Limited Edition Nebbiolo kit. The original starting S.G. of our wine was around 1.074. We were told to add approximately .040 to that to our that number (starting number). The kit says we should end with a S.G.. number of .996 or less. Would this be correct using the example (1.074 + 0.040) - 0.996 X 131.25 = That gives us an alcohol level of around 15.5%. Is there any way to get a more precise calculation without buying expensive equipment? The alcohol level appears to be high. I would have suspected it to be between 13.5 and 14.5. What are your thought?
Charlie,
There's no way to get any closer than that without investing in some more serious equipment. I also suspect that number is quite high, given that I observed SG increases of .032 in my own batches. I think the ultimate arbiter here is going to be how it tastes--I'll update when mine comes out of the barrel in five or six months.
Tim