tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58626688659156795022011-04-21T12:32:29.127-07:00You've made various vegetable and fruit wines and now you want to go one better? You get yourself some vines and that's when your troubles start!!! This blog will cover it, warts and all, from start to finish, helping you to produce that dream wine from your own vines - sherry, port, or whatever floats your boat, in a not too arty-farty or fanatical way.George Wnoreply@blogger.comBlogger161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-19922776004293563302008-01-04T22:26:00.000-08:002008-01-04T22:38:44.877-08:00

How do I thicken my country wines?This topic sprang to mind after this winter's reverie in one of those recent "NEVER AGAIN" moments when a "thick" head is the order of most of the following day.I have been asked this very question many times over the years by various home wine-makers with insipid wines, and it is easily overcome with a little fore-thought.There are basically three ways you can

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-42434599970629521702007-12-31T12:41:00.000-08:002007-12-31T13:18:33.424-08:00

I'm sat here, on new year's eve, not really wanting to celebrate the coming new year (they call me misery, you know), with a bottle of supposedly 10 year old Tawny port sat on the right hand side of my monitor, and I was asking myself just what makes a tawny port.If I wanted to make a similar offering myself, would it be made from my own grapes of mixed colour? That way producing the tawny

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-88415216870434440732007-12-17T05:32:00.000-08:002008-01-04T22:26:28.572-08:00

Pruning an indoor vine is really an uncomplicated affair, unlike what may have built up in your mind as you contemplated the perplexities of pruning, led on by all the information overload there is surrounding us all.My pruning method is very straight forward, in that I have what appears to be, in the winter-time, a single length of rope attached to the side and roof of my greenhouse.This is

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-10230441103659563582007-11-30T12:18:00.000-08:002007-11-30T12:21:21.765-08:00

Having inspected my vines this evening, I found there were one or two new buds and leaves showing, despite the few frosty nights of late.This is all down to the relatively mild weather we are having.It is a little early to be taking cuttings and doing any winter pruning on my vines, as this is usually done around Christmas time, sometimes in the new year, when the plant is fully dormant.I was

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-16158030660036839502007-11-15T10:01:00.000-08:002007-11-15T10:05:27.700-08:00

So far the progress of my winemaking has reached three five-gallon batches on the go, along with a five-gallon batch of cider (there was such a glut of apples this year).The first was a blend, a winemakers dream, of my greenhouse vines, being Black Hamburg, Seyval Blanc and Merlot.This has had a second one-pound batch of sugar added, once the fermentation came to almost a stand-still, and once

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-49222690331370612172007-11-06T23:27:00.000-08:002007-11-06T23:32:27.013-08:00

If you are easily offended, forgive me, but this is a true glimpse of my thoughts.As I lay they, before I’d even opened my eyes, sort of between being asleep and awake first thing in the morning, with thoughts flitting briefly through my mind, one thought in particular loitered longer than the rest and tarried awhile.It was all brought about from something I’d read the day before, of how people

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-82234299416384965452007-11-01T01:48:00.000-07:002007-11-01T01:59:57.877-07:00

Mature vines require fertiliser in the usual way, but with one exception.Young vines, up to around two years old, need a normal balanced fertiliser like Grow More or something similar, as this provides enough nitrogen, along with the phosherous and potassium the plant needs to get going, to provide vigorous growth early on in its life.Beyond this two-year-old stage, then a different amount of

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-25042810109091871212007-10-20T13:25:00.000-07:002007-10-20T13:31:31.039-07:00

Just to keep you updated on the wine, it is plopping away quite happily behind me right now. It has been on the go, fermenting, for two weeks now and the plopping sound is slowing a little, which means that some of the sugar content of the grapes has now been converted to alcohol.Judging by the speed of the plops, I reckon around six per minute, it should be good for another week or two without

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-47952163061304016752007-10-12T06:57:00.000-07:002007-10-12T07:14:26.144-07:00

Here is an answer to a question I have been asked regarding how to go about caring for a grape vine over the coming winter.A great deal depends on the temperature you will have over the winter, so the simplest option is to put a good deep mulch at the base of the grape vine to reduce frost penetration, that way protecting the roots, and possibly feed the plant as well, as this is now the time

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-81488366270697794472007-10-06T10:04:00.000-07:002007-10-06T10:17:08.315-07:00

Here’s a little snippet I found the other day that may interest you.According to Winepros.org, a good site to check up on, but a little too hoity-toity for the likes of me, they say “Moderate consumption of red wine on a regular basis may be a preventative against coronary disease and some forms of cancer.” Chemical components of red wines function as anti-oxidants, preventing free radicals from

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-5908003552312750322007-09-30T05:35:00.000-07:002007-09-30T05:49:27.140-07:00

I have taken the few remaining bunches from my greenhouse vines as of yesterday, Saturday, the total weight from the three vines adds up to eighty four pounds (around 38kg if my maths serves me right) which is ample to produce a five gallon batch of the most gorgeous wine you could ever taste.I also have the harvest from my outdoor vines available, but that will be fermented separately from this

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-691589400916348142007-09-22T08:55:00.000-07:002007-09-22T09:08:42.152-07:00

The time is now coming to begin preparing for the brewing process of my wine, as the Black Hamburg grapes in the green house are virtually ready for picking, so will be joining the other grapes in the freezer, the Seyval Blanc and the Merlot, but only for a day or two, just to kill off any yeasts and bacteria.I’ve sampled a few of the Black Hamburg grapes already and they are sweetening–up nicely

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-38639102580373810552007-09-15T06:40:00.000-07:002007-09-15T07:22:43.646-07:00

In the shops the other day I came across a bottle of wine that took my interest.It was a French produced Merlot with fancy looking labels and cap, so I thought I’d give it a try. After all, you think if it is a French produced wine, then it should be good, don’t you?The front label said “ xxxxxx xxxxxx (The company name), Reserve 2006, MERLOT”.The back label had, in the nearest thing to

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-50662182425656116332007-09-08T02:13:00.000-07:002007-09-08T02:18:45.998-07:00

Hello again,It’s early September now, and after the dreadful year we have had here in Britain, two of the three varieties I have in my greenhouse (Seyval Blanc – a splendid mid-season green wine grape, and the Merlot – a very early dark wine grape) have both been harvested and the grapes stored in the freezer to kill off any bugs and bacteria.There were around twenty pounds from each plant (you

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-78082773155471296432007-09-01T08:47:00.000-07:002007-09-01T09:08:40.418-07:00

Whether you want a greenhouse vine or an outdoor vine, then you have to ask yourself a few questions.Do you want to make wine with your grapes, producing far too many eaters, or simply have an ornate vine-covered pergola?The pricipals are all basically the same, although there are differences with maintenace for each type.What I am intending to do primarily is to show you how to grow, train and

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5862668865915679502.post-22187134122667241112007-02-16T06:28:00.000-08:002007-02-16T07:03:01.151-08:00

Don't these look luscious? Fancy squeezing those grapes and turning that dripping, mouth-watering juice into your very own lick-lipping wine? With a little help, then maybe you can, providing I keep off the pop for a short time.The idea is that I can lead you up the garden path, if that is the right way to put it, showing you the types of vine to choose for your particular environment, the

George Wnoreply@blogger.com0