Narmada Wines

I had the pleasure of attending the Old Town Food & Wine Festival, held in Alexandria Virginia last week. For a couple of days I was able to sample wine at several stations throughout the city and at two large tasting locations. I was also able to attend some wine seminars  and dinners which was also nice. It was very well put together. People can grab a glass of wine and stroll through the streets as long as they were in a neighboring establishment.

My purpose for attending Sunday was to sample wines from the newer wineries such as Narmada Winery, Ducard Vineyards, and Democracy Vineyards. Narmada first planed vines on their property back in 2004, and have increased their acreage ever since. Eventually they made plans to build their own winery. The vines they produce consist of grapes grown on the property and those from elsewhere – including some from Benevino Vineyards. As their vineyard matures they will be more self sufficient. What I liked most about these wines is that they are traditional Virginian wines. They don’t try to mask characteristics by putting in too much oak or try to make a grape into something it’s not suitable for.  For example, their dry Chambourcin is exactly what is expected from the grape.

I went to the other grand tasting room so I could sample wines from Democracy Vineyards. This winery is located in a beautiful country setting. Both of their wines are blends of the red Velvet Revolution Reserve and the white Declaration Reserve. It consisted of Chambourcin, Tannat, Merlot, and Petit Verdot. The reserve also contains equal amounts of Tarminette, Seyval Blanc, and Chardonnay which makes a nice table wine. I couldn’t quite get a feel for this wine because the cold temperature overpowered the aroma and flavors, but overall it was a nice blend.

Narmada Tasting Room

I had to cut my trip to The Old Town Food & Wine Festival for other matters, but it was certainly a great event and I look forward to next year’s.

To get started, my uncle has allowed me to pick some of his grapes. It was supposed to be a rainy day the next day so I waited until there was no rain forecasted.

Picking them wasn’t as easy as I thought; next time I’ll have to get either the rose or the vine to get its own place!

The next day I decided to prepare them. First I had to get the grapes off of the stems, and filter out the moldy ones, as well as anything that looked like it didn’t belong. After, touching more snails than I have in my life, I was done preparing…

Next, I mashed them in groups with a potato masher and put everything into an apple press. The result was a very nice colored juice, and soon was the press as well.

I wanted to leave the juice natural this time so I decided not to sterilize the juice with a tablet. Instead, I only used artificial yeast. If it works I think it will leave a much more interesting taste.

I also put the pulp in a bag made of muslin. Here’s the result:

What it looked like at the end of yesterday.

Here's what it looks like now.

Looks like something is working!

My Uncle's Wine Cellar

My Uncle and several friends of mine enjoy the hobby of making beer or wine at home. This fact got me seriously thinking. Even as a guy that doesn’t care for beer I have to admit that it sounds like fun. I can imagine an infinite variety of beer types since most of the rules of beer fly out the window when you take control of the entire process. I tend to enjoy activities that are slower but the output is of a finer quality. Beer and wine making  are prime candidates.

I repeat for good measure that I’m not a beer guy, and also that I am a wine guy. Since you can make both beer and wine at home (with a pretty seriously overlapping list of required equipment for those that are considering it) and I like wine, I saw the direction I wanted to go. After a couple of days of research into prices and lists of equipment I finally felt ready to take the plunge into another new hobby.

Like all hobbies this one has a pretty steep initial purchase curve, but unlike many hobbies, it has the potential to save obscene amounts of money in the long run. My initial purchase of things from my local beer and wine hobby store came out to a few hundred dollars. That purchase however will produce around 60 bottles of wine. Although I will need a few more bottles and corks when I get to the 2nd kit’s completion, those will only cost me right around $36. So the same math as before leads to the conclusion that for the patient and the passionate the price per bottle is a mere $6.27 and that number continues to drop with each kit I make. With the equipment I now own taken out of the picture, a kit of wine tends to produce 30 bottles at anywhere from around $2.25 to $5.00 per bottle.

The best part is I can now cancel my wine club and that within barely more than 2 shipments from my wine club I will have paid off my purchases. The second best part is the ability to make wines that I would never be able to afford or could afford but have a hard time accepting the price. Beyond that there is control and flexibility in what I make. If I find a kit I like, but have an idea about how it might be better, I can tweak to my heart’s content.