Lets Do Wine & Beer Blog: June 2010 Lets Do Wine

Lets Do Wine Archive Page

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Years ago home winemaking was messy, required a lot of patience and didn’t always produce good results. Most everyone has a memory of their uncle, grandfather, neighbor, etc. who had some awful tasting wine brewing in their basement. With today’s technology, home winemaking is now a very easy and affordable hobby that can produce very high quality tasting wine. Besides making a quality wine there are other reasons to make your own wine.

Making your own wine is affordable. Thanks to technology more modern equipment is now available to the home wine maker. You can purchase prepackaged equipment kits that will provide you with most of the necessary items. These items can be purchased at Let's Do Wine for around $100. After your initial purchase of equipment, you will have to buy the ingredients for each batch of wine you make. If you enjoy drinking more traditional varietals such as Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernets and Pinots and want wine similar to what is commercially available, then it is best if you purchase wine in a concentrate kit form. Most concentrate kits have easy to follow instructions, pre-measured packets of the necessary additives such as yeast, stabilizing and clearing agents. The most important item in the concentrate kit itself is the juice. The better juice kit manufacturers source high quality grapes from some of the best grape growing regions in the world. Once the grapes are pressed, the juice is properly balanced for sugar, acidity, pH levels, etc. and then flash pasteurized and concentrated to allow for a good shelf-life and easy handling. High quality wine juice can be purchased for as little as a few dollars per bottle.

Not only is wine making is a fun hobby, it’s affordable too. Many folks have fun hobbies such as golf, stamp collecting, reading, etc. The great thing about wine making is you have something to show for your efforts. Most wine making supply stores offer a selection of bottles, labels, foil shrink tops to make your wine have a professional look. Desktop publishing software can be used to make personalized custom labels. Not only is it nice to bring a bottle of homemade wine to a dinner party, a bottle of wine makes a wonderful gift at the holidays or used for wedding and shower favors.

Wine making is a four step process that takes approximately 4 weeks to ferment, stabilize and clear a batch of wine. Most batches are made in 6 gallon amounts which yield 30 bottles of wine. All you will really need at home is a small space that has running water to clean your equipment. While the wine is fermenting it will need to be stored in a place that will maintain average room temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees.

Once your friends learn that you make your own wine they will be very intrigued. As soon as they discover how good it is, you will become the most popular person in your neighborhood and family. You will be proud to say: “I made this!”

To get started making wine click here.

Written by: Wendy Kielar, Let's Do Wine
This article can also be found on Ezine.com

Labels: How to Make Wine, Let's Do Wine, Why Make Wine, wine making, Wine Making Kits, Wine Making with Wendy

by: Lets Do Wine

<< Blog Home

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Four Wines You Must Have in Your Collection

Whether you make your own wine, collect wine or are just a weekend wine warrior, it is important to have at least four “must have” staple wines in your collection.

The first wine everyone should have on hand is a Riesling. This white wine is a must because of its popularity and familiarity. People are comfortable with wines they have heard of before and can easily pronounce (rees’-ling). Riesling grapes originated in Germany but are grown all over the world. Riesling wines don’t have a lot of strict “standards” placed on them. This allows the wine maker a bit more liberty when it comes to color and sweetness. Rieslings can range from a light pale straw to a golden color. They can be semi-sweet, off-dry or dry. For your collection be sure to find one that is a lighter body off-dry. This style will usually boast great flavor and please a wide range of people.

Now that we have a white in our collection, lets balance it with a nice red. Cabernet Sauvignon (aka “Cab”) is a required wine for anyone who wants to do some serious entertaining. A good Cab’s taste should be well-defined and recognizable. It is a nicely structured red medium-to-full bodied. The taste should remind you of berries, black currants with a nice lingering finish. Cabernet is the top growing grape in California. Therefore, whether you are purchasing a bottle, a case or the juice to make your own be sure to look at the available options from California.

If you can only afford a couple of choices, I would be very comfortable serving a Riesling and a Cab at a dinner party. If you want to build on your selection, a heavier more flavorful white would be in order. A Chardonnay is a very robust white and even in a pinch, red wine lovers will gravitate toward this well structured vino. It’s a white that won’t please everyone but that’s why you have the Riesling. Chardonnays are typically dry and have a very unique flavor profile ranging from buttery to oaky. They are one of the few whites that due well being aged in oak. Typically reds are aged in oak barrels. Chardonnay grapes grow nicely in California as well as France and Australia.

The fourth and final staple wine is a Pinot Noir. A Pinot is a red wine that is light in body but not light in taste. It is a very aromatic wine and will round out your collection nicely. Its intense aroma will remind you of red berries, black cherries and a slight hint of spice. Pinot grapes are not easily grown. They are very delicate and only survive in certain specific climates. Many parts of the West Coast including California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia grow very nice Pinot Grapes. New Zealand boasts one of the best Pinot grape growing region.

With these four great choices you will have a nice balanced collection of wine that will be sure to delight the palates of your friends and family regardless of their wine experience and knowledge. A few other common wines to consider adding would be Merlot, Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Grigio.

Written by: Wendy Kielar, Owner of Let's Do Wine!

Labels: lets do wine, wendy kielar, wine making, wines you must have

by: Lets Do Wine

<< Blog Home

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Health Benefits of Drinking Beer

Did you know that recent studies prove that beer actually has more health benefits than wine?!

Beer is loaded with lots of antioxidants as well as the hops have many health benefits including anti-inflamatory properties.

These benefits are found mostly in darker colored and bitter tasting beers. And just like wine, moderation is the key.

Interested in making your own healthy beer? Simply visit LetsDoBeer.com

Click Here to watch the health benefits of beer video.

Labels: Beer Making, Health Benefits of Beer

by: Lets Do Wine

<< Blog Home