A Temple of Our Wine

So, you know we're pretty creative bunch what with soap dishes made from our barrel staves, soap with our grape skins and so on and so forth, not least the design elements of our labels, choice of bottles...well, looks like we have surpassed ourselves this time!

It didn't start out as being a Temple of Wine, but that's what it ended up as.

We took a used French Oak barrel of ours, cut out the front, used the staves to make internal shelving, burned images and text into the wood, made it safe, but all from the perspective of a floor display.

Then it gets borrowed and it ends up in the air and looks like a Temple of Our Wine. See photo. That's our wine bottles around, in and on it.

Some behind the Scenes...

This is our corking machine. Place cork in brass hopper and pull lever down.

This is our filling machine. Place bottle under nozzle (teat?) and fill.

This is our labelling machine. Place on labelling table in exactly same spot as last time, labeller in exactly same spot on table, get template bottle with secret marks on it to align, then place bottle on it, hand crank and the labels are on...maybe first time if you've been a good lad. If not, you will suffer the endless torment and agony of micro-adjusting misaligned labels.

Bottles, upright in cases on our roller conveyor, resting to allow the cork to decompress in the bottle neck, before going on to labelling and then being placed upside down in cases to keep cork wet.

Delaware City Council, Some Shops, Restaurants and Stuff

[apologies for lack of pics - will remedy that]

Delaware City were very impressed with our presentation. Our theme was Sustainability, Community and Integrity, rather than the "give us" attitude. They really appreciated what we had to say and have put us in touch with property owners in Delaware, who we're working with. This is all coming a couple of years ahead of plan as we were going to stay where we are for three production years and here we are, barely into year 2, and we're off speaking with Cities.

We had a great time at the Columbus Local Matters annual meeting putting local producers in touch with local business and we're following through on good contacts made at that event. Needless to say, we targeted those people who were in chef uniform first.

Going out to shops is an experience. You get all kinds of opinion expressed and it never ceases to amaze me just how subjective a subject wine is. I do not think we've had two tastings result in the same comments from the stores we have done. It has all been positive, but everyone finds their own thing in the wine.
The differentiator among stores is currently falling into two camps; those who are interested in the connection with the winemaker and how the wine is made, and those just concerned about marketability and price-point. All are equally valid - this is just an observation is all.

The restaurants are totally different though. They seem to need that connection to the winemaker, that we offer, so that they can talk as well about the wine and what it took to make it in the same way they can explain the food they make. We even have Scali's inventing a desert for the Trovato there and then as we took him thorough tastings of our wines!

Finally , all our labels are approved and are with Bob at Tapp's for printing. We hope to have them very soon as we have sales for the unlabelled wine too.

Last week we check the naturally occurring sulfite level in our wines. After 5 months from crush, the range is between 35ppm to 55ppm of naturally occurring sulfites. We added enough to get to 60ppm to stabilise through a year of upcoming ageing. Remember, 60ppm still well below the organic standard of 140ppm!

We're still seeking insurances - product liability etc. As a new venture this is not that easy and potentially limits sales as there are some entities that require you to carry the requisite insurances. We'll get through it though - always do.

We also thank Joe Mercurio for his support and introduction to Giuseppe's. Thanks, Joe.

"Finish" and "Taste"

Up and down, up and down. That's how the emotions go when you put something out there for public scrutiny. We have had a very good reception apart from a Chicago tasting of one of Michael's splits. We don't know details as to treatment of the wine before tasting (was it left out for a while and subjected to +70F?) but at least it was all good apart from the finish.
Anyway, and I ask Michael to correct me as I'm sure he'll consult the Encylopeadia of Wine, from my own point of view I understand Finish and Taste to mean the following.
Finish.
There are basically two groups of aromas in wine 1), the direct aroma through the nostrils and 2), the indirect aroma when the wine is in the mouth (retronasal).
Finish refers to the endurance/persistence of the retronasal/type 2) aroma. So, in theory, a Great Wine (or an ordinary wine with a lot of artificial help)continues to reveal aromas and flavors in the mouth after it has been swallowed, lips licked, and a breath taken.
Taste.
The four possible tastes in wine are Salt, Sour, Bitter, Sweet. It cannot be anymore since the human tongue just deals in these four. If you taste Salt, oh dear! I really don't think any wine should naturally taste of salt, but if you're manufacturing wine for the Fast Food Generation, perhaps the addition of salt would help them appreciate it.
Some sweetness, bitterness of astringency from tannins or the "sur lees" method, and some acidity will be present. For my part, and this is extremely subjective, a Great Wine should have all three in barely perceptible amounts, neither one dominating. Therefore I like a mellow, smooth wines and avoid high alcohol wines (12.5% and Up) because they have their acidity artificially increased to cope with the alcohol (and I believe higher acid also leads to higher sulfiting, but need to check that one).
That's enough for now (The Winery Web Site Report continues to influence), but next time see an epistle from Eubulus on the consumption of wine.

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