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 thank each one of you for visiting our site.
I hope it was an enjoyable experience and you were able to find
everything for which you were looking. As I indicated on our
web site, we started this business in 2003, so unlike big business,
we are extremely flexible and nothing we have done so far is “etched
in stone.” As a result, being an early user of our site
and subscriber to our newsletter gives you the ability to influence
the future of our site and our company!
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.
I want to extend my thanks again for making
finevinewines.com your home for your wine making needs. It continues
to be my hope that every time you visit finevinewines.com you
have an enjoyable experience and you find everything for which
you are looking.
RETAIL
STORE INFORMATION
Information about our retail store, including
hours, location and a map can be found on our Retail
Store Information page. In addition, we now
have a special offer for our retail store customers. To find
out more, click
here.
TIM
VANDERGRIFT IS COMING TO DALLAS!
That's right! Tim Vandergrift is coming to Dallas.
Tim is the Technical Services Manager for Winexpert and his job
is to design and test all of the wine kits made by Winexpert.
Before joining Winexpert, Tim held a comparable position with
RJ Spagnols for 10 years. In addition, if you have ever picked
up an issue of WineMaker Magazine, you will have found an article
by him. He is one of the home wine making gurus!
Since I now sell the Winexpert line of wine
kits, Tim has graciously agreed to come to Dallas for a one day
event. During this event, Tim will make a presentation of the
Limited Edition series for 2006. We will also try to work in
a question and answer session, as well as, a wine tasting.
Although I do not have a date yet, it will be
sometime in October or November and most likely, during the week.
As soon as I have more information, I will post in on the web
site and in the monthly newsletter.
FEATURED
ARTICLE - HOW TO SWEETEN YOUR WINE
Just this week, I received another call from a customer that
had inadvertently made a sparkling wine! This was obvious to
her when she started hearing the corks pop out of her bottles.
Unfortunately, this occurs more than you think and the problem
relates to the yeast not dying.
For those of you that are new to home wine making, yeasts
are interesting creatures. I like to refer to them as related
to Lemmings. Lemmings are those darling little rodent like
creatures that jump off cliffs every 7 years to keep their
population under control. Well, yeasts are somewhat similar.
Yeasts eat the sugar in the must and multiply. Then they convert
they sugar they ate into alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Under normal circumstances the conversion is 53% alcohol and
47% CO2, along with some other trace compounds. Now, the fun
begins. When the alcohol level gets too high, it kills the
yeasts! Depending on the yeast strain, this occurs anywhere
from 12% - 20%. As a result, the trick is to make sure you
start with a high enough sugar level to make sure you generate
enough alcohol to kill the yeasts. Most books, I have read,
usually suggest a starting S.G. (specific gravity) of 1.080-1.090.
Now, you are probably saying that you can add sulfite and
sorbate to stop the fermentation process and if you have been
led to believe this will work, I say, you have been mislead!
It is extremely difficult to stop an active fermentation. Sulfites
and sorbate are used to prevent fermentation from starting
again, not stopping an active fermentation. You can try to
add sulfite to stop the fermentation, but in the process, you
might have to add so much sulfite as to ruin your wine. The
other way to stop an active fermentation is by "cold stabilization".
I won't go into the details, but the general idea is to almost
freeze your wine for several days to stop the fermentation.
All this being said, if you want a sweeter wine, be it from
a kit or from fresh ingredients, here is my recommendation.
- Make sure your starting S.G. is between 1.085 and 1.100,
before you pitch the yeast.
- Pitch the yeast and when the S.G. has dropped to 1.020,
rack your wine to a clean secondary container.
- Allow your wine to ferment to dryness (S.G. of .996 for
2 consecutive days.)
- Taste your wine. If you want it sweeter, make a sugar solution
using the ratio of 1/6 cup of water to 1/2 cup of sugar for
each gallon of wine. Put this mixture into a boiling pot
(preferably stainless steel, but definitively NOT aluminum!).
And bring to a slow boil to dissolve the sugar. Cool the
sweetened water to 70 degrees F.
- Take 1 cup of your wine and slowly add the cooled sugar
water to your wine until you reach the desired level of sweetness.
Be sure to measure the amount of sugar water added to the
cup of wine.
- Based on the ratio of the two, add a corresponding amount
of the sugar water to your wine.
- Add 1/4 tsp. of Potassium Sorbate and 1/8 tsp. of Potassium
Metabisulphite per gallon to your wine and stir well. Take
the S.G. reading of your wine.
- Put your wine back under an airlock, top off, if necessary,
and allow your wine to sit for at least a week. At the end
of the week, take the S.G., again. If it has not dropped,
your wine has not started fermenting and should be ready
for bottling.
- If your S.G. has dropped, your wine has started fermenting
again. When this happens, wait for the fermentation to stop
before bottling your wine.
I will add there are other ways to achieve the same result.
I just like this method best as it leaves the least amount
of room for error and virtually guarantees your wine will be
exactly as sweet as you desire. In addition, if you do not
want to mess with creating a sugar solution, I have a wine
conditioner that can be used to accomplish the same result.
---If you would like to offer your comments
and/or suggestions, please send them to geocorn@finethevinewines.com.
NEW
PRODUCTS
In addition to the Alexander's
Sun Country concentrate, Vintner's Harvest Fruit
Bases and Oregon Fruit Purees that we added last month, we have
now added the complete line of En Primeur wine ingredient kits.
I also have a new dark green bordeaux bottle with a slight punt
#5254. To see a complete list of all our new products, click
here.
I am also making a trip to LD
Carlson at the
end of March to examine all of the other products available to
me. LD Carlson carries
thousands of items and deciding which ones to stock is a real
chore; consequently, I want to see, first hand, what they have
that might be of interest to my customers. If you have anything
you would like me to check out, please let me know. You can see
their complete product list at http://www.ldcarlson.com/public%20catalog/ptoc.htm.
TOY
OF THE MONTH
This month's toy is the bottle draining tree.
Instead of using the dishwasher or anything else you can find
to drain your bottles after you wash them, use a bottle drainer
tree. I have three models from which to choose. The first 2 hold
45 bottles and the last one holds 81. Unless you bottle 2 carboys
at a time, one of the 45 station trees should work for you.
The difference between the economy #4810 and
the other 45 station tree #2254A is that the first one has a
handle on top and is shorter, while the second one is taller
and allows you to put your bottle rinser (vinator) on top. This
allows you to rinse your bottles an put them right on the tree.
This month's special pricing on the bottle drainers
are listed below:
Part
Number |
Description |
Regular
Price |
Current
Price |
Order |
<%
While ((Repeat1__numRows <> 0) AND (NOT rsJuice.EOF))
%>
4810 |
Economy 45 Bottle Drainer Tree |
$13.99 |
$11.99 |
Order |
2254A |
Bottle Drainer Holds 45 bottles |
$19.99 |
$17.99 |
Order |
2254 |
Bottle Drainer Holds 81 bottles |
$28.99 |
$24.99 |
Order |
<%
Repeat1__index=Repeat1__index+1
Repeat1__numRows=Repeat1__numRows-1
rsJuice.MoveNext()
Wend
%>
FORUM
The Discussion
Forum now has 107 registered
users and is continuing to see more new activity. Whether you
are an expert or a novice, it is an excellent place to ask
questions, exchange ideas and meet other home wine makers.
The discussions have also led me to bring in additional products,
as well as, dig through my books for some answers. In addition,
there are several polls in which you can vote and see the results.
You can also create your own poll.
I have also added a "Forum Specials" section.
This month, we have a special contest for forum users, but in
order to learn about the contest, you will have to log into the
forum. If the contest goes well this month, we will try to come
up with more give-aways via the forum, each month.
If you haven't logged into the forum, try it
sometime. I think you will find it most informative and enjoyable.
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.
Sometimes, I am unable to answer the phone.
If you get the voice mail, please leave your name, number, brief
message and a best time to call. I will return your call as soon
as I can. I now have the Company Line forwarded to my cell phone
when I am not in the store. As a result, I am now available almost
24-7. I do need to sleep!
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
Winexpert has just released its second Crushendo
kit, the Corvina Classico di Veneto. These premium wine kits
come with a packet of grape skins, so you can actually ferment
you wine "on the skins". If this kit is anywhere close to the
first Crushendo, the Santa Ynez Valley Syrah, it will be awesome!
I have this kit normally priced at $124.99, but during the month
of March, you can try this kit for only $114.99. Click
here to find out more.
CUSTOMER
APPRECIATION PROGRAM
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.
CUSTOMER
REFFERAL PROGRAM
Effective March 1, 2004, we have a customer
referral program that provides for 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:
- You must be a registered user of finevinewines.com,
- The person placing the order must register and provide your
name in the appropriate field on the registration screen, and
- The discount is only good for future orders with finevinewines.com
and is not redeemable for cash.
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.
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Vine Wines.
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