Vineyard is closed for the season

Not much happening in the vineyard in December. The leaves are completely off the vines and they are ready for winter. Due to a light crop load this year and everything getting picked well before we had a hard freeze, the vines should have matured properly and be ready for winter.

New Magazine that might be of interest:

Uncorked! Magazine

Uncorked! Magazine is published monthly, and marketed to a national audience. Regular features include Epistles From the Vineyard (reviews of wine books and cookbooks), Life as It Should Be Lived (reviews of restaurants around the U.S.), Life As It Is (wine in the supermarket), Ask The Sommelier (readers write in with etiquette questions), Out Of The Frying Pan (recipes and food-and-wine pairing), along with comprehensive coverage of the world of wine. Initial issues have included tasting notes and ratings on California, Spain, Bordeaux 2000 and Australia.

Uncorked! Magazine

REDUCTION OF ACIDITY WITH CALCIUM OR POTASSIUM CARBONATE

We have had some questions lately about high acid wines. This season in the vineyard was very late and we had some problems with higher acidity musts. This is some information from Presque Isle Wine Cellars that is included in the package when you purchase acid reducing chemicals.

1) Musts with total acidity (expressed as tartaric acid) above 1.2% may produce wines too high in acidity for most people to enjoy. Such musts will benefit from either the addition of water to dilute the acidity (added as a 20% sugar solution before fermentation) or by chemical reduction of acidity with calcium carbonate or potassium bicarbonate (or potassium carbonate). Amelioration with sugar and water is preferred where you have high flavor intensity (especially with eastern varieties such as Concord, Catawba, Niagara and Delaware), but are not concerned with body. The amount of reduction will be approximately the percent of volume increase (ie. 1 gallon added to 9 gallons juice = 1/9 or .11% reduction).

2) Some natural reduction in acidity occurs during fermentation when about 10 to 25% of the malic acid is lost and during cold stabilization when tartrates precipitate. Typically the reduction in acidity will be 0.1 to 0.2% from these causes. There will be an even greater drop if a malo lactic bacterial fermentation occurs when a reduction of 0.2 to 0.5% will normally result. Such a fermentation will be desirable with most reds, but not with fresh, fruity whites.

3) Addition of 2.5 grams per gallon of calcium carbonate will reduce acidity by 0.1 %. It reacts preferentially with tartaric acid rather than malic acid. It also raises the pH fairly dramatically. For these two reasons you will almost never be able to drop the acidity by more than 0.4% by this method. You should try and keep the pH below 3.5 if at all possible. This material is best used in the fermenter or before fermentation because the calcium ions will affect flavor for some time after use and precipitation during cold stabilization is more difficult than with the potassium salts (it will be more difficult to commence and will continue for a much longer period because both calcium tartrates and calcium malates are less soluble).

a) If you must drop acidity by more than about 0. 1 %, you should add the calcium carbonate to a small fraction of your batch so that you remove both malic and tartaric acids. After the reaction has completed add this back to the main batch.

b) If you have both high acidity and high pH you may have to actually add tartaric acid (to lower pH even though it increases acidity even further) at a rate of up to 4.5 grams per gallon before you treat with calcium carbonate. Afterwards, you must cold stabilize to reduce the acidity.

4) Addition of 3.4 grams of potassium bicarbonate per gallon will reduce acidity by 0.1 %. This material may be added immediately before drinking and cold stabilizes more easily than a wine treated with calcium carbonate, but has the disadvantage of raising the pH more. A reduction of about 0.2% is a practical maximum. About 70 to 75% of the acid reduction will occur immediately and the remainder during cold stabilization. A salty or bitter taste will be evident in the wine from the potassium ions when used at the upper levels. Potassium Carbonate may also be used (2.4 grams per gallon will lower acidity 0. 1 %), but most of the research indicates a preference for using potassium bicarbonate. You will get foaming when it is used because of the CO, released.

5) It is possible to use a combination of acid reduction methods, but remember that you cannot combine both calcium and potassium carbonate or bicarbonate treatments without considering the effect of whichever one you used first. In other words you cannot take a 0.4% reduction with calcium carbonate and then a 0.2% reduction with potassium bicarbonate use of one precludes the other.

PRESQUE ISLE WINE CELLARS
9440 BUFFALO ROAD
NORTH EAST, PA 16428
(814) 725 1314

December grape recipe - Breast Of Pheasant With Grapes & Pine Nuts

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients:

3 2-pound pheasants
1/2 c olive oil
6 cl garlic; peeled and choppe
1 tb soy sauce
1 c heavy cream
2 cn cream of mushroom soup,
-condensed -; - (10-oz cans)
8 oz fresh mushrooms
8 oz butter
4 oz flour
4 oz pine nuts
8 oz green grapes; cut in halves
4 shallots
4 fl dry sherry

Instructions:

Recipe by: Joe Mannke of Rotisserie for Beef and Bird, Houston, TX sharp knife, remove the two breasts from the center bone and also all the meat from the legs.

Remove all the skin and excess fat. Place the pheasant breasts and legs in a ceramic dish. Reserve the bones for another dish.

Marinate with the garlic, soy sauce, and olive oil, overnight if possible.

STEP TWO: Preparation of the Dish-- Melt the butter in a heavy skillet, season the pheasant with salt and pepper, dip in flour, and saute over low heat until light brown. Remove from skillet and place pheasant on a heated platter.

Add more butter to the pan, if necessary, and add the onions and simmer. Combine with the fresh mushrooms, mushroom soup, sherry wine, heavy cream, and grapes and bring to a boil. Garnish with pine nuts and ladle over the pheasants.

Serve with fettuccine.

Preparation Time: 2:00

 

Do you have a great grape recipe - please send it to us and we will put it in our newsletter.

From our readers

This is a section for comments/questions/recipes from our readers. Please read the comments & feel free to put your 2 cents worth in.

Visit the Readers Comments page to view all the content of these messages. Here are samples of this months e-mails:  

Do the 6.5 tapers fit standard candle stick holder?  ••   What type of wicks do you use?  ••   Moving grapevines  ••  Growing grapes in Florida  •• Is your honey raw? ••  Substituting honey for sugar  ••  I would like to purchase some of your exquisite candles for my holiday list but I do not have a credit card.

The "From our Readers" Page

Lapeer County Concert Choir Annual Christmas Concert

(Why is this here? - I also sing in this choir - it's great - come hear us if you are in town)

Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), was an Italian music composer who lived during a period of art commonly known as the Baroque era. Vivaldi was trained for the priesthood and ordained in 1703 but soon after his ordination ceased to say Mass. He lived in Venice and taught music at an all-girls orphanage for most of his life.

We will be performing The Vivaldi Gloria on Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church in Lapeer, Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Imlay City, and Saturday, December 13 at 7:00 p.m.at North Branch Wesleyan Church in North Branch. A portion of the program will include more traditional selections such as The Little Drummer Boy and Silent Night.

Lapeer County Concert Choir

Candle W*nner & Laugh of the Month

 

Congratulations! December candle w*nner is:
yankee6161@yahoo.com


Will this months w*nner,
yankee6161@yahoo.com
please contact us and so that I can ship your candles.

Our list of previous candle w*nners.

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Click below for something to end this newsletter with.

Laugh of the month: A new take on an old song.

See You Next Month!

Honeyflow Farm
4939 Mill Rd.    PO Box 275
Dryden, Michigan 48428
(810) 796-2344 (Phone & Fax)

Comments or questions concerning Honeyflow Farm
should be addressed by clicking on the link: