Our own wine!

So this probably won't be as well written, since it's written by the winemaker. Here's an update on our 2006 vintage aging away in the barn:

The cold snap this past week was a wonderful tool for the wine, as it went through "cold stabilization". Cold temperatures (in the 20s) take out excess acid from the wine and causes it to crystallize at the bottom of the container.

This year's Riesling is very nice. It was originally too acidic, but the cold stabilization worked wonders on it. Instead of being grapefruit-juice-sharp, it's now more apple/pear juice sharp. A lot more gentle to sip, though still not sweet (sorry to those sweet wine lovers - I'll make one of those here in a couple weeks). The wine's perfectly clear, and I'm almost tempted to bottle it now, but I expect another couple of months won't hurt it at all. Besides, it's more of a summer wine, anyway.

This year's Pinot Noir is actually two different wines. I bought grapes from a source who had two different soil types in his vineyard - very rocky like where we've planted our vines, and more typical soil. So this year's Pinot Noir is a comparison of what to expect from our plants vs. similar plants in more, um, plant-friendly soils. The two Pinots have completed Malolactic Fermentation (perhaps another post...) and cold stabilization, and at this point they're still a little young to make a firm comment as to where they'll end up. But the rockier wine is more dark, not so open with its flavors, and still obviously needs time. It's not heavy, just not ready to show itself. The less rocky wine shows a lot more light fruit already, although it shares some of the heaviness of its brother. It's only been aging 3 months at this point, so this isn't too surprising - check back over the summer.

More updates to come as the winemaking process goes along.