>Some Oklahoma Wine Grapes to Rot on Vines

>Well, this is disappointing:

Harvest is under way at Oklahoma vineyards, but some grapes will be left to rot on the vine because of poor sales, growers said.

Mack Hayes quit watering some of his vines this summer when it became clear he wouldn’t sell all his grapes to wineries.

“If you can’t move them, there’s no need to harvest them,” said Hayes, owner of Ozark Grapes in Mayes County.

Andrew Snyder, president of the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Wine Makers Association, said about 50 tons of grapes will go to waste this year because most Oklahoma wineries are buying bulk wine or juice concentrate from out of state to bottle and sell here. That’s worth about $312,500 in unproduced wine.

“It’s cheaper to buy bulk wine from California and put it in a bottle than it is to grow grapes in Oklahoma and bottle true Oklahoma wine,” Snyder said. “There are enough Oklahoma grapes out there. It’s just a business model decision that many wineries are making.”

So Oklahoma wine makers are making wine from grapes and juice. . . from somewhere else? Then what’s the point of calling yourself an Oklahoma wine maker? Ho ho, because you’re making wine in Oklahoma, I get it. But just because I’m a wine maker making wine in Oklahoma doesn’t make me an Oklahoma wine maker. I’m an Oklahoman making California wine or wherever it is I get my juice.

I’ve been eager to tell people that Oklahoma has a burgeoning wine industry. Sure I get scanty looks but I point out that Oklahoma is really a good place to grow grapes. I’m confident we can make wine as good as anywhere else. And I’m even more sure we can, especially now that I learn we’re using grapes from anywhere but here.

I understand the concept of controlling costs and wanting to make affordable wine but I also understand honesty and when a wine maker claims he’s making Oklahoma wine, well, with this information, I’m no longer sure.

Time for Wine

I see it’s been nearly three months since my last post about wine. About time for another batch isn’t it? This time ’round it’s a pinot noir:

A notch or three below a cabernet in fullness and flavor, it’s still a good, smooth, all-around red. I’m no expert, of course, but I’m surprised at the quality of wine these kits put out. Perfectly suitable for my needs.

(Once again, the picture lacks doesn’t quite do the wine justice. )

Next up? Well, nothing really. I’m all set with a pink, a white, and now a red. But I’ll be on the look out for my next batch in the coming months.

Wine May Help Women Keep Weight in Check

So drink up:

Light to moderate alcohol consumption, especially red wine, is not only good for a woman’s heart, it’s also good for her waistline, according to a study reported Monday.

The study started out with nearly 20,000 trim middle-aged and older women. Over time, women who drank alcohol in moderation put on less weight and were less apt to become overweight compared to non-drinkers. This was true even after taking into account various lifestyle and dietary factors that might influence a woman’s weight.

Red wine seemed best at keeping weight in check, but white wine, beer and spirits also had some benefit.

I’ve got a bottle or two I can spare.

A Year in Provence – Book Review

I picked up Peter Mayle’s A Year in Provence at the B. Dalton’s closing at Crossroads Mall back in December. I’d tried one of Mayle’s before – Chasing Cezanne – and wasn’t really impressed but, well, the book was only a couplea bucks and I was interested in what he’d have to say about winemaking. Turns out, he doesn’t have a whole lot to say about winemaking and what little he does have to say is somewhat suspect. Not that I know that much. Still.

Anyway, it’s not a bad book. It just gets old fairly quick. Yes, yes, moving to Provence is quite an adventure and yes, yes, restoring a house is quite frustrating. The locals are without exception eccentric and, of course, the food is fabulous. Written in a light comic style, it’s not intended to be taken seriously and I didn’t but I was hoping for something with a little more meat on it. A pleasant way to pass the time but I didn’t come away with anything that would make me want to read any more Mayle.

Maynard James Keenan: The Rocker Who Makes Wine

Hey, I’m just like rockin’ wild man Maynard James Keenan! We both make wine:

Maynard James Keenan, one of rock’s most enigmatic personalities, is having the time of his life these days not only as leader of the hydra-headed project Puscifer but also as a winemaker. Gone, at least in public, is the angst-ridden man we saw fronting the megasuccessful Tool and A Perfect Circle, bands that redefined heavy alternative rock.

A bawdy group with a rotating cast, the musical part of Puscifer resumed its multimedia U.S. tour in Atlanta on Tuesday. The winemaking Mr. Keenan appears in “Blood into Wine,” a documentary that had its Feb. 19 premiere in Scottsdale, Ariz., about two hours south of this former mining center and ghost town that’s home to his Caduceus Cellars and Merkin vineyards as well as his handsome wine-tasting room and his Puscifer store, which sells distinctive clothing and other branded materials. Mr. Keenan has lived here since 1995, when he fled Los Angeles in search of tranquility.

Okay, maybe Keenan’s not using wine kits and plastic food buckets and stashing ‘em behind the shower curtain in the bathroom while they ferment but, hey, we’re both winemakers.

Once again, it cracks me up to find out cutting edge rockers like Keenan turn out to be a lot more ordinary than you’d think. So ordinary, it’s radical:

As “Blood into Wine” makes clear, the 45-year-old Mr. Keenan isn’t a musical celebrity who lent his name to a product. He gets down into the soil to plant and destem vines and pick grapes. He’s learned oenology with painstaking deliberation. When I visited him here on the cold and rainy day following the film premiere, he drove me over to his vineyards and explained in detail his passion for winemaking and the potential for Arizona’s Verde Valley to be an important source of American wines. The last time I saw him on stage with Tool, he wore a Mohawk and skimpy shorts, growling as he stalked the stage and clung to the shadows, and I expected to meet an intense man grappling with the complex issues he raises in some of his songs. Instead, I found a convivial host, a quick wit and a savvy businessman who lives a life of his own choosing.

A great profile. Read the whole thing.

Home-brew Beer Bill Passes Over Objections in Oklahoma House

Uh oh:

Despite a lawmaker’s worries it could lead to legalizing marijuana, a measure that would allow Oklahomans to legally brew beer for their own use won easy passage Wednesday in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 2348 would allow Oklahomans to brew up to 200 gallons, or about 80 cases, a year for their personal use.

They must get a permit from the state’s liquor agency, just as people who make wine or cider do now. Beer made for personal use would not be subject to excise tax.

It’s legal for Oklahomans to make wine and cider, but state law excludes beer brewing, said Rep. Colby Schwartz, author of HB 2348. Many brew beer for their own use, to serve to guests and to enter in beer-making competitions.

You mean. . .?

Okay, let’s forget about the legality of home-brewing for just a second. Let’s take a look at the ridiculousness behind the opposition of such a bill in the first place.

Representative Todd Russ, a Republican, is worried we’ll be on our way to being just like California if this bill is passed, where marijuana is legal. Well, it’s not entirely legal but not matter. I don’t believe in the slippery-slope argument – one thing doesn’t necessarily lead to another. We’re perfectly able to stop things once they get too far. It’s only a matter of will. So, no, legalizing the home-brewing of beer won’t lead to the legalization of growing marijuana or cooking up crack in your kitchen. No, Russ reveals his true colors when he says “If you go to church Sunday, remember how you voted today.” Fair enough. But why not just come out and say you’re opposed because of your religious beliefs instead of this home-brewing-leads-to-the-road-to-ruin?

Surprisingly, it’s Representative Joe Dorman, a Democrat, who has to remind Russ about Russ’ party conservative philosophy:

(Dorman) thought conservatives were against government in people’s lives. It’s not an issue about character — at least three of the Founding Fathers made their own brews, he said.

“Samuel Adams has a beer named after him,” Dorman said.

If Dorman’s right, I’m in good company.

More Wine!

The Riesling’s done.

 

I’d predicted more than a few weeks ago that’d take a few weeks so at least I’m a man of my word.

Yep, it’s another kit, and since it’s not a blend, it took just a little longer for the fermentation and clarification processes to occur. Still, it’s perfectly drinkable right at bottling though you can see it’s still a might bit cloudy – some of that opaqueness is condensation on the glass but the wine’s not crystal clear by any measure. Things should settle down a bit as time goes on. A tad sweet for my taste but it’s a Riesling so what’d I expect? It’ll be a good, all-around, inoffensive white.

That means now I have four cases of wine stashed around the house. Goodness. Looks like I’ll need a wine cellar next. But this means since I have plenty – and it just wouldn’t do to have six cases of wine around the house, would it? – this’ll be the end of the wine-making for a while. I’d like to do a deep, dark red next time so I’ll be on the lookout for a good kit to do just that.

Wine Glut Prompts Changes in Napa Valley

Because I’m making wine – I’m tellin’ ya’, it’s just like Napa Valley around here – this caught my eye:

For generations, Napa Valley has cultivated its image as carefully as its grapes:

It is America’s premiere wine region, known for its boutique operations turning out small quantities of some of the most sought-after wines in the world.

But the utilitarian winery in Healdsburg where James Stewart produces his Slingshot Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc throws a bucket of cold water on that romantic idea. It’s a prefab warehouse in one of the valley’s industrial parks, indistinguishable from countless other rent-a-fermenter facilities dotting California’s wine belt. Amid rows of massive steel tanks and the woozy aroma of fermenting grape juice, Stewart is talking about turning the place into a gold mine.

About as romantic as our bathtub where I stash the fermenter while it bubbles away.

Wine knows only juice. Well, that and other ingredients. But not location. It only needs a dark, cool place to ferment and it does its thing. Sure, I’d like to visit Napa Valley some day – landscape sure makes for purty pictures, from what I’ve seen. But it sounds like the pre-fab warehouses, thanks to the economy, is where the real action is.

Wine!

Not content to home brew beer, I’ve branched out into home, er, brewing wine. (You don’t brew wine, you simply make it.) The steps are similar – lots of cleaning and sanitizing and mixing and pitching yeast and then moving the wine from one fermenter to the next and then cleaning and sanitizing and bottling – all done with similar equipment. The ingredients – and time – are the only things that change. And, yes, I’m using a kit; I’m just learning the techniques right now and don’t have the expertise yet to do my own design and blending of wine.

Well, the first batch is done – more of a wine cooler, really, a strawberry white merlot:

Pink and sweet, more of a hint of strawberry, really, than an overwhelming flavor. And it tastes good! Which is the only real criteria a wine should meet, shouldn’t it?

Well, all righty then. Looks like we’ll be doing wine as well ’round here.

Next up: a riesling. This one’ll take some time so expect a few weeks before I can post a report.