In a Pinch…

Pretty cool!  I’ll bet if you’re a Boy Scout in Napa Valley you can earn a “Wine” badge.  I’d argue that it’s a skill every bit as important as being able to start a fire without matches.    Must try this the next time I open an inexpensive bottle! 

It’s Started…2008 Is Officially Underway!

Seyval Blanc at J Rose Vineyards in Damascus, MD

For me, at least, the 2008 harvest is underway. It began on Saturday, the 13th of September when I picked 128# of Seyval Blanc at J Rose Vineyards in Damascus, MD. I was feeling really discouraged because Hurricane Hanna had dropped all kinds of water on us last week and then we got lots more rain all day Friday and most of Friday night — ending just before the Saturday harvest. So I didn’t have my hopes up…

But thanks to Jan Rieke’s excellent skills and a lay to the land that allows good drainage, the numbers were about all I could have hoped for: 21 Brix, 6.6 g/L of titratable acidity, and a pH of 3.17. I would have been pretty happy with those numbers even if it hadn’t rained!

Looks like Jan doesn’t have a web site but you can see the vineyard site on Google maps here.

A hopper full of Seyval...

My Seyval came from the vineyard at the far lower left. Chardonnay and table grapes are in the vineyard at the lower right, and Cabernet Sauvignon occupies the two vineyards nearest the house.

The grapes have been pressed, the juice cleared, the yeast pitched, and fermentation is underway. On Saturday the 20th it’s back to Jan’s to get some Muscat, which produced an incredible dessert wine for me in 2007.

A hopper on the hopper!

Following that it looks like Cab Franc and Lemberger from Bob Scott over at Bellendene Vineyards in early October.

Finally, the Napa Cab Sauv and Lodi Malbec will bring up the rear through the only guy I go to for out-of-state grapes, Rob Hamilton at MD Crush.

I’ll be reporting on all of those soon enough. Stay tuned!

Making “the switch”…

OK, these past two years have been vicious. Back in 2006 a winemaker friend of mine came over and decided I had too many empty carboys. She threw down the gauntlet and I foolishly picked it up… Now I’ve got wine spread out across the whole year — a wine for almost every month it seems.

Yes, we can…

Here’s an interesting post off of Belief.net by a spiritually and politically conservative blogger who calls Barack Obama “The Democrats’ Reagan”.

No matter who you support in the political process this year, I find it hard to believe anyone could find Obama’s South Carolina victory speech anything less than inspirational. It’s about 15 minutes long but if you’re as jaded and disappointed in the American political system as I am, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I, for one, have found the last 20 years of politics exhausting for the most part. So many people have subscribed to the fear mentality that Washington has built to bolster the status quo — fear of terrorists, fear of illegals, fear of a shaky economy, fear of diversity, fear of conservatives, fear of liberals — that the fear mindset will be difficult to shake off.

But not since King and Kennedy has anyone communicated as emotionally stirring a message of hope for the future as has Obama. Can he do it? Who knows. But at this point I’m inclined…no, eager…to meet the devil I don’t know. Because I know the other devil all too well…

And please folks, whatever your political bent, please, please participate in the debate…and then vote. Make no mistake, we’ll all be eating “Change” a year from now. Can we make that change be change for the better? I fervently hope the answer is “Yes, we can…”

Validation…

If you look at this post by Amy Lillard, over on La Gramiere in my Blogroll, you’ll understand where this is coming from.

Wines really are a lot like your children in some ways. That is, they both are a product of nature and nurture, you make every effort to see that they turn out well and be all they can be, and you don’t really know how you did until years later when they make you proud (or profoundly disappoint you). And, of course, no matter how good or bad they turn out, you end up second-guessing yourself. If only I had done this differently or been more on top of that… Oh, if only I hadn’t

My Newest Labels…

Wow, I’m incredibly far behind on this blog and there’s so much to tell!  The 2007 harvest is over and the wine is well on its way to becoming what it will be.  But that’s all for another day.

For now, here’s your chance to comment my newest labels.  Only one shows the octagonal gold-leaf border but both are printed on the same stock.  One is more casual, the other more formal.  Should I stick with one or use both?  I was thinking of using the one on the left for my “formal” wines (Cabs, Merlots, Chards, etc.) and the one on the right on my fruit wines. (Blueberry, apple, peach, mulberry, etc.) But maybe you have a better idea or alternative…

Have an opinion? Please leave a comment!!

Thanks!!

Music Recommendation — Cowboy Junkies

Cowboy Junkies — Long Journey Home

I only recently fully “discovered” this incredible Canadian band even though they’ve been around for over 20 years now. Formed by three siblings and a “best friend” in the mid-80’s, I think everyone has heard this uncompromising group’s cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane”. Don’t ask me why, but I never looked any further than that. Perhaps because — in spite of the incredible amount of talent here, and millions of record sales to their credit — they’ve never really had a chart-topping single. But, while their musical honesty keeps them a little below the mainstream radar, it’s also what makes them so satisfying to hear — especially live.

Berries & cherries & time! Oh My!

Well, if the weather cooperates, it looks like I’ll be heading to Paw-Paw, WV, this weekend to pick wineberries. I’m planning to take more than a few pictures so watch for them soon.

The berries here in Maryland are really sporadic this year. You can find three bushes side by side on the same hillside with the same exposure and one will have berries so ripe they’re falling off the plant while the others are mostly green still — or orange at best. It’s gotta have something to do with the Easter freeze or the dry spring, I’ll bet.

My intent was for this to be my one and only summer wine this year. I’m out of carboys and I’m out of time. Something’s got to give, so…no peach wine, no cherry wine, no plum wine. Sorry. No. I just can’t do it…

Well, as those of you who know me may have predicted,

Updates…

…are mostly taking place on the other pages of this blog at the moment. Sorry about the lack of “formal” posts lately. I want to get the infrastructure down first to make future updates quicker and easier. Thanks for your patience!

What to watch for? Well, for one thing, wineberries are coming in the first part of July. We’ll be making a trip to Paw-Paw, West Virginia, with friends to visit a special stretch of land where you can supposedly pick a 5-gallon pail full in 2 or 3 hours. Watch for pics and a write-up on that experience for sure!

Also, notice the new Bon Chiens tab above. If you have a good dog would like to represent him/her here, send me his/her pic (or a link to it) and a brief write up. I’ll see that it happens…

The Darkling Thrush

Written on the eve of the 20th century, The Darkling Thrush, by Thomas Hardy, is as relevant now as it was at the end of the 19th century — perhaps even more so given the current sad state of world affairs and the fact that we’re laying the foundations for not just a new century this time but a whole new millennium.

It’s an interesting view we have here. Hardy is looking forward from the leading edge of the 20th century while