2020 Symphony Wine

I called down to my grape vendor, Caputo's, for Muscato grapes, but when I got there they were sold out. I purchased Symphony grapes because that was the only white grape in stock. (Aside from Chardonnay, which am not interested in.) 

While I had never heard of Symphony, I learned it was developed in 1948 at UC-Davis by a famous viticulture professor, Harold Olmo, a cross between Muscat of Alexandra and Grenache Gris. Muscat of Alexandra is different from Muscat Blanc a Petits Grains, which is the usual Muscat. Both Muscats are among the most ancient grape varieties. Muscat of Alexandra was originally grown in Alexandra, Egypt. 

I paid for the grapes, and got them in the car, and finally tasted them. They had a good grapey flavor, and tasted sweet at the time. Later I learned I still need to add some sugar. The juice was 1.098 g/ml and 22.8 Brix which should make 12% alcohol. I targeted 13% alcohol and added about 1 pound of sugar. The juice was fermenting nicely the next morning.

I had a hard time pressing them because the soft grapes kept extruding themselves out of the grape presser, and it took a long time to get the juice to drip out. I expect I got 17 L from the two cases. 

2020 Symphony Wine Recipe

72 lb Symphony grapes (DePalma)

2 teaspoons yeast energizer

2 teaspoons pectic enzyme

17 ounces of sugar

1 packet Lalvin 71B

Update: 8/27/2022

I backsweetened this wine with 2.5% dextrose. This made the tartness milder and a little smoother. I tested a variety of sweetener levels, and 2.5% was the best. 

2020 Zinfandel Wine

This year I drove down to Caputo's in Carol Spring, Illinois for grapes. This is 95 minute drive for me. It was a clean professional operation with pretty good prices.  Being a professional, Covid-19 compliant operation, I could not taste the grapes before buying them. 

The Zinfandel grapes had a good strong flavor, and were sweet but not exceptionally sweet. The refractive index measured 25.2 degrees Brix, which gives 13.2% alcohol, and the density was 1.108 which predicts 13.4% alcohol. Target is 13.5% alcohol, so I added one pound of sugar, which is estimated to be 2.3% of the total sugar in the batch. 

I noticed that the free run juice from the crusher was less sweet than the juice after stirring the must. I expect the sweetest juice was trapped inside the grapes. My new crusher may not crush the grapes as completely as my old crusher. On the other hand, it is about twice as fast. 

2020 Zinfandel Wine Recipe

180 lb Zinfandel (DePalma)

7 g    pectic enzyme

5 teaspoons yeast energizer

1 pound of sugar

1 packet Lalvin RC212

1 packet of Red Star Premier Rouge, because fermentation was not noticeable at 18 hours

After another night the fermentation was vigorous. 

2020 Petite Pearl Wine

Marshall Vineyard in Oregon Wisconsin. Its in between Madison and my home base of Janesville Wisconsin. 

I found grapes at a local vineyard called Marshall Vineyard, which is in Oregon, Wisconsin. Sadly, they were sold out of white grapes. 

I am skeptical of northern-grown red grapes, but after a little reading online, I decided to try Petite Pearl grapes. It is another U of Minnesota variety. 

I ventured out in to the vineyard, and after a lot of walking, I found some vines that had not already been harvested, and hauled out 3 five gallon pails of grapes which weighed 56 pounds. They charged me $84 which seems steep, but on the other hand, they were rapidly selling out. 

I suppose there is some romance in picking local grapes and making wine from them -- maybe I have to pay extra for that. 

Petite Pearl grape vine

2020 Petite Pearl Wine Recipe

56 pounds Petite Pearl Grapes

4 pounds sugar

3 g pectic enzyme  

2 teaspoons yeast nutrient

Lalvin EC-1118 yeast, 1 packet

The juice had a sugar content of 19.4% which provides an alcohol content of 10%. I am shooting for 13% alcohol, and so  I added 3.5 pounds of sugar. I dissolved the sugar in juice that I heated on the stove. When I blended it all together, the measured sugar content was still low. This suggest to me that the spiked juice just sank to the bottom. The next day the must was vigorously fermenting, and I remeasured the sugar content at 24%, which should produce 12.6% alcohol. That is okay, and since there had already been a night of fermenting, the actual alcohol content will be a little higher than that, perhaps 13% as targeted.

Sept 2021 Update

I made the wine as above in glass demijohns, and have not added any flavors. 

It has a nice violet color with no haze. It tastes like a rose' more than a red wine. It has lemon note, strawberry, melon, a plant-y scent that I am calling hay, some tree fragrance that I need to pin-down, but perhaps hawthorn. It doesn't have currant, raspberry or blueberry fragrance or flavors one expects from California red grapes. Happily, there are no off-odors or flavors. 

I like it pretty well. I think I'd like it more if the color were lighter. If this were a pretty pink or orange, I'd like that. 

Maybe I will flavor some with my home grown Columbine flowers. 

Interesting Recipes

This is a mushroom Wellington, which means that it is a mushroom filling in a puff pastry shell.

Another idea is pumpkin humus.

2019 Merlot

I decided to make a Merlot last year because I still have a stock of Zinfandel. This years grapes were sweet and juicy -- maybe not as grapey. I had a bottle of cherry juice concentrate, and I added it here for some added complexity. I added after two days of fermentation, because I have experienced slow fermentation with it -- though it doesn't say it is inhibited. 

2019 Merlot 

144 lb Lodi Gold Merlot Grapes (Lodi Gold Brand from Delta Packing in Lodi CA

8 ounces of tart cherry juice concentrate (added after fermentation was vigorous)

5.5 g pectic enzyme

14 g yeast energizer

1.5 packets of Lalvin Baugouin RC212

This made about 42L after racking for 10.5 L/case, which means these were juicy grapes. 

2019 Cabernet Sauvignon

I found a new source of grapes at Tropic Banana in Milwaukee's Third Ward. It is a full line produce wholesaler that also does a business in wine grapes. I bought four 36 pound crates of Cabernet Sauvignon there. Unlike my old source in Detroit, I had to order these in advance -- sight unseen. Maybe the price is a little better.

Happily the grapes seem to be both juicy and sweet. Juicy grapes make more wine, and sweet grapes avoid the need to add sucrose sugar. 

My wine cellar is bottoming out as last year I made much less wine because I was moving to a new house. 

2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Recipe

144 lb Cabernet Sauvignon (Lodi Gold; Delta Packing; Lodi, CA)

5.5 g pectic enzyme

14 g yeast energizer

1 packet of Premier Rouge

I pitched the yeast on Sunday night, and noticed slow fermentation by Monday AM, medium by Monday PM, and fast fermentation by Tuesday, and that continued into Wednesday. 

The flavor of the juice was very sweet and grapey. The Brix was 24. and the juice's density was 1.106. This should make 13.8% alcohol, which is fine.

This batch made 39 L after racking. That is 9.75L/case of grapes.

Vegetarian Frittata for Six

I used to make frittata regularly when I was younger. Recently I don't eat so many eggs, but I made one this Easter. There are two kinds of recipes, ones that need to be flipped over, and ones that finish in the oven--fully cooking the egg without overcooking the bottom. With eight people coming, I thought I should try recipes for the non-flipping kind, even though I have less experience with those, and even though the buttery-brown egg crust is one of the best parts.

Easter Frittatas are often full of sausage, but I wanted it this one to be vegetarian. My favorite holiday frittata are cheesy and light, so I wanted to use cream or milk to soften the egg. I wanted flavorful cheese to compensate the missing meat. I wanted potato and mushroom to help cut the richness; some people use flour to cut the richness, but it changes the texture too much.

I started with a Martha Stewart online recipe, and I soon learned that she has at least six frittata recipes. I liked her use of heavy cream instead of milk; she used goat cheese instead of ricotta; and gruyere cheese instead of mozzarella. I found the gruyere inexplicable.

I found great recipes in the The Taste of Memories from Columbus Park, a book of Italian recipes from my home town in Kenosha by Catherine Murray. (I was surprised to see the book is up to $600 for a used copy on Amazon.) There are a few frittata recipes including a baked Frittata with vegetables. I also checked My Calabria by Rosetta Costantino, and that had a ricotta frittata with twice as much as I show below.

Here is the final recipe. I decided to use cauliflower with less potato to help the texture. I am using feta because I like the stronger flavor.


Ingredients

12 eggs
¼ c whipping cream
1 t salt
1 ¼ cup ricotta (drained if wet)

⅓ c spinach ( I used frozen.)
1-2 T shopped basil, fresh
4 oz feta cheese, chopped
4 oz Monterey Jack cheese, diced
1 med potato, boiled and mashed
1 c boiled crushed cauliflower
6 boiled and sliced mushrooms, yes boiled

¼ c olive oil or as needed (maybe I'll use butter next time)

¼ c grated Parmesan


Instructions

Heat oven to 375F. I used the convection setting.

Premix the items from the first group, eggs, cream, salt, and ricotta, and then beat lightly to break up the yokes and larger lumps of ricotta.

Prep the items in the second group so they are available to add quickly. It is ok vary the vegetables a bit, but take care to avoid vegetables that will produce water when cooking.

Use the oil to generously lubricate a large frying pan and heat the pan on medium heat.

Pour the egg mixture into the preheated pan. When a solid egg layer forms on the bottom and sides of the pan, about 60-90 seconds, pour the vegetable and cheese mixture in to the pan. Spread the dry materials evenly and submerge them in the egg mixture.

Cook on medium heat until the bottom is well set, but not so long that the sides or bottom brown. A lid on the pan is useful.

Sprinkle the grate parmesan cheese on top.

Place the pan in the oven until the top is just set, taking care not to over cook. I used convection heating in the oven. This took 25 minutes for me.

Martha suggested a table sauce based on Creme Fraiche. Mine was simple, garlic powder, parsley,  and vinegar.