|
        
|
Notes From the
Vintner
|
Welcome
to our column. We hope that you will return to
learn interesting notes on wine, and related
subjects. Wine is a great gift from God to be used
for the enjoyment of man. It is a food, and should
be treated as such. It is meant to lift up the body
and lighten the soul. 9/01/05
|
Which came
first? The making of the wine, or the writing about it…
Well,
this month, it was the making of the wine. We have been very
busy making the wine, with several tons crushed. We have
Cynthiana, Ives, Niagara, Campbell Early, Blackberry, Sax
Winery wine in the tanks … and there is more to come.
There is a lot of hard work yet to do, but the rewards are
many … in sharing a glass of your wine with your
friends.
A friend was over last night helping crush some grapes that
he had grown and sold me. We were talking about cleaning the
tartaric acid off of the fermentation tanks.
I had always used hot water to help break up the acid on the
sides of the tank. He told me that he used a bit of baking
soda to cut and clean the acid off the side of tanks.
Guess what??? He was correct; the acid came off in
just a few minutes with no scraping at all to the sides of
the stainless steel tank. Even at my age, you learn every
day.
Remember to check you water values, and be sure that your
containers are sealed to keep out the air. Clean up your
equipment as soon as you finish using it. It is so easy to
finish the work, and put off cleaning the equipment till the
next day…BUT this is a NO, NO. Remember that you need
to keep the area and equipment clean and free of anything
that can harm the wine.
Keep your record up today. It is easy to think you can
remember what you did to a barrel of wine, but it does not
take long to not remember. So take notes and keep
records. Once you have made that great wine, you will want
to make it again.
So now it is time to think about a glass of wine…hold
that thought for several hours, cause it is now 6:30 in the
morning, and time to go work. But tonight …tonight we
shall fill a glass or two. I shall see you then.
|
