Archives For Wine

Dogfish Head Sixty-One IPA: new beer-wine IPA

‘Pu’er tea is harvested by hand each year, is labelled with a vintage, and can be aged for up to 50 years. Its taste is affected by the soil it is grown in, and the weather conditions during the year of harvest.’

via Libourne signs wine-tea agreement with China | Daily wine news – the latest breaking wine news from around the world | News | decanter.com.

Libourne signs wine-tea agreement with China – Love this!

Marques de Caceres 2001 Gran Reserva

When I found out we were moving to Spain, I immediately bought John Radford‘s “The New Spain“. I was headed out to conquer Iberia and I figured this was a good place to start. That first year as I wandered the Spanish landscape looking for direction it served me well. Granted too big to travel with, it none the less led me to places I might have over looked. And if not more importantly helped keep me motivated to make my own discoveries. Each regions synopsis in the book ends with a series of contact numbers, and while the web was relatively new to these wineries, everyone who had a website or email address received at least one message from me. My Spanish wasn’t good enough to dare call, but I did try a few times. I can say for sure that more than one winery ended up profiled on Catavino because of this. John’s contribution.

I’ve met John a few times, and shared the stage a couple more. Always someone who had a firm handshake and a warm smile, he will be missed. If you haven’t read his books. Head over to Amazon and pick up a couple. Then make sure to buy a bottle of Rioja and curl up with them both.

So here’s a toast to John. I figured Rioja would be a good choice.

Cheers,
Ryan

Qvervi of Rkatsiteli - Watching Punchdown

Recently attempted a short photo story over at 500px. I like the idea of these stories, but sadly most of the stories others have put up seem to be just collections of photos. I did a test run as I began to realize when editing my photos from a recent trip to Georgia, that I had a short story of winemaking developing. I’m sharing it hear to see what you think, and to see if it’s something I can be more conscience of in future travels. Would be fun to do more visual stories.
I can’t embed the set here, so I’ll leave you with this link and ask, if you want, to come back here to leave a comment.
LINK: Making wine with qvervi in Georgia

Why tea and wine pair well with food.

Winemaking during Prohibition

The Volstead Act specifically allowed individual farmers to make certain wines “on the legal fiction that it was a non-intoxicating fruit-juice for home consumption”,[82] and many people did so. Enterprising grape farmers produced liquid and semi-solid grape concentrates, often called “wine bricks” or “wine blocks”.[83] This demand led California grape growers to increase their land under cultivation by about 700% in the first five years of prohibition. The grape concentrate was sold with a warning: “After dissolving the brick in a gallon of water, do not place the liquid in a jug away in the cupboard for twenty days, because then it would turn into wine.”[14] One grape block producer sold nine varieties: Port, Virginia Dare, Muscatel, Angelica, Tokayi, Sauterne, Riesling, Claret and Burgundy.

The Volstead Act allowed the sale of sacramental wine to priests and rabbis. This was used as a loophole to purchase wine by imposters as well.[30][citation needed]

via Prohibition in the United States – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

To Investigate: Vintage TeaWorks – Tea for Winos

The Collection | Vintage TeaWorksThe Collection | Vintage TeaWorks.

Looks to be a fun range of teas to try! Will need to do so next time I’m in the states! Thanks to @aleksimehtonen for tipping me off!

Edible Fermentables: Wine, Beer, Cheese, Meat

Part 1: Fermentation’: When Food Goes Bad But Stays Good

Part 2: Edible Fermentables: Wine, Beer, Cheese, Meat

The Book: The Art of Fermentation: An In-Depth Exploration of Essential Concepts and Processes from Around the World

If you don’t know the Fresh Air Podcast, you should.