"Why Americans don't drink more wine?"

TruthSeeker said:
badger,

You are far advanced compared to me. We just bought the juice etc. from a wine making place and put it all together. It was great fun. The juice came from the Iniskillin winery so should be very good.

The owner said we could drink it whenever we want. It will be ready for bottling next week. But best to wait 6 months to a year. I don't know anything more about it.
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Nah, I'm not so advanced. Most of the stuff I make, i get as a kit at Superstore. We go through about a bottle a day (couple of glasses and some in whatever we're cooking for dinner) so I find it cheaper to just make it, rather than buy that many bottles.

And, though the kits are cheapies, I've learned to tweak 'em so they come out remarkably nicely. Constantly experimenting!

Do you have your own equipment?
 
Badger said:


Nah, I'm not so advanced. Most of the stuff I make, i get as a kit at Superstore. We go through about a bottle a day (couple of glasses and some in whatever we're cooking for dinner) so I find it cheaper to just make it, rather than buy that many bottles.

And, though the kits are cheapies, I've learned to tweak 'em so they come out remarkably nicely. Constantly experimenting!

Do you have your own equipment?
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No, not yet. This run was an experiment so we did it at the wine-making store. They also babysit it while it is fermenting (which is nice since I live in a condo and wouldn't have space). We go back to bottle next weekend.

If it works out, we may get our own equipment and a friend with a house will keep it.

The good thing about making there was that they were very helpful. Lots of tips and guidance and they provided stuff like oak and other seasonings that we probably would not have known to add.
 
MacGuffin said:
Please don't hold up Zinfandel as a good example of USA wine! Its things like this that give our country a bad name.
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I hope you aren't conflating White Zinfandel, which is the 7-Up of wines, with a real Zinfandel, of which I've had a couple of good samples in my life. Still not the best, though.
 
TruthSeeker said:


No, not yet. This run was an experiment so we did it at the wine-making store. They also babysit it while it is fermenting (which is nice since I live in a condo and wouldn't have space). We go back to bottle next weekend.

If it works out, we may get our own equipment and a friend with a house will keep it.

The good thing about making there was that they were very helpful. Lots of tips and guidance and they provided stuff like oak and other seasonings that we probably would not have known to add.
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If you have a closet, you've got enough space!

I only harp on this because I get such enjoyment out of making wine that I would like others who are interested in it to get the same joy.

I'll stop now.
 
Not everything is due to history, Cleo. Wine gives me a nasty freaking headache. I'll take a vodka martini with a twist (shaken, not stirred) anyday.
 
Badger said:


If you have a closet, you've got enough space!

I only harp on this because I get such enjoyment out of making wine that I would like others who are interested in it to get the same joy.

I'll stop now.
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Please only stop temporarily. Once I get my wine, I may seek your input about how to set myself up for future wine making adventures. :D
 
Epepke: "Seriously. Does one really need to sniff the cork any more? They're all sterilized and sprayed with plastic these days."

Actually altho it is associated with wine snobbery cork sniffing is a good indicator of the wine before tasting it. Since vintage wines were all corked and cork being organic this a chance for air seepage. I once did have a bad bottle of the Domain Mont Redon and the cork was coated with what looked like crystals and it smelled like anti-freeze, lucky I didn't swallow any!

I think Your right tho in that the new "corks" are plastic and don't shrink or allow for seepage , I suspect however that most oenophiles will protest this latest encroachment on their dogma. =)
 
TillEulenspiegel said:
Epepke: "Seriously. Does one really need to sniff the cork any more? They're all sterilized and sprayed with plastic these days."

Actually altho it is associated with wine snobbery cork sniffing is a good indicator of the wine before tasting it. Since vintage wines were all corked and cork being organic this a chance for air seepage. I once did have a bad bottle of the Domain Mont Redon and the cork was coated with what looked like crystals and it smelled like anti-freeze, lucky I didn't swallow any!

I think Your right tho in that the new "corks" are plastic and don't shrink or allow for seepage , I suspect however that most oenophiles will protest this latest encroachment on their dogma. =)
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Even worse, TE, lately the wine comes with screwing tops...
 
TillEulenspiegel said:
I think Your right tho in that the new "corks" are plastic and don't shrink or allow for seepage , I suspect however that most oenophiles will protest this latest encroachment on their dogma. =)
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I've seen two kinds. One is completely plastic. However, a bottle of Vouvray I got a few moths ago had a cork that was obviously real cork ( I cut into it to make sure) but had a thin coating of some plastic substance that looked like it had been sprayed over it. (There was even a little hard droplet on the bottom.)
 
geni said:
Wine is for snobs. Other drinks are for those who enjoy themselves. Perhaps oneday wine can be reclaimed (the southen hemisphere is doing a good job here) but for now there is so much bagage with wine it's best left to those who want to feel supiour.
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Funny you should take that position.

I found that beer snobbery was just as common in the UK as wine snobbery.
 
Chaos said:


Even worse, TE, lately the wine comes with screwing tops...
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I think you will find that technically, modern screw top tecnhology is superior to any other method of corkage. It gives a better guarrantee of an airtight seal than even the best quality cork and is also completely intert.

If wine quality was all you were interested in, you would accept nothing else.
 
Screw tops are better than corks. Once the stigma of the screw top is successfully countered, you won't see cork anymore. Too many wasted bottles. The synthetic corks are not completely effective, but the screw top virtually guarantees the wine will be safe, and isn't that more important than tradition?

(Oops, I see I've been beaten.)

Is nobody going to stick up for Italian wine? It's our preference if we're buying Eurpoean wine.
 
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