Book Review: First Steps in Winemaking

My local library has a donation box, and every few months they have a sale of the books put into that box to help fund the library. This time around, I found a gem, a 4^th Edition book called First Steps in Winemaking by C.J.J. Berry. The book, which was published in Great Britain, does not give a date published, but I believe it was from 1970. Today, you can buy the 8^th Edition published in 1994.

Berry gave a little introduction, saying, “This little book really started as a collection of recipes, reliable recipes which had appeared in the monthly magazine, “The Amateur Winemaker”. First published in January 1960, it was an instant and phenomenal success…”

It is a lot like today’s wine making books. There is a nice cartoon diagram showing the process in which fermentation happens, and black and white pictures of various winemaking activities by people with 1960s haircuts. This book does talk about growing your own grapes a little, including varieties, planting, and cuttings. It also talks about how to form a winemaking club, and how to organize a wine competition.

The bulk of the book, though, is dedicated to 130 recipes set to a suggested calendar. For instance, one would make a prune wine in January from dried prunes,  and cherry wine in July when cherries are ripe.  However, some recipes are for making liquors, such as taking fresh pineapple juice and adding enough brandy to it to keep it stable.

Some of the more odd recipes that I have not really seen before include: Birch sap wine complete with tapping instructions, primerose wine, coltsfoot wine, cowslip wine, farmhouse tea wine made with wheat, tea, and lemons, hawthorn blossom wine, sack wine as mentioned by Shakespeare, wallflower wine, pansy wine, oakleaf or walnut wine, honeysuckle wine, marigold wine, marrow wine, meadowsweet wine, golden rod wine, vine pruning wine, and cornmeal wine.

An odd thing is that before all the recipes, it has a warning about poisonous, doubtful, and not recommended plants for making wine out of. I say odd because the not recommended category contains items that there are popular recipes for today, such as potato (how else do you make vodka?), pumpkin, and tomato. Berry claims, “they are not suitable winemaking material either because of fermentative difficulties or because they are not palatable.” Winemaker Magazine would beg to differ on the tomato, as they had several pages on the topic in their June-July 2004 issue!

One nice thing is that since Britain was attempting to go metric at the time of publication, all recipes are given in the British system, metric system, and US system.

Washington Initiative 1100

This fall, I’ll be able to vote on Initiative 1100, which would allow privately owned stores to sell hard liquor instead of state run stores.

It is really easy to find those in support of I-1100 like me, but I think the best neutral article I have see actually comes from Oregon. The two states have very similar liquor control laws (with the exception of transporting homebrew), so the outcome of this election could very well push for a change in Oregon as well. I recommend you read it.

Part of the reason I am interested in this is that if I-1100 passes, it would also do away with requiring wholesalers. I believe in a perfect world, wholesalers will still exist for distribution, but it would make a small winemaker or cidermaker such as myself able to sell my product directly to a mom and pop grocery store. This is good, because if the wholesaler thought that I didn’t produce enough to make it worth their while to distribute, or didn’t think that the grocery store dealt in enough volume, the wholesaler could deny either one of us business. Doing away with the required use of a wholesaler would promote local business. However, if either business were to grow, then the use of a wholesaler would be beneficial, but only on a voluntary basis.

Further reading:

• The Seattle Times “Costco-backed liquor initiative closer to ballot.” June 23, 2010
• The Columbian Letters to the Editor “State monopolizes liquor sales.” July 28, 2010 

Clark County Winery Ordinance

In the United States, to produce cider commercially, one must have a winery license. In my home county, the wine industry is barely beginning to grow, and county officials wanted to know, as published in The Columbian, “Was this a commercial use of agriculture land? Retail? Is food being served? Does the health department know about this tasting room? What about the fire marshal? How many customers are going to come, and are neighbors going to be calling the county to complain about noise and traffic?”

Part of the reason this created some conflicts was that Washington State Liquor Control Board will not issue a liquor license until a winery proves that it is in compliance with local land-use laws, and the local officials were not exactly sure how to deal with wineries, and so a new business that could draw in money to the local economy would be vastly delayed in opening.

So local officials and wineries came together and had the Board of County Commissioners approve an interim wineries ordinance, which will probably be made permanent by November 30, 2010. The Clark County news release says,

The ordinance was drawn up in consultation with winery owners after some were delayed in receiving their Washington State Liquor Control Board licenses because they could not demonstrate compliance with local land use laws regarding wineries.

Clark County did not have regulations governing wineries, which have increased in number only in the last couple of years, and so winery applicants either encountered a confusing permit process or filed nothing with the county.

To better support fledgling ventures and ensure that wineries and tasting rooms comply with fire, building and land use laws, county staff developed codes specifically applicable to small scale wineries in Clark County. These codes clarify and simplify the development process and establish permit fees for wineries, distinguishing them from large-scale development projects.

The interim ordinance also designates acceptable functions at wineries in order to protect neighbors. It sets out regulations regarding access, parking and use. For example, a winery can host a maximum of 24 events annually and events must be completed no later than one hour after sunset. Food can be available on a limited basis, but charging admission for the primary purpose of listening to live music is prohibited.

As approved, the interim ordinance requires compliance with applicable building codes, which will help ensure the safety of those who work in or visit wineries and tasting rooms. Agricultural buildings, including older ones, have been converted to winery use, and a permit assures an annual inspection to be sure the structure is safe.

Video: CVTV news clip (requires Windows Media Player)

I’m glad this is in place, as it will help me open up my cider house some day.

Oregon Homebrew Laws

So it turns out that it is illegal to transport homemade wine and homebrew outside the home in Oregon. The law has always been there, but recently the Oregon Liquor Control Commission has decided to somewhat enforce this.

I say “somewhat” because it does things like cancel the this year’s Oregon State Homebrewers competition after 22 years. Brew clubs are somewhat canceling tasting events, or pushing further underground.

This is a pity, because Oregon has a lot of breweries, and they would have gotten their start with homebrew clubs and winning brewing competitions like the state fair. In fact, the Oregon Brew Crew nominates a brewer every month to go to the Green Dragon Bistro and Brewpub in Portland, OR to brew up a batch. How can they select a person and recipe if they can’t transport the beer to test it first?

It is a sad time in Oregon….

Further Reading:

• F.H Steinbart Co (Official Blog) “OLCC bands home brew outside of the house.” July 12, 2010
• Fox 12 Oregon “Rules Tightened for Oregon Homebrewers.”  July 13, 2010 
• Portland Monthly “Home Brouhaha.” July 13, 2010
• The Oregonian “Keep Handcrafted beer and wine at home, Oregon state officials say.” July 15, 2010

Don’t Ruin My Wine Smelling Experience

My mother is allergic to perfume, causing her to not be able to breathe, and she starts coughing a lot to try and breathe. So many cousins’ graduations missed because people wore perfume and she couldn’t breathe. I was taught young not to wear perfume.

Good thing, too. When I was in college, my roommate worked for Starbucks, who forbid their employees from wearing perfume because it would change the flavor of their customers’ coffee. I’ve also heard that chocolatiers also can’t wear perfume, as chocolate will absorb smells out of the air, effecting the taste. I believe it because one year, Mom bought a box of peppermint patties and chocolate peanut butter cups, and the peppermint smell was absorbed by the chocolate peanut butter cups, and they tasted awful.

Shortly after spending money to take a “Le Nez du Vin”: The Nose of Wine class, the Oregon Wine Press ran an article by Janet Eastman in their May 2010 issue  titled “On-the-Nose Advice” about avoiding breath mints, perfume, and even smoking when tasting wine. With the mints and smoking, it would be difficult to taste the wine as these two items would have covered up the taste buds with another flavor, making it difficult. With wearing perfume, aftershave, lotion, etc, it is hard to tell if the wine smells like roses, or if that is just you. In all cases, the smell also waifs off, affecting other people smelling and tasting. Some wineries, Eastman wrote, will have polite pleas, “We request that you be considerate of others at this event and refrain from wearing scents that conflict with the enjoyment of the bouquet of the wine. Thank you for your respect.”

In Tasting Club: Gathering Together to Share and Savor Your Favorite Taste, Dina Cheney does say that when sending out an invitation to people for a tasting to include, “A request not to wear perfume of cologne (which would interfere with everyone’s olfactory abilities).” The Wine Club by Maureen Christian Petrosky seconds that.

At my cider making class a few weeks ago, there was a man who wore heavy scents, and I avoided him, especially when it came to drinking cider, as I wanted to smell and taste my cider, not his cologne.

Book Review: The Wine Club

The Wine Club: A Month-by-Month Guide to Learning about Wine with Friends by Maureen Christian Petrosky caught my eye as being something different when it comes to learning about wine. Most books talk about specific wines and leave the door wide open for your own experimenting, possibly leaving you still overwhelmed and lost at where to begin. This book is organized to take it slow, one month at a time, with a specific wine and instructions on how to do a tasting that month.

The book still has the generic opening you will find in any wine tasting book, but the most interesting part about the intro is the calendar it has for throwing a wine tasting party. It is set up in a grid, and it kind of reminds me of the check lists for having a wedding, including setting up music, polishing glasses, and even sending out thank-yous after the tasting.

As for the wines included, they are not your usual, and she does chose wines that go well for that time of year, such as she starts with Champagne due to New Year’s. The wines included are:

• January – Champagne: Become a Bubblehead
• February – Cabernet: By the Flight
• March – Syrah/Shiraz: A Spicy Sip
• April – Merlot: Merlot, My Dear
• May – Viognier: Chardonnay’s Sexy Sister
• June – Riesling: Picnics and Porch Swingin’
• July – chardonnay: The Queen of Whites
• August – Sauvignon Blanc: Get It While It’s Hot
• September – Dessert Wines (aka Stickies)
• October – Zinfandel: For an All-American Tailgate
• November – Pinot: Waxing Poetic with Pinot
• December – Pick your Poison

Each chapter then has a “Getting to Know”, a suggested flight of wines, and food and wine pairings for that month.  She also provides a “Bang for Your Buck”, a “Mona Lisa” of a super special splurge recommendation, a “Salvador Dalí” wine that is quirky and funky and less mainstream, a “Wine Trend” of gizmos and gadgets, and a “If the Glass Fits” to teach about different types of wine glasses. There is also a page called “Get Your Drink On,” explaining the color, aroma, taste, body, and finish one would expect in that month’s wine style.

Most importantly, each month there is a different “You’ll Never Forget it” and “Wine Speak.” These are the lessons about learning to appreciate wine, and are doled out slowly from month to month instead of all at once. For example, she talks about tannins, vintage, aging wines, and decanting  in February, wine spoilage and wine legs in March,  and Old World vs New World and  terroir in April. It leaves you not so over whelmed, and you are having fun while learning.

When it comes to December, Petrosky sets you lose to host your own wine party, saying that you have the tools from the rest of her book, and that you should be confident in your wine tasting abilities. The rest of the chapter is dedicated actually to cheese and wine pairings, using the format from her other chapters now on cheese, such as “Cheese Speak”, and then talking about regional wines from around the world.

At the back of the book, there are some extra sections. The first one is on etiquette, such as avoiding lipstick to make it easier to clean glasses, don’t wear perfume, sending back bad wine at a restaurant, and more. There is also a page of recommended websites and another for recommended books. The next page is a cheat sheet of popular white grapes and red grapes, and geographical “places that make yummy wine from them.” Just before the index is the very important Tasting Notes sheet for your parties, including complete name of wine, grape variety, vintage, tasting date, price value, aroma, color, taste, body, finish, notes on food pairings, and overall thoughts.

Miracle Fruit Food Tasting

I was all set up to leave the topic of miracle fruit today, but when I got home last night, we kind of had an impromptu miracle fruit food tasting dinner.

My husband broke out of his beer cellar a Dogfish Head Festina Peche sour beer and a Deschutes Black Butte Porter, both of which we have had before and are easy to find. The Festina Peche, being a sour beer, turned syrupy, much like the other sour beer did that I had before when I had miracle fruit. My husband did not like it, and I ended up drinking it. The Porter took on a creamy kind of caramel quality, of which my husband said was kind of like a milk stout. Later, I tried it again, and I could still taste the hops, but it is a lower hopped beer, and the added creamy flavors did suppress it a bit.

As for foods, I used a list provided by Miracle Fruit Man as kind of a guide. Basically, we found there to be three categories: no change, syrupy sweet, and a slight change. The foods that had no change were ones like most cheeses, olives, and semi-sweet chocolate, we found no change. The syrupy sweet foods were ones like Ikea lingonberry sauce, balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice. Here is a run down of what we had, and how it changed:

• Porter Beer – creamy, sort of caramel
• Peche Sour Beer – syrup
• Granny Smith Apple – this tart apple was now a very sweet apple
• Cheddar Cheese – no difference
• Unknown Soft Cheese (Havarti?) – no difference
• Parmesan Cheese – this normally nutty sharp cheese got mellower
• Ikea Lingonberry Sauce – syrup
• Dill pickles – became kind of an interesting sweet dill taste, but not like sweet pickles since this still had dill. My husband, who gags on dill pickles, still gagged.
• Tomato – this was the BEST transformation, as it went from tasting just a large salad type tomato to tasting more like a cherry tomato or the small, really ripe, sweet tomatoes.
• Kiwi – very similar reaction as the tomato, where it now tasted like a sweeter, riper kiwi
• Kalamata Olive – no change
• Lettuce – no change
• Broccoli with Lemon Juice – the lemon juice got disgustingly sweet that I couldn’t eat it. The list included suggestions of oysters in lemon juice, but I have to wonder who would want a sweet oyster? I mean, we regularly do not sweeten our veggies and meat, so trying it this way was horrible.
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate – no change
• Dijion Mustard – no change
• Balsamic Vinegar – sweet with a little bit of pucker still
• Tabasco Sauce – sweet and hot. We had two drops, and while the heat had been turned down due to the sweetness, it was still there. In fact, both of us later commented that we could feel our throats burning, but not our tongues.

I was all set up to have a salad since the lettuce and olives had no change, and the tomatoes were great, but the things I usually used as a dressing were now too sweet, so I abandoned that idea.  I will also note that at the end of all this, we decided we needed to have a real meal, so I made nachos because I knew they would taste the same, and it didn’t take long to whip up.

Besides being a fun experiment, I could see how may those allergic to sugar, diabetics, or those seeking to lose weight might find this useful, as one could potentially bake desserts without sugar, using lemon juice instead and becoming reduced in calories. However, it would be easy to add too much lemon juice and therefore make it too sweet. The Miracle Fruit Man does have some recipes posted. Some of them I don’t think I would try, such as the watercress and endive salad because I just don’t think I would like my watercress and endive sweet, but other things like a fruit salad with yogurt dressing made with plain unsweetened yogurt sound great!

Miracle Fruit and Beer

After reading the Mad Fermentationist’s blog titled “Miracle Fruit Sour Beer Tasting”, I bought some Miracle Fruit Tablets and decided to try them out at the Portland International Beerfest 2010.

I didn’t consume a miracle fruit pill when I first got there, as there were some things I wanted to taste as is without altered tastebuds. It was when I got a Franziskaner Dunkel-Weisse beer that I finally tried out one of the pills. I didn’t really make that many notes regarding this beer ahead of time, simply stating, “Eh, it is beer.” So even after five 4 oz samples of cider, mead, and fruit beers, I wasn’t really caring to drink beer. Then I took the miracle fruit pill, and then tried the Franziskaner Dunkel-Weisse. It tasted better to me, and I was starting to pick up more creamy and caramel notes, which were probably already there but hidden. Since sourness was being toned down and replaced with sweetness, these characteristics were coming though stronger to me.

Since there were a lot of sour beers there, I tried New Belgium La Folie. I turned to my husband and said, “Wow, this beer must be really sour, because this is syrupy sweet to me right now!” In fact, it was almost too much so, but it was good. When we came back the next day, my husband got a sample of the La Folie again, and it was really sour, but I could still detect the syrup taste on the edges. Again, it was probably always there, but the sourness just put it into balance, and once it was stripped away and converted to sweetness, the syrup taste became dominate.

With my altered taste buds, my husband got 21^st Amendment Double Trouble Imperial IPA, which is a very hoppy beer, too hoppy for my husband. When I tried it with my altered taste buds, I pushed it away. My husband was shocked, “You can still taste that?” “Yes.” He was a little disappointed, as he hoped that with my altered taste buds that I would like it and drink it for him! Also, if I liked it, I might start drinking more beer with him. Now, everyone has different tastes, and everyone reacts differently to the miracle fruit, but this experience is why I believe the CSI: New York got it wrong when they said it makes bitter foods sweet, as the IPA was still very bitter to me.

In hind sight, I should have gone and gotten a porter, which are typically less hoppy and more creamy with chocolate or coffee notes, but I did not think of it at the time. I’ll have to have a miracle fruit tasting sometime in the future, so I’ll try an remember then. I’m excited!

Miracle Fruit

I remember an episode of CSI: New York titled “Forbidden Fruit” in which the murdered victim was found dead at a party in which people were eating foods that normally are avoided because they are unpleasant tasting. The detectives found out that the people at the party had consumed a Synsepalum dulcificum berry, AKA “miracle fruit” from West Africa that alters the taste buds. In this case, it allowed the victim to ingest dangerous levels of drain cleaner without knowing it due to the altered taste buds. The episode showed the head detective biting into an onion and declaring it tasted sweet.

Now, I believe the writers did twist the truth a little bit writing that episode, as Lindsey claimed that it makes bitter foods taste sweet, but most research, although not all, I have seen says that the berry makes sour foods taste sweet, not bitter foods. In my experience, I tend to agree. Another flaw with the clip is that she did not tell him not to break open the seed of the berry, as so many warn against. Still, this clip does a pretty good job explaining how it works, though I remain skeptical that one could drink drain cleaner.

Miracle Fruit recently crossed my path again when I was reading a blog by the Mad Fermentationist titled “Miracle Fruit Sour Beer Tasting.” Reading about his experience, I decided that since I was kind of talking about taste that I would get my hands on some Miracle Fruit Tablets and try it out myself because it sounded fun.

One thing I should point out that the TV clip got right is how dangerous it can be to alter your taste buds, even for a little while. Taste buds are there to protect you against potentially harmful foods, as you will not ingest something that tastes bad to you. This helps to protect you against some poisons and harmful bacteria.

See also:

• New York Times “Tiny Fruit that Tricks the Tongue”
• Mberry
• Miracle Fruit Man
• Suggested food items (scroll down to see)

Portland International Beer Fest 2010

This past weekend, my husband and I went to the Portland International Beerfest 2010.  Admittedly, this is more of my husband’s kind of thing this time around, but I had fun. It was held in the North Park Blocks of Portland near Powell’s Technical Books. The weather was pretty near perfect.

As with any beer tasting festival, we got a glass for tasting. My husband and I were expecting a larger plastic mug like we had been acquiring from so many other festivals, but this time it was a small stemmed beer glass that only really held 4 oz. I really liked it, and will probably use it as my tasting glass when I am tinkering with my own products at home.

I started off my tasting with local Wandering Aengus Ciderwork’s Cherry Anthem Cider. I like cherry, but I found this to be a tad bit on the cough syrup side taste wise.

I tried out Unibroue Éphémère Apple beer, which I really liked. It smelled like an apple crisp, where you had the apple and the oatmeal smell together.

Next, I had Mountain Meadows Agave Mead, which was kind of like drinking undistilled tequila, but it was much more complex. I think the next time I see it in a store, I’ll buy some, and I’ve been eying agave syrup maybe to try making my own.

From there, I tried out Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry Ale, which my initial reaction was that it was very much like a raspberry Framboise, that is to say, a very syrupy fruity beer. However, when I came back the next day, one of the few drinks I consumed was a Lindemans Raspberry Framboise and then the Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry Ale, and the Lindemans Framboise was very sweet and not a whole lot of beer flavor, and the Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry Ale was milder in sweetness with a little bit more beer coming though. Both were very good, but I think the Lindemans Framboise is more of a special occasion and drink it with cake, where as the Samuel Smith Organic Raspberry Ale is a little more every day. However, one should not confuse this with a normal fruit berry, as it is definitely fruiter and sweeter than most fruit beers.

After having that much, I decided that my taste buds were probably numb enough to try a beer without fruit, so I went with a wheat wine at 10% alcohol called Trois Mousquetaires Imperial Weizen, imported by Shelton Brothers. It had a wheat smell to it, and my husband said he was getting a lot of esters (fruit smells) from it. However, I didn’t drink it very fast, so as it warmed up, it got worse in my opinion, and there was some banana notes coming though, indicating a warmer fermentation.

I followed that up with Franziskaner Dunkel-Weisse beer, which is a Bavarian Dark Wheat. By that point, my note writing kind of trailed off, and I began conducting an experiment in which I will write about in a few days.

As I have mentioned, we did return the next day, but I had pretty much tried what I wanted to, so I just had the Framboise and Raspberry Ale back to back so that I could be sober a few hours later for driving, as we took the bus on Friday.