WineMaker Magazine 2010 Conference Recap

It has been over a month since my last post--wow! Life has snuck up and kicked me in the knickers this past month and between work-related crud, traveling, my UC Davis winemaking class, & personal winemaking (more on that later), I just haven't found time to write much. But enough about me--let's get back to the wine.

Faithful (and patient) readers will recall that I was gearing up to go to the WineMaker Magazine 2010 Conference in Stevenson WA to see if my wines were received (and learn some other stuff too). At the end of May, I hopped on a plane for the West Coast. I thought I was lucky to get a direct flight from Boston Logan to Portland, OR, but I got a seat about 2 rows in front of a very small child who proceeded to scream her head off for the ENTIRE 5.5 hr flight. That was officially the longest flight I have ever been on in my life & I may have bulled over some folks making a dash for the exit door. I was wearing soft shoes, but I still apologize to anyone who has my footprints on their backs!

Fortunately, the drive up the Columbia River gorge on my way to the WA wine areas put me back in a better move. Unbelievable scenery! And such a dramatic change from the wet west side of the Cascade Mts to the dry eastern side. I had gone out a couple of days before the conference to spend some time in the WA wine growing areas which I haven't had a chance to visit until now (more on that later, too). Let's just paraphrase and say that I thoroughly enjoyed my wine tasting (my wallet didn't) and eventually ended up back in Stevenson for the conference, which was held at the Skamania Lodge overlooking the Columbia River. Gorgeous scenery--here's a picture of the view from the lodge. Nice, huh?

Of course, this was a serious conference so I spent the next 2 days inside at seminars on various winemaking topics like sanitation, proper yeast nutrient regimes, crafting award-winning wines, yeast biochemistry, growing grapes in the Pacific NW, etc. It was a good thing that the weather was cool and rainy because otherwise it would have been difficult staying inside during the packed schedule. Also had the opportunity to meet a lot of fellow winemakers from across the USA & Canada, including some fellow New Englanders (Jason Phelps of Ancient Fire Wines in Londonderry, NH & Joanne Crawford of Crawford Estate Winery in Georgetown, MA). Who'd have thought I had to travel across the country to meet folks who live just a few miles from my house?

The kicker of the conference was the Awards Dinner on Saturday night. I had submitted a few wines and was nervously awaiting the results of how they fared. The awards were announced by varietal class, so I had to wait awhile to get to a category that I had entered. Chardonnay finally came along, and the words "Silver Medal to Noel Powell of Westford, MA" was music to my ears! I was a little dazed as I walked up to get my medal amongst thunderous applause (remember, it's my blog and I'll tell it like I recall it). A little while later in the Misc Red Vinifera category, I heard "Bronze Medal to Noel Powell of Westford MA for 2009 Chilean Malbec"! A second trip down the red carpet (OK, it was more of a orangey-brown color)!!!

Our table did quite well. Jason Phelps took home 9 (yes, count 'em-9) medals and Robbie Rogers also got a medal). We was happy campers!







I think the final picture says it all--talk about a kid in a candy store! Pretty darn pleased with how the wines were received (more on that later, too). Next year's conference is in Santa Barbara, CA, but I honestly haven't decided whether to attend or not. Going to have to weigh the cost, travel expenses, and what new info I'll get out of the seminars.

Salute,
Noel

2010 AWCI Wine Competition Results Posted!

Had a little shot in the arm tonight when I got home and opened my email inbox to find that I had a message that the results of the Amateur Winemakers of Central Illinois 2010 Wine Competition had been posted. I was a little nervous as I opened the link to the results and scrolled down the list to find my name.

And there it was..... drumroll...... Jackpot!

Silver Medal -- 2008 Chilean Malbec
Silver Medal -- 2008 Chilean Syrah
Bronze Medal -- 2008 Northern CA Zinfandel
Bronze Medal -- 2009 Chilean Chardonnay v1 (my Chablis style chard)
Bronze Medal -- 2009 Chilean Chardonnay v2 (my Burgundian style chard)

I received medals on 5/6 wines that I entered! Interestingly the only wine that did not receive a medal was the 2008 Apple Wine that won a Gold Medal & Best of Show White at the 2009 Winepress.US competition. :) I think that just goes to show that not all judges taste the same so there is variability between competitions with the same wine.

Needless to say, I'm pleased as punch tonight! All 6 of these wines were also sent to the 2010 Winemaker Magazine Competition where the results will be released in 2 weeks at the upcoming Winemaker Conference that I will be attending. Gives me pretty high hopes that they will be received equally well.

In the meantime, I'm going to relax with a nice Italian white on this warm, humid evening and get caught up on some household chores that have been piling up. So goes the life of a home winemaker--always cleaning up after myself.

Cheers,
Noel

p.s. I'm well aware that this post probably serves as self-advertising and bragging. But hey--it's my blog & I'll brag if I wanna!

Aaronap Cellars Grand Release Party

While I'm waiting for the competition results to be announced and for my 2010 Chilean grape order to arrive, I decided to try to empty a little wine out of the cellar and throw my first Aaronap Cellars Grand Release Party this weekend. Spent yesterday grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning before the guests arrived but I do believe a fun time was had by all!

Initially, I had 5 wines open for tasting:

2009 Chilean Chardonnay V1 -- A snappy French Chablis style with a fruity nose and crisp finish (no oak or malolactic fermentation.

2009 Chilean Chardonnay V2 -- My version of a Burgundian chardonnay. Fruit forward with notes of French oak and a big buttery finish.

2008 Chilean Malbec -- Restrained dark fruit flavors aged in a new American oak barrel.

2008 Chilean Syrah -- Big cherry and vanilla flavors with a slightly herbaceous finish. Aged in a new French oak barrel.

2008 Northern CA Zinfandel -- Big fruit bomb with tons of jammy fruit. Aged in an American oak barrel.

If that wasn't enough, I also popped open one of my last 2008 Dry Blueberry bottles & the award winning 2008 Apple.

Based on the feedback from attendees, I do have to pat myself on the back and say that most wines were very well received. The Zinfandel was the biggest hit of the evening (managed to unload about a case of that!). We even ventured down to the cellar for some barrel tasting of the 2009 Chilean Syrah and another batch of the 2008 zinfandel. People are really looking forward to those wines, too!

So it was a very happy weekend at Aaronap Cellars. Now to go for a run and work off the junk food calories!

Salute,
Noel

Another competition--2010 AWCI Wine Competition

I was browsing through the Winepress.US winemaker discussion forum last night and came across a new notice that entries for the 2010 AWCI Wine Competition were due by April 15. I was intrigued so I did a little more digging. AWCI is the Amateur Winemakers of Central Illinois, a group of amateur winemakers that got together in 2004 for collective buying power to purchase premium grapes. They've started a wine competition limited strictly to the amateur winemaker that is the 2nd largest wine competition in the state of Illinois.

Since the wines were due soon, I made a snap decision to send in some of my recent vintages and see how they score. At $10/wine, that's a bargain entry fee! Boxed them and shipped them off this morning, so everyone keep those fingers crossed!

Wines entered:
2008 Chilean Malbec
2008 Chilean Syrah
2008 Northern CA Zinfadel
2009 Chilean Chardonnay, no-oak style
2009 Chilean Chardonnay, Burgundian style
2009 Apple Wine

Salute,
Noel

Say Hello to My Little Friends...

For those of you who think I'm completely obsessed with winemaking, well, you're right! And to prove it, I'd like to introduce you to my latest winemaking toys. I call them Bertha and Greta, and they are two of the loveliest 80-gallon (290-liter) stainless steel variable capacity tanks. Bertha is on the right and Greta is on the left in the picture.

I ran into a fellow winemaker & wine distributor a couple of weeks ago while he was pouring wine one Saturday afternoon at a local wine store. He's in the process of starting a licensed/bonded winery in his basement and was needing to increase his capacity. So he was looking to unload his used 80-gallons tanks and buy some larger ones before the Chilean grapes arrive next month. I had some tax refund money burning a hole in my pocket and had been thinking about upgrading from carboys to tanks, so I went out and took a look at them. I wasn't originally thinking of 80-gal tanks (more like 30-40 gal), but decided that this would be a relatively cheap investment for the future. These tanks would give me the option to ferment enough wine to fill a full-size oak barrel and the ability to do an extended maceration without much fear of oxidation. Plus, they are large enough to be of use for fermenting smaller batches when I make the jump to commercial production. I may not want to make several hundred gallons of a particular varietal if I intend to use it as a blending wine. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

As you can see, Bertha and Greta are lovingly ensconced in a cubbyhole nook in my basement, awaiting their first vintage at Aaronap Cellars!

Salute,
Noel

BlackElder/Elderblack Quick Update

As of 11:00 PM this evening, the Elderblack is safely in a carboy and in the basement to starting clearing. This wine fermented in crazy style. Not sure I've ever seen such a vigorous fermentation! Which is kind of good because it had to take care of itself. My schedule got crazy busy and I was forced to leave it sit by self for days at a time. Fortunately, the little yeastie buggers found enough food to keep themselves busy and now I have 5 gallons of a gorgeous reddish-black wine!

Salute,
Noel

Blackberry/Elderberry or BlackElder/Elderblack?

As many of you are well aware, MA had a bit of rain this weekend. If you call 10 inches of rain a "bit" of rain! While I was in the basement anxiously checking to see if I still had a dry basement, I noticed for the billionth time that I had some cans of blackberry & elderberry puree that I had purchased over two years ago. Well, it's raining cats & dogs, what's a winemaker to do? You guessed it, he makes wine! Decided to finally go after the bold, dry fruit red wine that I've been contemplating for a couple of years. I had to go play for church on Sunday morning, so I stopped by the grocery store on the way home to get a few more ingredients and then started mixing things together while doing laundry & cooking my annual St. Patty's Day dinner of corned beef & cabbage.

Now, I'm a little perplexed of what to call this wine. It's about 50/50 elderberry & blackberry based, so could call it Blackberry/Elderberry or Edlerberry/Blackberry.... Or how about just plain simple BlackElder or Elderblack? The BlackElder could lead to interesting label designs with take-offs from the cult classic TV series "Black Adder". Maybe I can get Rowan Atkinson to do celibrity endorsements. Hmmm.... Going to have to think about this one for awhile, so let's move on to the wine.

BlackElder/Elderblack Recipe
2 49 oz cans of Oregon Fruit Products Blackberry Puree
1 96 oz can of Vintner's Harvest Elderberry wine base
4 gallons 100% Niagra grape juice
1 tsp Scottzyme Color Pro Enzyme
6.5 g Laffort Tannin VR Supra

I mixed all of the above ingredients together to make about 5.5 gallons of must. OB = 14.2
Added 5.4 lbs sugar to reach OB = 22.0 (PA = 12.5%)
At this point, I took a pH reading. pH = 3.27. That's pretty much in the optimal range (perhaps a little low for a red wine) so I chose to make no further acid adjustments.

Have to say that the must tastes yummy. Lots of blackberry flavor with a husky undertone from the elderberry! I let the must sit overnight to allow for the SO2 in the grape juice to dissipate. The next evening I hydrated a packet of Llavin BM45 yeast (8g) in ~175 mL of distilled H2O with 10.5 g of Go-Ferm nutrient. After about 4 hrs, there was a good amount of bubbling and burbing in the starter so I added it to the must. Within 24 hrs, I'm observing visible signs of fermentation.

At this point, all systems are go! BM45 is a nitrogen hog, so I'll need to add a couple of good doses of FermAid K as the fermentation progresses. Will keep you updated!

Salute,
Noel