TTB Basic Permit Received!

Yesterday was a rollercoaster ride for the Aaronap Cellars household.  Work was the usual pell mell dash so I was a tad exhausted when I came home.  Neither Shawna nor I felt like making dinner or eating left overs so we headed out for dinner.  I took her to one of my favorite restaurants in Chelmsford and we had a lovely dinner of Spanish tapas at Cafe Madrid (the spinach & cheese empanadas & pork loin were awesome).  After enjoying a lovely glass of granacha (her) and monastrell (me), we wandered home and I opened my Aaronap Cellars email account...

To find an email from the TTB announcing that the Basic Permit for Aaronap Cellars had been approved!!!

After gaping at the screen with an open mouth for a few moments, I yelped like a fool, which brought Shawna running.  A couple of big hugs later, I was finally calm enough to think.

"Oh my God, I own a federally licensed winery!"

The absolutely amazing part was how quickly this happened.  I submitted the application on March 11 and less than 17 business days later, it was approved.  I definitely have to credit my TTB agent Heather with an excellent customer-service approach.  We had a few back-n-forths about some details that needed amended and she fixed them for me on the application!  After my recent brush with the faceless bureaucracy that is the IRS, this dealing with the Federal government was eye-openingly refreshing.

Of course, this means that I need to get my rear in gear and get moving on the state and local permits.  I honestly wasn't expecting to get the TTB permit for at least another month or two, so had turned my focus to other things for a little bit.  Time to refocus!

The wine to celebrate this momentous occasion?  Alto Moncayo Campo de Borja Garnacha 2007, a lovely full of chocolate & black fruit aromas, silky tannins, and a bold fruity aftertaste.  Yum!

Cheers,
Noel

Federal TTB New Winery Application Submitted

Ever had one of those anti-climatic moments when something you've been working hard towards is finally done and you're left with a feeling of "that's it?"  Well, I'm having one of those moments right now...immediately after officially submitting the new winery application for Aaronap Cellars to the Federal TTB.

This has been a goal for the past several months that has caused me a bit of aggravation due to the length of time it was taking.  As you can imagine, there's a lot of paperwork involved starting an alcohol-related business in this country so this has required a bit of work and a lot of documentation.  But I really do have to give the TTB credit.  Bureaucracy or not, these folks are trying to make the process as simple as possible.  I've had the very good fortune to submit my application after the unveiling of their Permits-ON-Line (PONL) system that allows you to submit the application electronically.  I recently attended an information session on the PONL system at the Eastern Winery Expo and was amused to hear one of the TTB managers state that "Our job is to help you with your business, not just catch the bad guys."  So far, I have to agree with them.  The PONL system is a HUGE step forward over the complicated paper forms that required repeatedly entering the same information on form after form.  In the PONL system, you enter the repetitive data once, and the system self-enters it wherever it is needed.  How often do you hear praise for the government's customer service???

So today, after finally accumulating all of the supporting documentation required, I was able to hit that final submit button and send my new winery application off for review.  Just need to mail in the paper copies of my surety bond on Monday and then sit back and wait.  Review process usually takes between 60-90 days.

After all that...the moment is very anti-climatic.  Feels like there should be a brass band playing and confetti flying.  Instead, I'm sitting here a little stunned and remembering that I have a final exam to complete for my UC Davis winemaking class, and the MA application needs to be started, and I need to move forward with the town of Westford to get zoning special use and building permits, and....my fiance is coming over tonight and I think I'll open a bottle of Sparkling Concord to celebrate.

Embrace the moment, the other stuff can wait until tomorrow.

Salute,
Noel

Fidelitas...A Perfect Wine to Celebrate an Engagement

Greetings fellow winos!  I thought I would take a moment to share a celebration this evening and the wine that is accompanying the festivities.  Previous posts have mentioned a special someone in my life who has been an inspiration and great source of support every since she came into my life.  Well, we were enjoying a lazy President's Day afternoon together and were in the middle of a period of discussion & banter when I felt completely at peace with a decision that I've been mulling around in my head for a while.  I took this wonderful woman in my arms, told her that I wanted to make her a permanent part of my life, and asked her to marry me...

She said yes!

Needless to say, after the obligatory phone calls to family, we had to celebrate.  To go with a dinner of chipotle pork loin and pasta with red chilies, lemon, & arugula, I selected Fidelitas Boushey Vineyard 2006 from Fidelitas Wines in the Yakima Valley, WA.  I had picked up this wine at the winery during a trip to WA back in 2010 and had been waiting for a special occasion to pop it open (I think this qualifies).

Appearance:  Rust-garnet color, clear, gleaming sheen
Aroma:  Restrained nose with light aromas of cherry, coffee, some earthy floral notes, and a tiny amount of cocoa.
Taste: Invigorating with light jammy red fruit.  Well structure & balanced with nicely integrated tannins and a smooth finish.  Rich, round mouthfeel.  A 14.8% abv wine that you can keep drinking until the bottle is gone.

Overall, an incredible wine to go with an incredible event.  Not overly tannic & astringent, not puckering, not overly fruity--just an excellently crafted blend of 64% cabernet sauvignon, 29% merlot, 7% cabernet franc.  And I thought the winery motto was especially appropriate for the occasion:

 Faithful, loyal, true

This is the kind of wine that I seek to make, and those three words sum up everything that Shawna & I feel about our life together.  Thank you Charlie Hoppes for creating a wine to perfectly match this special occasion.

 Salute,
Noel

Going commercial--am I crazy?

Well, readers, Aaronap Cellars is taking a big step.  A few posts have eluded to the process, but just thought I formally announce that I've been taking the first steps in obtaining the required licenses and permits to turn Aaronap Cellars into a commercial winery.  As you can imagine, this has required a lot of soul searching, planning, and dreaming over the past 2-3 years.  At a number of points, I've come close to concluding that I'm absolutely nuts to consider this and should just be content to remain small and make wine for myself.  But every time I've paused to rethink, I fall back on the realization that wine-making is my passion and the career I want to pursue in the future.  That being said, I'm not a rich person, so will have to start small and keep my day job for financial support for a good long while.

I also have to give credit to a special someone who's recently come into my life.  Facing the long road through the approval process is daunting (to say the least) when you're alone.  Having someone standing beside you who firmly supports your dream and wants you to succeed is a big help & a source of comfort when you get a little discouraged.  This special someone has been an inspiration and one of the reasons that I've made more progress in the past 6 months than in the past 2-3 years.  All I can say to her is 'Thank you hon."

So, what have I accomplished so far?

1)  Completed a business plan
2)  Completed an initial financial planning spreadsheet
3) Filed for incorporation as Aaronap Cellars LLC with the Commonwealth of MA
4) Established business bank accounts
5) Became a member of the MA Farm Winery & Growers Association
6) Completed the Federal New Winery application.  OK, I still have 2 little items left to do before I can submit it, but one is to make a photocopy of the winery premise diagram and the other is purchase a surety bond (and I know who to call for that).  Those will both be done in the next 1-2 days so I consider the application complete.
7) Contacted the town of Westford to initiate the local approval process and got good initial feedback that the winery would be an allowable activity in my zoning.  Long road to go through the local approval, but a good first step.  Hey--at least they didn't say "NO"!

What's next?
1) Complete the MA Farm Winery license application
2) Obtain building permit to finish the basement
3) Clean out the basement and start construction!

There's a lot more after that, but that's the immediate next steps.  For those wanting to keep abreast of the up-to-the-minute news, please find Aaronap Cellars on Facebook.  I often find it much easier to write short snippets of info instead of an entire blog entry, but will continue to document the big steps here as well.  Winemaking activities will wind down during construction & licensing, but stay tuned!

Cheers,
Noel

Help a future winemaker, get some wine

I recently had an opportunity to donate to the American Wine Society Education Foundation to help fund a scholarship for a student in the oenology field.  What sparked this occasion was that the AWS had a little wine left over that had been donated for the AWS 2011 Annual Conference that was held in Rochester, NY in early November.  Enough wine for 35 cases--just a wee bit of left-over wine.  We really must do a better job of drinking the place dry at the 2012 conference in Portland, OR!  So they decided to offer a case of wine to whomever would donate $100 to build a $3500 scholarship.

Well, I'm a sucker for helping young students, so I dashed off a check.  Couple of weeks later, the wine arrived today!  And I'm tickled pink about the contents

Dessert Wines
Ochoa Moscatel 2010 (DO, Spain)

White Table Wines
Firehouse Cellars Riesling Lake Erie (Geneva-on-the-Lake, OH)
Sheldrake Point Dry Riesling 2010 (Finger Lakes, NY)
Chateau Ste Michelle Dry Reisling 2010 (Columbia Valley, WA)
Concannon Conservancy Chardonnay 2009 (Livermore Valley, CA)
Leonard Oakes Estate Winery Chardonnay 2009 (Lake Ontario, NY)
Rooster Hill Traminette 2008 (Finger Lakes, NY)
Isidoro Polencic Collio Friulano 2010 (DOC, Italy)
Hera Vinho Verde 2010 (Portugal)

Red Table Wines
Swedish Hill Optimus 2007 (Finger Lakes, NY) 
Piera Martellozzo Tab Bor Rosso Friuli (DOC, Friuli Grave, Italy)
Crasto Douro 2009 (DOC, Portugal)

I think it's pretty clear that the conference attendees really went for the red wines and left the whites alone!  These will really add to the tasting spreadsheet that I've been keeping of wines that I've recently tasting.  Sweetest donation I've ever made.

Salute,
Noel

It's Mitt Romney Beer!

This is only tangentially related to wine, but it was hilarious so I have to share!

A couple of weeks ago, I invited some old friends from my Ann Arbor, MI days over to watch the Detroit Lions vs New Orleans Saints play-off wildcard game.  Even though I admittedly have a goodly stock of booze in the basement, I decided that wine just doesn't cut it for football watching so I stopped into a local package store to grab some beer.  The place I went was next door to the grocery store so I wasn't expecting a big selection of craft beer but figured they'd at least have Sam Adams.  To my surprise, the craft beer selection was actually pretty good and, low and behold, there on a shelf in the fridge aisle was a 6-pack of Stone Brewing Co.'s Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale shining like a beacon.  My mouth started to water and I decided that I just had to buy it, especially (or ironically) as I was wearing my Arrogant Bastard Ale t-shirt that I had gotten while visiting Stone in 2010.  I ignored the price tag (a gasp-inducing $18) and grabbed it along with a couple of other beers (a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA & a Smuttynose Old Brown Dog Ale for those keeping track of my beer tastes), since there was no way I was sharing the Stone with anyone.  I may be a nice guy, but I'm not that nice, darn it!

Making my way to the cash register, I handed the beer over to the clerk who scanned the barcodes of my selections.  "Oh my god," he exclaimed.  "Didn't know we had a 6-pack so expensive.  Hell, this is Mitt Romney beer!"

Salute,
Noel

P.S.  Ironically, my friends wanted to sample my wine during the game, so we actually didn't touch the beer.  And believe me, the Romney-ish Oaked Arrogant Bastard ale tastes extraordinarily good!

Football vs Wine Bottling---the bottling won!

For those not following the news, or simply living on the planet Neptune, Tim Tebow (I believe some other members of the Denver Broncos also came) was in town yesterday for a play-off game with the New England Patriots.  I think most of the northeastern US came to a grinding halt while everyone hunkered in front of their TVs for the evening to watch the battle of Tom Brady vs God.

But not at Aaronap Cellars!  I had some wine to bottle and a lovely assistant to help, so to heck with the game.  If you scroll down the blog, you'll notice that I mentioned some experiments with sparkling cranberry wine in my last post.  The primary fermentation for the base wines were all completed, so it's time to filter, bottle, add the liqueur de tirage, and get the secondary fermentation underway.

Sounds simple, huh?  Well, friends & acquaintances know that nothing is done simply at Aaronap Cellars and this was no different.  I didn't have just one cranberry wine, but THREE! 

1) Cranberry base made from cranberries and water (2 lbs cranberries/gallon)
2) Cranberry Cider made from cranberries and Carlson Orchards Premium Cider Blend (1 lb/gallon)
3) Cranberry-Niagra made from cranberries and Welch's White Grape Juice (1 lb/gallon)

All the wines were filtered in sequence through coarse, medium, and fine filters until they were polished & crystal clear.  And then the fun began...

I had read about an innovative secondary fermentation method that avoids the laborious process of riddling & disgorging during sparkling wine production.  To give proper credit, Zac Brown had posted this method on WinePress.US and I really wanted to give it a try.  Essentially, I placed 1g of a QA-23 yeast that has been encapsulated in alginate beads (sold as Pro-Restart) in the hollow portion of a plastic champagne cork.  A 3/4-inch disk of stainless steel screen (sold as faucet aerator or smoke pipe screens) was then wedged in the top of the cork to hold the yeast beads in place.  This was actually harder than it sounds as the screens are pretty stiff, but after some flexing and slow pressure, it was actually possible to push the screens in.

For the liqueur de tirage, I used Coopers carbonation drops (made of ~3 g invert sugar) that are normally used to carbonate beer.  I further complicated matters by splitting each batch of wine into half and adding 2 Coopers drops to one half and 4 drops to the other to give a frizzante-style lightly carbonated sparkler and a full-blown carbonated sparkling wine.  After the drops were added, each bottle was capped with a yeast-filled cork and covered with wire hood, and then inverted to dissolve the sugar drops and place the wine in contact with the yeast.  At the moment, the bottles are sitting in my guest bedroom closet hopefully beginning to undergo the secondary fermentation that produces those lovely "bubbles"

Salute,
Noel

p.s.  And in case you're completely out of media touch:  Tom Brady won.  Actually, not so much as won, but crushed, obliterated, demolished, stunned, bowled over, etc.   He even punted for pete's sakes!