I drank what!?!?!?

This came in an email from my good gamer buddy Stu in North Dakota! Take it for what it's worth!


To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine and those who don't.
As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom, in Beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.
In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) bacteria in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.
However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine and beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Remember; Water = Poop, Wine = Health. Therefore it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit.
There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I am doing it as a public service.


Later!

Tastes good so far!

An update on my wine making efforts! So far we have a Liebfraumilch, a Merlot and a Carbernet in the bottle with a Port close to bottleing. Both my fellow vintner and I are sci-fi geeks, (first and foremost Star Trek) and so we decided to honor that love of Star Trek with a few labels giving a nod to the best Sci-Fi creation ever! Here are pics of the first two sets of labels we have come up with. More labels that will expose our geekiness will be forthcoming. I think that some of my labels may move into the fantasy genre shortly. Possibly with the Port.... Wish you could enjoy a bottle with me! By the way, we are not selling our wine..... only giving it away to those who wish to try it.

Later!

It's Alive!

Well, after about 3 weeks of carefully treatment and monitoring, the first bottles of DeeJay Cellars wines have been bottled. We have bottled 28, 750
ml bottles of Merlot wine. This first batch of wine is name Red Shirt Merlot, giving honor to all those poor red shirted Star Trek guys that never made it back from a landing party or away team. The merlot, which still needs to age for at least three months has at this moment, a very buttery texture to it, with a good sense of oak and raspberry essence to it. It does seem to be a bit on the weaker side, but I think that is due to the relative newness of the wine. We figure the alcohol content is around 13%. I think the body and texture of the wine will definately improve with time. Plans are to open a bottle in one month, compare it to our first taste, and then compare another bottle at three months. For those who I have told I will share some wine, you can certainly expect a decent bottle of good table merlot, that will go with a nice sirloin and vegetables, and even go well with a pizza or pasta meal with tomato sauce.

In the photos you can see my son with the two fermenters. The merlot is to the back of the first photo and the liebfraumilch is still in the process of fermenting. The next two are the first couple of bottles of wine being corked with a very nice piece of machinery that makes bottleing very easy. Further along is the wine being racked from the carboy to the bottles. It really was about a three man operation and took about 20 minutes to get 28 bottles corked. The next is a shot of just some of our "babies" waiting to go to sleep for about three months. And finally, my vinting partner and I enjoy the very first glass of DeeJay Cellars Red Shirt Merlot.

The next bottling will tak place in late February or early march and if it is good, it will be the Kohlinar Liebfraumilch.

Yes, we are both Star Trek Geeks! (don't worry, not all the wines will be in homage to the greatest sci-fi televison series)

Prost!

Boobs and Wine....

Boobs and Wine?! What kind of blog post title do you call that? I call that, truth in writing. And truth be told, I like both items. A lot. A WHOLE lot! Okay, enough personal information. As you know I am currently trying to soak up as much as I can about wine. (both in the reading, creating and tasting of..) And one book I am at this point fascinated by is the Windows On The World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly. I am currently reading about Champagne. Not the champagne that is made in America or else where, but about real champagne from Champagne, France. It has quite an interesting history, but one of the most interesting bits of history is the story of how the vessel we drink champagne from was developed. (so to speak)

Most people drink champagne from the traditional shallow, wide rimmed plastic glass that comes in two parts. Ever wonder why we drink it from those shaped glasses? Well, I shall tell you. (I am paraphrasing from the Zraly book here...)

This coupe design apparently dates back to Greek mythology (or history, depending on your opinion). The footed glass that has a shallow cup that widens out towards the rim was said to be molded from ( I love this...) the breast of Helen of Troy. Apparently Greeks believed (much like I do) that the drinking of wine was a sensual experience, so it only fits that the most beautiful woman of their time take part in the design of the drinking vessel. Now say what you will about Helen of Troy, but I gather from this information that Helen was a card carrying member of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee.

Jump ahead a number of centuries and onto the stage of champagne drinking comes none other than Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France. She had it in mind that the time had come to "re-design" the traditonal shape of the champagne glass. And, yes, you guessed it, she had one molded to her own breast, and viola! We have much deeper glass that we sip our wine from. Apparently she was slightly more developed than the legendary Helen of Troy.

That being said, I shall look upon the drinking of wine with a new fondness and respect (and eagerness!) and say a word of thanks to those so dedicated to the enjoyment of drinking it that they used their own beauty to enhance the experience!

It must be said though, that the best glasses to drink champagne from are the tall flute or the tulip shaped glass. These shapes keep the champagne from losing the bubbles too quickly and enhance the smell and aroma of the drink.

A toast! To wine! And boobs!

Later!

Exploring the Spirit...

Recently the Pastor of my church and I have embarked upon a new adventure... one that involved deliberate and intensive research in to the spirit... spirit of alcohol that is. Yes, we have begun to brew/vint/ferment wine! It was something that I was interested back in my college days when I was involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism and was involved in the brewing of beer, wine and mead. It was not for the purpose of having a cheap source of alcohol, as I do not drink much, but rather for the love of learning and experimenting with something could be made and then shared. I mentioned this to him in passing and it just so happened that we were both interested in doing this so we have invested a bit in the equipment and supplies and currently have a Merlot and Liebfraumilch in the primary and secondary fermenters. We are very close to delivering our first "children" and finding them good homes. (Bottling and sharing them) It will be at least a month before they are truly ready to drink, but we will have to do a taste test to see if we have succeeded in our efforts. I will let you know how things are progressing. The working name for our winery is "Red Shirt Winery. Home of the Live Long and Prosper Wines." (Yeah, both he and I are Star Trek fans...)

I have always liked wine and am endeavoring to increase my knowledge of not just wine making but understanding the different wines and what is a good or a not so good wine. I can highly recommend the book by Kevin Zraly, Windows on the World: Complete Wine Course, 2008 edition. It is fun book to read, packed with information, and probably the best handbook on learning how to read wine, pick wine and taste or enjoy wine. If you like wine, then get this book.

Remember this one thing though about wine. A good wine is any wine that you like or fits your needs. What might be trash to someone else, might be just what you are looking for.

Prost!