Next Steps

This year I entered 6 wines in the Greater Kansas City Cellarmasters Wine Classic. We earned 3 medals: Silver for Lychee Wine, and bronze for 2015 Elderberry Rosé and Lemongrass Mint. Two others didn't medal but earned nice comments. But I learned that I must open and sample every wine before sending, as the blackberry had gone bad. I hadn't tried it in the months since bottling, and while it wasn't great at bottling, it is awful now. It oxidized and developed the geranium smell. Fortunately, there were only two remaining bottles, and now nobody can be considered at risk from this wine any longer.

I'm conducting an elderberry wine experiment. I have three 1 gallon batches of elderberry, the making of which is detailed elsewhere. I racked these three today and added kmeta. Lots of red fruit from the simmered solution and the pressed fruit batches, particularly cherry from the pressed fruit. The batch which was fermented on the fruit has the least aroma and is most characteristic of elderberry.

The greenhouse is still sleeping for the winter. We are eating, rather than fermenting, this year's citrus crop. The only exciting news to report is our first grapefruit harvest.

Double A Vineyards notified me that they don't have enough Norton to fill my order. Apparently this is a very popular grape right now. I was able to get another 25 vines from a place in Arkansas. If I actually receive all of the Norton I am still promised, it will fill the remainder of the available trellis space.