2009 Wine Update

It has been a while since I have updated my wines.

2008 Merlot
For the record, I am very pleased with the 2008 Merlot. It turned out very well, and I only wish I had made more. It was made from juice that I bought from California, and it is very lightly oaked. Wonderful.

2008 Pinot Grigio
The 2008 Pinot Grigio is a decent white wine, but I am not overly enthusiastic about it. It does not have the grapy flavor that I was hoping for. My friends like it better than I do. I bottled this one early last year, and there is not that much left.


2009 Cherry
The star of my fruit wines from last year is the 2009 Cherry. It has an intense cherry flavor, that has mellowed from the cough syrup variety to a fragrant and tasty mixture. It is strong though. I know I mis-measured the sugar content, and this wine almost too strong. I probably should blend it off with something. The wine has matured well, and I have been drinking it since Christmas.


2009 Blueberry
The blueberry fruit that this was made from were so inviting that I made this wine without enough research. The wine has a tannin flavor without a lot of fruitiness. Its best attribute is its pleasant fragrance, but there is no flavor to match. I think it could be blended with a red grape wine to give complexity. Not so good on its own.


2009 Apple
The clear loser of the lot. After a failed effort to press apples, I purchased juice. The apple wine is almost flavorless with just the slightest hint of appleness. I had been hoping to blend this with something -- like the cherry, but this wine wrecks whatever it touches. It is probably destined to be poured down the drain. It is slightly better if I sweeten it with honey, but I think it is a waste of good honey.


2009 Merlot/Syrah
I made this from two cases of Merlot grapes and one case of California Syrah grape. I am quite happy with this, and only wish I made more. It is still aging, but it is drinkable already.


2009 Riesling
I made this wine from grapes, and allowed the skins, which are white (of course) to soak overnight with the wine, so it is more amber and more grapey than most Rieslings. The wine has the color of the juice that is picture below. It is a dry Riesling, at least right now. I am not above taking a portion of this and sweetening it.

I tasted it yesterday, and it has a harsh flavor to it that I don't like. I am hoping that is still yeast, and that it will age out. I am not in a hurry to bottle this one. It is possible that I should filter it.


2009 Zinfandel
When I made this wine last fall, I was thinking that I did not get the yield out of the Merlot/Syrah project, and decided to visit the grape store again. At the time, they OLD VINE NAPA VALLEY, and I put one case it. All these grapes were really nice looking.

Now that the wine has aged this far, the wine is drinkable, but far more tannin-y than I'd like. This is despite the fact that I did not add any oak chips It is less fruity than I wanted. It is a good candidate for blending with the Blueberry or the Riesling.

I racked this one yesterday, and it is drinkable, but too harsh.

2009 Blueberry Wine and Wine Update

It's been three weeks since I started the blueberry wine, and I racked it for the first time today. I also removed it from its oversized demijohn and put in a three gallon carboy, where it will be for a while.

The flavor has changed a great deal in the last three weeks. The last remaining sweetness is gone. The wine is very fruity, very dark in color, strong tannin flavor, light in alcohol, very yeasty, and a little too sour. The color has changed and it is less red. It was more red than my cherry wine for a while.

I checked the pH and it was 3.2 by pH paper, which is about normal. I bought a little handheld pH meter and a set of standards, but I have set it up yet. I decided that regardless of what it was, it was too early to adjust it. I will wait for a few months before doing anything.

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Update on other wines:

It's been five weeks on the 2009 cherry wine -- so far so good.

It's nearing 10 months on the 2008 Merlot. I am going to have to transfer it out of its demijohn soon to make room for this year's grape wine. I am hoping to get petite Syrah grapes. If I do a white, it will be a Riesling.

I have been drinking my 10 month old 2008 White Grenache. After much work, I have gotten it to clarify with a bentonite addition. I like it better now that it is clear. I like it; it is a fruity simple wine -- not so complex.

Racking the 2009 Cherry and Blueberry

2009 Cherry Racking

It has been two weeks since I made the Cherry wine, and the sugar content is low. I can tell by the absence of sweetness -- I did not bother to measure it. I racked the wine a second time and took out about a gallon of lees.

I am worried about it. The sweetened cherry juice was delicious, but it tasted a bit like cherry cough syrup. Now that the sugar has fermented, there still is a distinct cherry cough syrup flavor. The wine seems to be on the strong side since I overshot the sugar at 1.12 rather than 1.08-1.09 like I wanted. I will worry about what to do with that later after the flavor matures. I probably will blend it with a white grape wine.

The cherry wine is very dark - as dark as my 2008 Merlot, and only slightly redder.

2009 Blueberry Wine -- First Racking

I measured the density (specific gravity) of the primary fermenter and got 1.022. This is pretty good, but I would have liked it to be lower after six days. I am concerned about spoilage so I transfered it to an oversized demijohn.

The flavor is pretty good right now, very fruity, but it is also sweet since the fermentation is not done. Hopefully it will keep going in the secondary fermenter.

At right is the partially fermented juice in the primary fermenter prior to racking. The color is redder than my cherry wine.

2009 Blueberry Wine and Recipe

I was at the store and the blueberries were $1.79/lb, which is a great price for grocery blueberries -- about what I paid for the cherries. So I decided it would be fun to try some blueberry wine -- why not?

I passed the blueberries though a manual "food mill" -- really a slotted funnel that the berries were pressed though with a funnel. I added both the juice and the skins. These berries were pretty clean, so there were very few stems or leaves.

Blueberry Wine Recipe

12 pounds of blueberries, crushed
2.5 pounds of apples, peeled, cored, and made into apple sauce
7 pounds of sugar
2.5 gallons of boiling water
3/4 teaspoon metabisulfite
1.5 teaspoons yeast energizer
1.5 teaspoons pectin enzyme
Levlin 71B 1122 yeast

I actually used 3/4 t yeast energizer and 1.5 t yeast nutrient so I could use up my yeast nutrient.