White Gernache Update

Easter is coming up, and I wanted to get another racking in. The wine is much improved from January. It is drinkable, but it still has an off-flavor that could be yeast, but might be mold. 

As in January, the off-flavor disappears if one aerates the wine. Of course I could be fooling myself, although my DW agreed. 

The color and clarity are great. As pretty as you could want. It is a little golder than standard because I topped off with some cranberry/apple juice.  The picture at right is the actual wine. I recently failed to place in a photo contest, so I am trying to come up with some entries for next year.

Wine Update!

Bet you all are interested in how the 2008 wine is doing.

I went and check on it, and I am proud to claim both are drinkable -- but not ready for prime-time.

The white, a California White Grenache, has improved since Christmas. It has a fruity flavor and the sweetness is gone. The wine has a harsh aroma that dissipates after aerating it. The clarity is good, although the color is a little reddish since I added a bit of cranberry juice. There is much less yeast flavor. The wine has some of-flavor bite to it, and I am not sure what it is. It does not seem plant-y. I am hoping it is a yeast flavor that will disappear. I will rack it again in another month.

The red, a California Merlot, does not have any off-flavors. Its flavor is simple and it has a little young-wine, bourgeois flavor. I am hoping this deepens into something more complex. Right now the flavor far less rich than the Woodbridge Shiraz (2006) that I got at the grocery last weekend.

Racking the Wine

I racked the wine today, both the Pinot Grigio and the Merlot. Racking means to decant the wine, clean out the sediment, and then pour the wine back in the demijohn for fermenting.

The good news is that the Merlot tasted great.

The bad news is that the Pinot Grigio did not. It had an off-flavor that I was hoping was yeast, but I am fearing that it was mold. I don't know where mold could have come from.

I had an incident with Pinot Grigio where the siphon hose came out of the receiver, and spilled on the floor, which unfortunately had a carpet fragment on it. I had to cut the carpet up, and through it out. (I am doing it in the basement; but I should have anticipated a spill.) This meant I had to buy extra wine to top off the demijohn. Since the wine tasted so bad, I bought cheaper wine. I put in almost four liters after racking, which is a lot on a 27 liter batch. Next time I am going to buy extra juice and ferment an extra gallon or so of each kind.

When I was done, I put the wine aside, and I am not going to touch it until January at least, when I rack it again.

Tilapia Cacciatore

Tilapia Cacciatore is a variation of Chicken Cacciatore with the same flavors including tomatoes, red wine, olives, peppers. Variations include white fish poached in wine & apple juice.

Ingredients

4 fillets of Tilapia or other white fish, cut into 2 inch pieces (thawed)

1.5 cans of diced tomatoes (Hunt's Roasted are best.)

2 servings of capellini (fine pasta), about 1 cup cooked

1/2 cup black olives

3/4 sweet orange pepper

1.5 cup red wine (I use $3 wine from Walmart.)

1/2 cup of apple juice

3/4 cup of sliced, peeled zucchini - if you have it

3/4 cup of fresh mushrooms

2 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon MSG

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon capers

Directions

1. Saute the pepper, olives, garlic and zucchini - note the pepper will take longer to cook so begin with it. (Onion if you want, but my wife does not like onion.) Remove from the pan. 
2. Chop the other vegetables. Drain the tomatoes using a stainer, and save the juice.
3. Start the water for the capellini. 




4. Mix the wine, apple juice, and tomato juice from above. Heat it to boiling, and place the fish in. Let it cook on four minutes. Not longer. 
5. When you put the fish in, also start the pasta. 
6. When the fish is done,  remove the fish and  most of the liquid. Take the capellini out now too. (If you used fatter pasta, you will need to adjust.)
7. Place the vegetables and pasta in the pan and heat them in a modest amount of the wine mixture. Don't use too much liquid because this is not soup. When warm add the fish, and ensure it is all heated. See the picture below.
8. Add seasoning.