What's in your glass tonight?

[wisp]

I was enjoying a bottle of black cherry, lovely but young, and a bottle of cranberry and blueberry, really biting and wanting to be taken notice of.

I have had to sober up as my Heather has just rung and said her, and her university flatmates, house has been robbed. They were all out at a party. Their laptops have gone ... I think it is someone they know.

It is not so much that they have lost the hardware, it is their work. They are in their final degree year.

Throws everything into perspective.

[wisp]

lol at beary, i often wondered about doing the very thing you advise against

in my glass tonight, green tea & ginger, a whole year old, i'm getting good at this as i often seem to be mentioning a brew thats a year old! ... and i am slightly upping my quantities this year. anyway the wine is dry and strong but tastey nonetheless. but this years effort ... about 1 % abv less should be better.

I'm envious. I don't have wines that are a year old!

[ms67]

the green tea & ginger is strong (ish) and dry. tho what i thought was heat from the ABV the better half thought was heat from the root ginger. so we had an intersting chat about this, especially cos she drinks less than me, and i dont drink much anyway! The orange wine i make, that is very popular around xmas time, is strong and sweet. i don't know where body comes into this wine, thats lack of a palette vocabulary when it comes to describing things, but there is bags of flavour and acidity which help with carrying the ABV and the sweetness respectively.

as for hitting the nail on the head, the elderly woman who made the cherry wine, and the ginger wine (both wines 19 years old), wow, body, sweetness and strength, and i suspect achieved with bread yeast, and am certain no campden or sorbate. Bundle the whole lot together and there's a wealth to draw on!

[steveb]

pint of youngs stout tasting rather good @8 weeks,big problem wiffey had a sip and liked it too........love her but sharing my homebrew?cant remember that in the vows?

[wisp]

pint of youngs stout tasting rather good @8 weeks,big problem wiffey had a sip and liked it too........love her but sharing my homebrew?cant remember that in the vows?

Your homebrew isn't strong enough if you're still tormented by your vows! And anyway, the vows are whatever the wife says they are at any given time ... you stand no chance Ace!

[wisp]

I'm enjoying a bottle or two of my Cranberry and Biberry wine. Ye gods it's maturing well. It really is a pleasure to drink. I will definitely do this wine again.

[NorthernWiner]

I'm mer-lovin' some merlot this evening.

[wisp]

I see what you did there

[ms67]

another bottle of beaverdale shiraz (jan 09) and tasting mighty fine. still in the dark about the ones that were not right, perhaps its something that happens during early aging .... tasted great up to about 6 month old, then not right for next few months, now cracking stuff. is this possible? i guess so. Probable? hmm your expert opinions most welcome.

[wisp]

Coffee tonight, sleeping tablet night

[ms67]

last years blackberry wine, took a leaf from WaH pages of brewing wisdom and general concensus so OG was 1085, FG 994 so around 12.4 % ABV. its very nice, light, fruity, dry and a bit more acidic than i'm used too - but i like it! its still young so perhaps the obvious acidity will mellow a bit with time. i still used sauternes yeast, and it was 100% blackberry (but i did make mixed black and elderberry brews too). i think i may be swayed into reducing the typical ABV of some of my brews. i have more on the go with lower ABV's than last time round, so reports will come in as they get bottled.

also have a glass of beaverdale shiraz left over from last night. quite interesting sipping them side by side. B'berry noticably sharper and lighter. more to the shiraz but dull in comparison ... i know that sounds like an oxymoron. wish my vocab was better .... the b'berry makes you go wow and smack your lips, the shiraz makes you want to chew it????

cheers folks, my winemaking awareness is definately on the up and i'm appreciating different things now. but i'll still be making parsnip wine and loving it!

[wisp]

Some of my apple wine and a taste or two of my cranberry and blackberry. Both maturing well. The c&b is delicious.

[wisp]

Same as last night. These two wines [in my 'I may not know much about art but I know what I like' mode] must be amongst the best I've made thus far. They are right up there with the pineapple blush I have spoken about previously. Yet, I have a feeling that the best is yet to come. Remember Bob, I have parsnip and a carrot on the go!

[NorthernWiner]

I splurged a bit and picked up a bottle of 2005 Bordeaux (Chateau Bel-Air Pomerol). Very nice! Smells like tobacco and tastes like blackberries. Not a big wine, but flavorful.

[Rich]

Tonight, I've got some more whisky..

Spent the day going round Glenfiddich distillery then a look round Dufftown.

Unfortunately the cooperage up the road a bit is closed at weekends but will try to get a look round there on a weekday.

Found a nice little whisky shop in the village too.

Pics attached of the stills at Glenfiddich