A wine press is a device used to extract juice from crushed grapes during wine making. There are a number of different styles of presses that are used by wine makers but their overall functionality is the same. Each style of press exerts controlled pressure in order to free the juice from the grapes. The pressure must be controlled, especially with grapes, in order to avoid crushing the seeds and releasing a great deal of undesirable tannins into the wine.

Types of Presses

A basket press consists of a large basket that is filled with the crushed grapes. Pressure is applied through a plate that is forced down onto the fruit. The mechanism to lower the plate is often either a screw or a hydraulic device. The juice flows through openings in the basket. The basket style press was the first type of mechanized press to be developed, and its basic design has not changed in nearly 1000 years.

A horizontal screw press works using the same principle as the basket press. Instead of a plate being brought down to put pressure on the grapes, plates from either side of a closed cylinder are brought together to squeeze the grapes. Generally the volume of grapes handled is significantly greater than that of a basket press.

A bladder press consists of a large cylinder, closed at each end, into which the fruit is loaded. To press the grapes, a large bladder expands and pushes the grapes against the sides. The juice then flows out through small openings in the cylinder. The cylinder rotates during the process to help homogenize the pressure that is placed on the grapes.

A continuous screw press differs from the above presses in that it does not process a single batch of grapes at a time. Instead it uses an Archimedes screw to continuously force grapes up against the wall of the device. Juice is extracted, and the pomace continues through to the end where is it extracted. This style of press is not often used to produce table wines, and some countries forbid their use in higher quality wines.

Coppola Rosso Classic (2004)

Blend: 47% Zinfandel (Lodi), 32% Cabernet and 21% Syrah.

I came across this wine at a local shop and sure it is commonly available most wine shops. Jerry Hall over at winewaves.com describes this wine as:

Deep warm ruby red in the glass, the aromas are fruity raspberry, cherry, cassis, plus hints of forest and smoke. The mouthfeel is light-bodied, nicely tart, with dry mild tannins. The cherry, citrus rind and spicy oak flavors evolve in the balanced easy finish.

I couldn’t agree more. This truly is a great wine to have a case on hand. Perfect for any occasion and an unbeatable value at $9-11 a bottle. To be honest all of the vintages from this line that I have tried are amazing. Just wanted to share this little gem with all of you.

Go find yourself a bottle - you will be glad you did.

Salute! Chindun!

Oak is used when making wine barrels. The use of oak in wine plays a significant role in winemaking and can have a profound effect on the resulting wine, impacting the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of the wine. Oak usually comes in contact with wine in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods. It can be introduced to the wine in the form of free floating oak chips or as wood staves (or sticks) added to wine in a fermentation vessel like stainless steel. Oak introduced in the form of a wine barrel can impart other qualities to the wine through the process of evaporation and low-level exposure to oxygen.

How an oak wine barrel is made.

Sometimes you just need a good story to read that inspires and helps to illustrate the determination of wine makers from around the country. This particular story is about Saucelito Canyon owners Bill and Nancy Greenough handing the business over to a trusted young lady (Amy Freeman)

It reveals how Bill, at the age of 30, bought a dilapidated vineyard and turned it into a thriving winery after 34 years of hard labor and an immense amount of dedication. Taking what he has made - turning it over to a trusted young and intelligent individual.

It is a great read and always heart warming to hear the line:

No longer is he going from shops to restaurants selling cases of wine out of the back of his trunk.

Full Story is here

Our previous Weekend Wine Word was “phylloxera” and we learned about these diminutive pests that can be capable of destroying an entire vineyard. Not that I am growing my own grapes (yet) it is always nice to see research done to help better the industry. That is exactly what Washington State University is doing.

Richard Cockle over at OregonLive.com has written an article titled Hard to spell, hard to fight which covers the plans over at WSU.

A new research winery near this southeastern Washington farming town is transforming grape growing and wine making, or vinification, into war planning — sort of.

"We want to be prepared if there is an invasion," said James F. Harbertson, a Washington State University enologist, or wine scientist.

Harbertson, 35, is referring to phylloxera, a destructive aphid, or root louse, that preys on grape vines and injects a poison into roots as it feeds, and it could be headed this way. It devastated the great vineyards of France in the 1860s, forcing Europe’s foremost wine-drinking nation to switch to absinthe, a bitter, green liqueur, for a decade or two.

Continue to the story

A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. In contrast, passive wine cellars are not climate-controlled, and are usually built underground to reduce temperature swings. An aboveground wine cellar is often called a wine room, while a small wine cellar (less than 500 bottles) is sometimes termed a wine closet.

As you can see from the picture above - wine cellars can be quite stunning looking the attention to detail is amazing. This particular wine cellar is located at Devil’s Thumb Ranch.

Learn more about them here and here.

Friday, November 14th: and the day before Thanksgiving Wednesday, November 26th, Friends will be playing the blues, jazz and light rock starting at 9:00PM.

Saturday, November 29th: On the Split with Jeff Godina from 12:00 to 3:00 PM; lamb and chicken. RSVP 330-536-6450

Wednesday, December 11th is L’uva Bella’s Christmas Party. Medure’s catered dinner, dessert, bottle of wine, soft drinks, and a Christmas present: $75.00 per couple, $40.00 single.  Additional beverages are extra.  Reservations only, seating is limited. Beef with soy ginger, chicken with lemon, pasta station, salad, gourmet cookies and assorted miniature desserts

Wednesday, December 31st is our New Years Eve Party. Ring in the New Year L’uva Bella Style.  Medure’s catered dinner, dessert, bottle of wine, soft drinks, Champaign toast, and entertainment after dinner.  $99.00 per couple, $60.00 single. Additional beverages are extra.  Reservations only, seating is limited. Prime rib, roasted turkey, chicken scaloppini, pasta station, potatoes, cheeses, fruits, chips/ crackers/dips, grilled vegetables, rolls, assorted miniature cheesecakes, and carrot cake.
 

More events will be planned
Sunday – Wednesday available for private parties.

Lounge Open: Thursday, Friday, & Saturday 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Retail (Winemaking supplies, gift shop and wine):  Mon-Wed 10-4, Thurs.-Fri 10-6 & Sat 10-3

Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Retail hours starting Jan. 2nd until March 26th: Thurs. – Fri 11-6, Sat 11-3

The older - and wiser - you get, the more you worry about what you drink. Or that’s the theory, and one which a new bar, Terroirs, is banking on as the first natural wine bar in Central London. Opening this week, it promises the biggest selection of natural wine in the country - and no hangovers.

Fiona Sims wrote and article over at TimesOnline - Titled: How to avoid a hangover with natural wines

Interesting write up on what will be the next big trend in winemaking. Personally I am surprised I have not seen more articles like this.

This photo is not of me it was supplied by army.arch from Flickr.

I enjoyed the sites as a child to watch my grandfather make his magical wine in his basement. The smell, that slight chill to the air and the sound of wine being racked. These elements plus the screaming of Italian men, while eating cheese and prosuttio is what family was to me. The wine seemed to tie it all together. I would concentrate on my grandfather’s hand while he was pouring that wine from the jug. Seeing out of focus faces laughing and carrying on in the background. It was the lifeblood of those times. That wine was referred to as “Dego Red.”

There isn’t any particular recipe for "Dago Red." The name merely refers to any red wine made in an Italian style outside Italy. It is probably the most requested recipe, usually after the passing of an older family member who didn’t teach anyone how to craft his wine or, no one was interested in helping and learning at the time. More often than not this idiom is used by friends of Italian families that want to brag what they had at dinnertime with the family of 24 down the street.

Truth be told, you really need to know where the departed got their grapes, as the wine referred to can only be made in the same way if they use the identical grapes. Since this is usually information not on hand, simply whipping up a batch of red wine is the accustomed alternative.

Here is a basic recipe and procedure:

Classic “Dago Red” Wine - Yields: 5-6 gallons of finished wine

1. Take approximately 45-50 lbs. of Concord grapes.
2. Crush grapes just enough to break the skins.
3. Put into a clean, open top container, plastic is ok at this point.
   1. Add 15 lbs of sugar to 1-2 gallons of lukewarm water (100°F to 110°F). Stir until dissolved and add to must.
4. Cover container to keep out contaminants.
5. In 24 hours add one and one half packs of wine yeast.
6. Stir must twice a day for 5-7 days pushing the pulp down.
7. Siphon out the juice in 5-6 days if the room temperature is hot (80°F to 90°F) and 6-7 days if the room temperature is cooler.
8. Press the pulp, if you can, for more juice. Although this will create more work in the future in more racking to clear wine.
9. Put wine into a wooden barrel but do not fill up to top, room is needed for expansion while it is working. Optionally you can use glass carboys with airlocks if you wish.
10. Ferment juice for a few weeks gradually topping off. Keep loosely covered if in a wooden barrel
    1. Ferment for three more weeks with airlock left on at all times and then rack. Attach airlock again.
    2. Rack again in another 3 weeks.
11. When it slows down or stops fermenting, about Thanksgiving, cap tight.
    1. When it stops fermenting completely, rack again, wait 7 days then bottle.

Once bottled it is best to have this sit for at least a year to give it that authentic flavor, but if you need to… you can enjoy a glass now! No harm done.

Salute! Chindun!

Reverse osmosis is a more economical operation for concentrating food liquids (such as fruit juices) than conventional heat-treatment processes. Research has been done on concentration of orange juice and tomato juice. Its advantages include a low operating cost and the ability to avoid heat treatment processes, which makes it suitable for heat-sensitive substances like the protein and enzymes found in most food products.

Reverse osmosis is extensively used in the dairy industry for the production of whey protein powders and for the concentration of milk to reduce shipping costs. In whey applications, the whey (liquid remaining after cheese manufacture) is pre-concentrated with RO from 6% total solids to 10-20% total solids before UF (ultrafiltration) processing. The UF retentate can then be used to make various whey powders including WPI (whey protein isolate) used in bodybuilding formulations. Additionally, the UF permeate, which contains lactose, is concentrated by RO from 5% total solids to 18–22% total solids to reduce crystallization and drying costs of the lactose powder.

Although use of the process was once frowned upon in the wine industry, it is now widely understood and used. An estimated 60 reverse osmosis machines were in use in Bordeaux, France in 2002. Known users include many of the elite classed growths (Kramer) such as Château Léoville-Las Cases in Bordeaux.

Reverse osmosis is used globally throughout the wine industry for many practices including wine and juice concentration, taint removal; such as acetic acid, smoke taint and brettanomyces taint; and alcohol removal. The patent holder for these processes, Vinovation, Inc., claims to have served over 1000 wineries worldwide, either directly or through one if its licensed partners, in the last 15 years. Its use has become so widely accepted that patent infringers have sprung up on several continents.

Learn more about it here and here.