The Wine Maker's Toy Store®

Bringing family and friends together...One sip at a time!

Welcome to Pressing News, the monthly newsletter published by Fine Vine Wines, LLC, designed exclusively to assist the home vintner in the pursuit of their hobby!

THIS MONTH ON THE VINE!

WELCOME

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Fine Vine Wines, LLC, "The Wine Maker's Toy Store". Whether you need home wine making or home brewing products or just need information, we are here to serve you. I want to extend my thanks again for making The Wine Maker's Toy Store your home for your wine making and beer brewing needs. It continues to be my hope that every time you visit our web site or retail store, you will find something of value.

As a reminder, we continue to add products and content to the web site, therefore, if you have any special requests, please let us know. We like to hear what you have to say about our site, our products and/or our customer service, good or bad. Please send your comments and/or suggestions to winemaster@finevinewines.com.

CLASS ON HOW TO MAKE A WINE KIT

On Thursday, August 10th, 2006, we are going to make a Winexpert Wine Kit from start to finish! Actually, we will be working on several kits, so we can demonstrate every step in the wine making process from mixing the must to bottling the finished wine. The class will start at 7pm and will last until 9pm. After the class, we will have a wine tasting which will include the wine bottled that night.

We are going to limit the attendance to 12 for the first class on a first come basis. Please give us a call at 1-866-417-1114 to reserve your seat.

We will have more classes and it is our intent to have at least 1 event at the store per month. If you have a suggestion for an event, please give us a call.

WINEXPERT UPDATE

As most of you are aware, around 90% or more of the wine kit market is in Canada. The principle reason for this is the alcohol tax in Canada which makes a $10 bottle of wine cost $20 or more. As a result, wine making, especially on-premise wine making, is a large industry in Canada; consequently, most decisions regarding the manufacture of wine kits are made based on what is good for the Canadian market. The American market is starting to play into the equations, but we still play "second fiddle" to our friends north of the border.

The reason I bring this up is that there are changes in the works with both Winexpert and RJ Spagnols, the 2 dominate wine kit manufacturers. First Winexpert is producing a 10 liter kit in Canada to compete with the Grand Cru line from Spagnols. This kit is not available in the U.S. currently and I do not know if it will be available or when. Secondly, Spagnols is adding 2 liters of juice to their Vino del Vida line to increase them to 7 liters. The corresponding Winexpert product is the Vintner's Reserve line and is 7.5 liters of juice and concentrate. Lastly, Winexpert is discontinuing 6 of the Vintner's Reserve Passport wines. They are as follows:

In addition, the Canadian Dollar is increasing in value against the U.S. Dollar. Since all of the wine kits come from Canada, if this continues, there will be more price increases for wine kits in the near future.

What all of this means and where the market is headed is unknown to me, but the one thing we do know is that Winexpert will do whatever it takes to remain the #1 selling wine kit manufacturer in the world. As more information becomes available, I will pass it on.

HELP ME KEEP YOUR COSTS DOWN

Over 90% of my sales are paid for via a credit card, either VISA, MasterCard, Discover or American Express. To process these cards, I am charged a base fee plus additional charges. These additional charges are for not having the CCVC code and/or not having the correct address. It may not sound like much, but at $.50 or more per transaction, these fees add up fast. Like all expenses, these fees are included in the prices I have to charge you. Please help me keep my costs down by providing the correct billing address for you credit card and the CCVC code. For VISA, MasterCard and Discover, the CCVC code is the last 3 digits on the signature stripe on the back of your credit card. For American Express, it is the four digit number above your credit card number on the front your card. As with everything related to our store, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to give us a call.

CUSTOMER APPRECIATION PROGRAM - FVW GROWERS CLUB

Please check out our FVW Growers Club. You can get all of the details on our web site, but the bottom line is we want to buy your loyalty! Once you spend $500 with us, you get a 5% discount on everything you buy from us. Find out more on the web site.

FORUM

When you have a question or just want to learn more about wine making, don't forget our forum! We have 454 registered users, including some extremely knowledgeable wine makers with loads of valuable information and willing to assist you in your wine making needs. As of the printing of this newsletter, we have over 22,000 posts. We also have 4 moderators and an administrator. Responses to most posts are made within minutes.

Whether you are an expert or a novice, it is an excellent place to ask questions, exchange ideas and meet other home wine makers. If you haven't logged into the forum, try it sometime. I think you will find it most informative and enjoyable, as well as, a great place to meet fellow wine makers. We are also known to have a contest or two only available to forum members.

FEATURED ARTICLE - HOW TO PERFORM THE FIRST RACKING OF A CRUSHENDO

The Selection Estate Series Crushendo is unique wine kit from Winexpert that comes with 18 liters of juice and a package of processed grape skins. Unlike other brands which just include unprocessed grape skins, stems and leaves, the Crushendo grape pack is processed to the point where all you have is the skins. They have also been processed in a way to maximize the results from using the grape skins which include increased body, flavor and aroma in your finished wine. There are currently four red wines available in the Crushendo series and certainly more coming in the future!

A number of home wine makers have experience frustration with the Crushendo’s due to the perceived difficulty of the first racking and the amount of mess created. Winexpert has not done a good job of explaining how to do this properly, so we have been experimenting with various ways to perform this racking to remove most of this frustration, significantly reduce the mess and prove that making a Crushendo is not that much additional work. Due to the grape skins, it is virtually impossible to use a racking cane or auto-siphon to get 6 gallons of juice. Even though a mess tip is included, it, too, will get clogged and you will be left with 2-3 gallons of “goo”. This is where the problems arise. “How do you get the wine out of that 2-3 gallons?” This tutorial will provide a simple and effective technique to accomplish this stage with relative ease.

In addition to equipment you normally use to make a kit wine, you will need a two gallon fermenting bucket and a large coarse straining bag. These items also come in handy for making small 1 gallon batches and fruit wines. We also recommend that you use 3 /8 ”racking cane, five feet of 3 /8” tubing and the small tubing clamp. Using the smaller size racking cane reduces the flow of the wine. As a result, the mesh tip included with the Crushendo, does not clog up as fast. This helps you to get more wine from the racking phase, resulting in less wine to get out of the lees (sediment).

To make a Crushendo, you must use a primary fermenter that is at least 7.9 gallons (30 liters) in size since your total volume will be roughly 6-1/2 gallons (25 liters) after adding the grape skin packet. A 6.5 gallon bucket will not work! The 7.9 gallon bucket is the only size bucket included in ALL of the starter packages sold by us.

After you have cleaned and sanitized your equipment and added the bentonite to the bucket, begin the Crushendo by:

• Making the kit to a full 23 liters before adding the grape pack and oak. This is very important to the stability of the finished wine and functioning of the fining agents.
• Stir the batch well and then add the grape skin pack to the fermenting bucket. Cutting off the corner of the grape skin packet and squeezing the contents into the bucket slowly to prevent splashing works the best.

• Rinse out the grape skin packet using 1 cup only of warm water and add this to the must. Carefully stir the batch to incorporate the skins.
• At this time, we want to check specific gravity before you add any oak packets that where included in your kit and your SG should be between 1.092 -1.100.
• Open any oak packets and add all of them to your batch and stir them under the surface of the liquid. (Some kits can include multiple packets of oak)
• Ensure the temperature is between 65-75° and sprinkle the yeast on top of liquid and do not stir. Cover and place your fermenter in an area with a temperature of 65-75°.

Please make note of the following:

• Your fermenter will be very full but there is enough room to complete this primary fermentation without it overflowing and making a big mess.
• Making up your Crushendo and transferring to the secondary in an area that you can clean easily is recommended since it is quite possible to get some splashing due the added grape skin packet.
• Use a sanitized spoon to gently stir your batch and push the grape skins under the surface of the liquid once per day.

• The primary fermentation will be very active once it starts and from my experience completes faster than most wine kits.
• Test your SG after 3-5 days and it should be 1.010 or less. Remember the temperature of your fermentation area will affect the time it takes to get to the target SG (warmer=faster and cooler =slower).
• When you reach the target SG of 1.010 or less it is time to transfer the liquid to a 6 gallon carboy.

Now comes the Wine Maker’s Toy Store way to simplify and reduce the mess of the first racking.

• Line the 2 gallon bucket with the large straining bag after sanitizing both and set aside.
• Use your 3/8” racking cane with the smaller mesh filter (included in the Crushendo kit) to transfer most of the wine. The easiest way to start the siphon is place the tubing clamp on one end in the open position. Then fill the tubing with either water or your wine and close the clamp. Then attach the other end of the tubing to the racking cane. Place the racking cane in the primary and lower the end of the tubing with the clamp to the receiving carboy. Open the clamp and the wine should start to flow.
• Keep the tip of the racking cane around 5” from the bottom of the bucket. This will help prevent the mesh filter from clogging too quickly.
• Rack as much of the liquid as you can from the primary fermenter but don’t get too concerned if you can’t get more than 3.5-4.5 gallons. The whole purpose behind using the racking cane is to reduce the weight of the bucket. This makes the next step much easier as now you are dealing with 12-20 pounds of wine instead of 50 pounds.
• Start pouring the liquid from your primary fermenter into the straining bag in the small bucket to catch the solids.
• If you have more than 1.5 gallons of material in the primary you will have to perform this step more than once. When the 2-gallon bucket is full or the primary is empty, pour the liquid collected in the bucket into the carboy. A large funnel will help make this process easier.

• When the primary fermenter is empty, squeeze all the liquid from the solids that you can. You can either use sanitized gloves or your sanitized bare hands.
• After squeezing all the liquid from the solids contained in the straining bag, transfer the liquid to the carboy and discard the solids.
• Reusing the grape skins is not recommended by Winexpert since all the flavoring compounds have been extracted and you will do nothing but get harsh tannins at this point.
• If you have more liquid than the 6 gallon carboy will hold you can put this excess into a clean and sanitized wine bottle and hold until you make the first racking when fermentation is complete. A #2 stopper will fit a standard wine bottle so it can be fitted with an airlock.

• Now your wine will sit another 10 days to complete fermentation and then be racked before stabilizing and fining.

We hope this tutorial will show that making a Crushendo doesn’t need to stressful or intimidating. True it has a few extra steps compared to a normal wine kit, but as anyone who has tried these wines will tell you the end result is well worth the effort!

To assist you in this improved method, we now have a "Crushendo Equipment Kit" which includes the equipment listed above and it is the newsletter special for this month.

For writing this featured article, Matt will receive a $100 gift certificate from The Wine Maker's Toy Store. I am always looking for people to write featured articles and I will give you a $100 gift certificate from The Wine Maker's Toy Store if you summit an article that I use in my newsletter. Just send me your article and when it appears in Pressing News, the gift certificate is yours.

TOY OF THE MONTH

This month's toy is the double blast battle washer. This handy little toy speeds up one of the most tedious tasks when making wine, cleaning you bottles. With this toy, you can wash 2 bottles at once. This design is also easier on your water pipes than the single blast bottle washer. This toy is marked down $3.00 for the month of August.

Part Number	Image	Description	Regular Price	Current Price	Order
4795		Double Blast Bottle Washer	$18.99	$15.99	Order

NEW PRODUCTS

We have received our first shipment of the larger fermenters (50, 90 and 120 gallon sizes) and a new rachett style fruit press. We have also added the spigot and filter screens for the large fermenters, as well as, 15-gallon demi-johns, purple shrink wraps, a replacement center tube for the 1/2" auto-siphon and nomacorcs in 30 and 100 count bags. Be sure to check our New Products Page whenever you visit the web site.

If you are looking for a product that I do not carry, my primary distributor is LD Carlson and you can see their complete product list at their public catalog. If you find anything you would like me to add, please let me know.

CALL US!

If you have any questions about our products, our service and/or wine making, please call us. We are not Corporate America! We are here to serve you. I bring this up, because a number of my callers apologize for bothering me or using my toll-free line. You are definitely not bothering me and I have a toll-free line so you WILL call me.

We are usually at the store by 9 am and stay until at least 7 pm, Monday thru Saturday. We always try to answer the phone when you call; however, sometimes, we are unable to answer the phone as we are all on the other lines or we have customers in the store. If you get the voice mail, please leave your name, number, brief message and a best time to call. We will return your call as soon as we can.

If you don't want to call, just send me an email. I usually answer my email daily. In addition, your emails and/or calls do not have to relate to wine. I will discuss any topic you like, so please remember, I am your resource and I am here for you.

WINE OF THE MONTH

This month, we are featuring all of the discontinued Vintner's Reserve Passport wines at $10.00 off. Since we can not get these anymore, we would like to remove them from our inventory to make room for other items. We only have 2-4 of each kit and we will fill orders on a first come, first served basis. To learn more about each of these kits, go to our Wine Varietals page.

Part Number	Image	Description	Brand	Regular Price	Current Price	Order
3560		French Sauvignon Blanc Crisp, dry & refreshing with the classic traits of palate-cleansing Sauvignon Blanc.	Vintners Reserve Passport	$54.99	$44.99	Sold Out
3561		Australian Riverland Reserve Unique blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Colombard & Muscat varieties make this a "must-try" wine.	Vintners Reserve Passport	$56.99	$46.99	Sold Out
3563		German Muller-Thurgau A great sipping wine that is crisp and clean with plenty of fruity characteristics.	Vintners Reserve Passport	$57.99	$47.99	Sold Out
3564		Australian Chardonnay The new Passport Australian Chardonnay is deep golden in color with tropical fruit aromas, enveloped in a wonderful oak finish.	Vintners Reserve Passport	$57.99	$47.99	Sold Out
3574		Chilean Malbec This intense wine has great power and character, with blackberry, plum, tar, red pepper, sweet cherry, spice, licorice and deep bittersweet notes, almost like unsweetened chocolate or espresso.	Vintners Reserve Passport	$59.99	$49.99	Sold Out
3575		Italian Sangiovese Ruby red in color, this wine has a luscious red cherry character with hints of violets. Its medium body and smooth tannic finish is livened up by a zing of acidity and warm, toasty oak.	Vintners Reserve Passport	$61.99	$51.99	Sold Out

CUSTOMER REFERAL PROGRAM

In case you missed it, we have a customer referral program that provides additional discounts to registered users. We will give you a coupon worth 10% of the first order placed by any person that you refer to our web site. The stipulations are as follows:

That's all you have to do to get another discount from finevinewines.com.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK

We appreciate all of your comments, whether good or bad. To demonstrate our commitment to outstanding customer service, I have created a web page with your feedback. As we receive emails that comment about our service, I will post them on this page.

NEWSLETTER SPECIALS

To reward those of you that take the time to read our newsletter every month, we are adding a newsletter special. We promise to offer an outstanding value each month via this feature and this special pricing will only be available through a link from the current month's newsletter. A link to the newsletter special will appear somewhere in the newsletter.

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