Last year the Syrah grapes were a big disappointment. Over grown, low sugar levels, and puny in size. NOT THIS YEAR!!! The Syrah grapes are looking fantastic and are coming along great. Today I went through the rows of Syrah and thinned 20% of the fruit (also did the Zinfandel) to get the best quality. By reducing the yield, only the best clusters of fruit remain to receive a larger share of the vine’s nourishing energy. My goal here is to get a better concentration of flavors.
Tags: Home Wine Making, New Mexico Wine Grapes, syrah grapes
The bottling of our 2009 wines has begun with 7 gallons of Cabernet Sauvignon. Total bottles included: 28 (750ml bottles) and 3 (1.5 liter) bottles. Leftover: enough for one glass to enjoy.
I was all excited to try my new Buon Vino bottle filler I purchased for this years bottling. The dang thing didn’t work plus the instructions were poor. Had to go back to old methods. I was very disappointed with the Buon Vino bottle filler. Hopefully I can send it back and get a new one.
Tags: Bottle Filler, Buon Vino
Today I received our new grape press. This should be very helpful come harvest time.
Tags: Grape Press, Home Wine Making, Homemade Wine, Rookie In The Vineyard, Wine Press
Pati was busy for the day and put me in charge of dinner. I put together this amazing tasting Salmon meal that knocked Pati’s socks off. It was yummy.
I filleted the Salmon steaks in such a way that I could roll them up and tie them off with NO bones. I figured this would maker for even cooking and it worked out great. I then made up a lime butter sauce to put on the steaks after grilling which was a big hit.
I added some dirty rice (Uncle Ben’s) and grilled some pineapple slices to finish off the meal. BTW, the little steak is made from the leftover cuttings for Jessie and Maggie. They loved it also.
Tags: Salmon Steak Recipe
This is an exciting time of the year in the vineyard. This morning I spent a few hours doing some canopy management. In other words, I am removing shoots and leaves that shadow the grapes and prevents air to circulate . It was especially nice this morning with a nice light rain to cool things off.
All three wine grapes (Zinfandel, Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon) are showing the first stages of veraison. Veraison is when the grapes start changing color and the berries start producing sugar and flavor. It is the time of the season where the vine begins to ripen the fruit.
It has been two weeks since I attacked the leaf hoppers/white flies and it looks like I won the battle this time. I am very happy at what I saw today. The vines have put on some new leaves and have really bounced back. The two weeks of extremely warm weather has really jump started the ripening process. I am very pleased at what I am seeing this year.
This picture shows the yield on a Zinfandel vine. I intended to take more pictures showing the veraison, but the clouds opened up a bit and I had to put the camera away. I will get some shots tomorrow.
Tags: Home Wine Making, Homemade Wine, Rookie In The Vineyard, veraison
