Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 18th, 2009 | No Comments
A friend gave me a 32-pound "Moon and Stars" watermelon, a dark green rind with small, bright yellow spots (the stars) scattered over it and a 4-inch circular yellow spot (the moon) atop it. The bottom is yellowish-green. I am feeding a yeast starter in orange juice before I cut it. When the starter is at least 24 hours old I will open the melon. The piece I ate (from another melon off the same vine) was very sweet and just on the pinkish side of brilliantly red. If this one tastes as good, there are two ways I could approach this. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
The San Antonio Regional Wine Guild held its Spring Competition last Sunday (April 19th) and I entered seven wines. One (a Port) did not place, but three did very well. An Ison Muscadine I left ageing in the carboy for four years tied for runner-up (Honorable Mention) to Best of Show (Grape) with Martha Tarkington's Blanc du Bois. Then, a fruit wine (Key Lime) I made for my wife won Best of Show (Non-Grape) and the Bay Leaf wine I featured on this blog took runner-up (Honorable Mention) to Best of Show (Non-Grape). Thinking about these wins, I came up with a few tips to share about each of these wines. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
I don't usually plug things like this, but a friend sent me a url, I went and watched. Now I watch it first thing in the morning while waiting for the coffee to brew. What a refreshing way to start the day! Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
I was watering my wife's roses and noted the ambrosiac aroma from one bush loaded with flowers and I starting counting them -- 38. Since my wife is out of town and won't miss them, I got a bowl and picked the petals. These are deep, velvety red. My last three batches were from yellow roses, peach roses and white roses, respectively, and made pales white wines. This promises to be a dark rosé if the color doesn't drop out. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
I received an email strongly suggesting I should open a Twitter account, an activity that had never crossed my mind. Well, at 2 a.m. yesterday morning I did it. I really haven't figured out how to use it yet, have no idea what I will use it for, but suspect I will figure it out. Millions of others seem to have done just that. My Twitter name for those who tweet is jackkellerwine. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
A good-too-many people think they are allergic to sulfites. A very small fraction of a percentage actually are, but the majority of those who think they are aren't. I read somewhere that the human body actually produces a gram of sulfites a day, about 10 times the amount found in a bottle of wine. But sulfites are only one side of the sulfur equation. On the other side are sulfides. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
I have no idea where the term "minerality" came from, but it isn't officially a word. Still, wine snobs use it so it must mean something. In my "Glossary of Winemaking Terms" I relented and listed the non-word, defining it thusly: Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
I received an email that claimed that at 5:30 a.m. on an August morning in 1978, French filmmaker Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera to the bumper of a Ferrari 275 GTB and had a friend, a professional Formula 1 racer, drive at breakneck speed through the heart of Paris. The drive starts at Porte Dauphine and...ends on Montmartre with the Cathedral Sacre Coeur behind the car. The drive is nonstop and insane as the driver runs dozens of red lights, narrowly misses lorries, other automobiles, pedestrians, and even goes the wrong way on a one-way street. The email claims speeds of 140 mph in places, but I have my doubts. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
A friend sent me some Medieval food recipes two days ago right around supper time. While reading them, I became so hungry I went into the kitchen and integrated one of the dishes (Whiskey Glazed Carrots) into the meal I had planned, which revolved around pan fried pork chops. Today I found a bottle of my 2003 Beetroot Wine in a case in a closet. Tonight's meal revolved around braised beef tips in porcini mushroom sauce on a bed of rice with another of the Medieval dishes and something I cooked up. I used some of the Beetroot Wine in the beef tips and mushroom sauce and also drank it with the meal. It was a fabulous pairing, so good in fact that I want to share the recipe — for the buttered greens and leeks. Read more....
Posted by Jack Keller's WineBlog in General, OtherAug 17th, 2009 | No Comments
I was recently asked for two mead recipes. This got me thinking about honey, which provides at least some of the fermentable sugar in all meads. I have discussed honey before because it is such an amazing substance, but I thought I would do so again and expand upon the subject a bit. Read more....
