The wine is done!!!
A few years back, Turk decided that Nadine and he were going to make wine. The great thing about Turk is that when he decides to do something, he does it. It doesn't matter that he has no experience with it, nor any clue how to go about it. THE WINE WILL BE MADE!!!!
This first year was a learning experience. Equipment was at a minimum, knowledge was even more scarce and as a result, the wine could peel paint. This batch of wine was best suited for melting snow in the driveway.
The next year, Turk decided this should be a family affair and so enlisted the help of Mike, Renita, and Dad. This oughta be good!!
We made Chardonnay and Cabernet. The Chardonnay wasn't too bad. The Cabernet was a disaster. Despite new equipment, experience, knowledge from others, and a stack of magazines, we managed to make wine that was drinkable but only when mixed with 7Up or ice cream. Maybe it was the 16 cups of sugar we added before fermentation. Our sucrometer told us the wine needed sugar. Well, we gave it sugar alright!!!
A year later, bound and determined to get it right, we tried again. This time we chose to make Chardonnay, Merlot, and Chambourcin. We bought the juice in the fall of 2002 and starting fermenting it. Due to a really busy schedule we didn't bottle the stuff until last night (October 2003).
Success At Last!!!!
The extra time in the carboys didn't hurt at all. Matter of fact all three batches came out really great. Actually, the merlot came out better than the brand name merlot we were enjoying while doing the bottling.
The bottling party
The best part of making the wine is the bottling party. Nadine and Turk had us over for a delicious dinner, great wine, and lots of crazy cheeses. I don't know how, but Mike's homemade pickles were there too!!! After pigging out on snacks and dinner, it's time to head down to the basement, with the wine and snacks of course, and start bottling. Since this was our 2nd time doing it together, we had a better system this time. This was definitely the best batch we've ever made, rivaling other wines we've purchased from the store.
Click here for some pix from the bottling party
