2017 Wines - Chapter 8 - Estate Berry

This wine was planned, both because we needed an "estate" wine and because it served as a chance to clean out the freezer.

Ingredients:

• Serviceberry, 1# 15oz
• Blackhaw, 1# 10oz
• Haskaps, 7oz
• Elderberry, 12oz
• Blackberry, 3# 3oz
• 5 pints water
• 620g sugar
• 2t pectic
• 0.25g Lallzyme EX
• 1g Opti Red
• 1g Booster Rouge
• 1t calcium carbonate

I combined the first 7 ingredients and gently crushed the fruit. Blackhaws don't really crush very much, they are mostly seed. Then the must got a 3 day cold soak. After rewarming, I added the remaining ingredients. The pH adjusted from 3.16 too 3.4 with a very small amount of calcium carbonate. SG was 1.085. K1-V1116 and away we go.

I made no attempt to control temps, really just a lazy approach to this wine. On day 8 we were at 1.004 and racked to carboy. After another week, racked off the gross lees and added another dose of KMS.

I have no notion what this wine will be like. I would have liked a better balance of fruit but this was the 2017 hand we were dealt.

Jammin' for Relay

All day yesterday our radar more or less looked like this:

We ended up with 4.5" yesterday and already today by 7:00am almost another inch. There was no hope of working outside so it turned out to be a perfect day preparing for the Relay for Life.

Each year, led by Mindy and the rest of the staff, our contribution has grown. This year, although twice postponed due to rain, we had a softball tournament which proved very successful. Our fundraising also involves selling homemade jam, and yesterday was the day to make it.

I had a lot of leftover fruit and brought only a portion of it. It seemed to be a fitting use for the last 2.5# of starfruit from 'Kari,' as I don't have enough for a batch of wine. I also brought elderberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

Starfruit Jam in-the-making

A request was also made for wine, and I obliged with elderberry rosé, blueberry, lemongrass mint, lychee, and Dragon Blood. Only the lemongrass was unpopular, although each person had a different favorite. I brought four empty bottles home.

Chief Jammaker Jamie with Lisa

Freezer Full

Blueberries and Blackberries have come and gone.  We're at 45# of blueberries and 90# blackberries. Elderberries are still coming in, and we are at ~35# and counting. I can harvest from the yard, and I don't have to run out to my secret spot. Just as well, someone else discovered it this year and we would have been competing for the berries.

We've run out of room in the freezer. With this amount of elderberries, I'm looking for a way to make elderberry rosé without doing the first run so that I can get more of the rosé per pound of elderberries. I don't have the magic formula yet.

The surprise of the day was Barlett pears. I found these on the ground today and we have another 4-6 still on the tree. This is the first year we've had any pears, and I'm going to have to do some pruning of this tree to keep them within reach.

If I count this as a berry, I'm back to quad-berry estate wine

The persimmon wine has cleared quickly and easily.  I racked it today, we have about 2 and 1/3 gallons. There is hope for this wine.

July 4th

I admit to some mixed feelings this July 4th. We had the good judgment to elect a man who may be remembered as the greatest president of my generation. And now we have a 22% chance of making one of the gravest mistakes in our history. Not for her? This probably won't change your mind, but I'm compelled to post the link anyway.

Over the 3 day holiday weekend we received over 4.5 inches of rain. Some places in town got even more. Yet we managed to get in plenty of weeding and picking, and a little cooking too.

Friday we went back to Danamay Farms.  We picked 9 buckets of blackberries and about 10# of blueberries. The plan at this point is 60# of blackberries, of which about 35# will go into a straight blackberry, all-juice, no-water wine. The remainder will be blended with elderberry. My blueberry target is 30#. That is 12# for a straight blueberry-concord 3 gallon batch like I made last year, and then another 18# for a blueberry rosé in standard rosé style - crush, a few hours on the skins for some color, then pressed. Then we'll use the seconds to make the same blueberry hibiscus wine that turned out so well last year.

Blueberry Hibiscus Wine
Leftover seeds/skins/pulp from earlier 3.5# batch 
160 hibiscus flowers
1 can Welch's red grape concentrate
1# 10oz sugar
1t pectic
1/4t citric acid
1/4t (1g) Opti-White
Fermaid K
Go-Ferm
1 gal water

Put the hibiscus flowers in straining bag and place in primary. Add the blueberries, grape concentrate, and flowers. Boil the water and dissolve the sugar.  Pour the sugar-water mix over the flowers and fruit. When cool, remove the flowers and squeeze gently, not too hard. Add the pectic, citric acid, and Opti-White.  After 12 hours, make a starter with Go-Ferm, and pitch yeast (K1-V1116). Step feed, kmeta at first racking, and usual care thereafter. This wine needs no fining or filtering.

Saturday after CME we worked on some of the wines that need to be bottled before we can start this year's batches. We bottled 6 gallons of DB, as good as ever. The blackberry was, after bench trials, stabilized and sweetened with 60g/gal and colored up a bit with 10% elderberry. We bottled it and the blueberry hibiscus.

Blackberry wine

Dinner was, again, on the BGE. Brisket burgers exceeded expectations, and the blackberry dump cobbler was excellent too.

Dump Cobbler on the BGE

Sunday, still raining, we worked on Shawn and Suzanne's new place. I've determined that down-sizing is not for me, not at this time anyway. 

On Monday the 4th we went back to Danamay Farms. I took them some wine - one bottle each of DB, elderberry, lemongrass-ginger, and blackberry. I know for sure that at least two of these are drinkable, so I felt as if I could take a chance on the other two. Amy likes drier wine, Gabe sweeter. He was given permission to sweeten them up as needed. 

At this point we have hit our 60# target on blackberries, but we're not quite there on blueberries.

We got some weeding done, and as important, nailed down the plans for Christmas. We'll have the kids together, which will be great. For supper, Shawn and Suzanne returned (lacking a functional kitchen in their new place) for roasted chicken, brussel sprout slaw, corn on the cob, and blueberry-peach yogurt cake for supper. 

Happy 4th! And I'm with her.

Spring Cleaning

Last weekend we bottled 3 gallons each of lychee, starfruit, and lemongrass mint wine.  The starfruit and lemongrass are sound, but the lychee is potentially really good.  We'll hold these for summer - the pool opening is just 3 weeks away.

Lisa is thrilled to be bottling

We have been busier in the yard than in the cellar.  Beautyberries and grasses are cut back, amsonia cleaned up, we've gotten through the first round of weeding.  I realized that for the last couple of years I've been spraying my agastache 'Honey Bee Blue' thinking it was a weed. It seems pretty widespread, so I suspect it'll be back one place or another.

Mulch started going down yesterday.  The pearlbushes made it through their first winter.  They look a little lonely but with a final height of 10' I'm not going to be too impatient.

Three little pearlbushes (two shown)

We've discovered that the self-seeded asparagus wakes up a little earlier than the original behind the chicken coop.  The first shoots of the season have been eaten, looking forward to more.

I hacked paths into the blackberries so hopefully the harvest will be easier.

Haskaps are blooming.  I ordered 5 more plants to fill in the little bed east of the garage.  I can already taste the 2018 haskap wine.

Lining them up

Friday I went back for what likely will be the last of my elderberry runs this year.  It was brutal. Weeds 6' high, flies, horseflies, and of course I forgot my pruners, making getting through the wild blackberries a challenge.  Final pickin' totals:

• Blueberry 3.5#
• Blackberry 42#
• Elderberry 22.5#

The birds are finally leaving the elderberries in the yard alone long enough for them to truly ripen.  I may get another pound from the yard.  So the plan is as follows:

• Elderberry 16# (3 gal)
• Blackberry/Elderberry blend 10#/6# (3 gal)
• Blackberry 16# (3 gal)
• Blackberry/Elderberry Rosé with skins/seeds from first 3 batches (3 gal)
• Blueberry/Blackberry 3.5#/3# + whatever elderberries I can yet get from the yard (1 gal)
• Blackberry 13# pure juice no water (1 gal)

I need to get some bottling done, as right now I have no open 3 gal carboys.  But the remaining 2014 elderberry wine, when racked this past week, is looking and tasting very nice.

One of the remaining 3 gal elderberry batches I still need to bottle.

This doesn't look like exercise equipment.

But this pressure washer extension has me sore on this Sunday.  We used it Saturday to get the mud daubers off of the ceiling of the lanai.  You don't really control it, you just sort of restrain it.  It reminds me of a slosh pipe.  This is a home maintenance tool I suppose I'll use for 30 minutes every 2-3 years but which has no substitute.  We're not considering a move, but I will be very happy to leave this monster with the lucky buyers of our home whenever that time comes.

Allie is getting settled in her new apartment.  We delivered the green Valium loveseat, so-named because it is so comfortable lying on it is like taking Valium. This required removal of the back door from its hinges.  We took the opportunity to stop by Lucky's and get some rosemary and garlic steak kabobs.  I cooked these perfectly but they were badly overseasoned.  Thanks, Lucky.  The 2013 blackberry mead was therefore a nice surprise.  I admit to have cheated a little bit on this one, but Lisa doesn't care.

Saturday Miscellany

Lisa and I made a trip to the Fulton farmer's market and picked up some of the first sweet corn of the season.  Tomatoes are coming along.  Our market has always been a little heavy on crafts and music and light on actual food.

Then we went back to Danamay Farm for some more u-pick berries.  The blueberries are finished, and the blackberries are not quite as plentiful as two weeks ago, but it didn't take us long to add another 7.5# of blackberries.

It is great to have Allison home, if even for a few days.  We took the opportunity Saturday to collect some Allison Elderberries.  The berries didn't progress as much as I thought they would in the past week, but we got about 8#.  I think we are up to around 13#.  My goal is 20#.  The plan will be 15# in a straight elderberry, 15# of blackberries in a straight blackberry, 5# elderberry + 10# blackberry in a blend, all using a cold soak.  Then, saving off the seeds/skins from these batches, I'll do a second run rosé.  Now I still need to figure out what to do with the blueberries.

The freezer is getting full!

Earlier this week we tried a 375ml bottle of the 2014 hibiscitrus wine.  This wine is over-the-top fruity and floral, a great summer wine.  So again, we are in full hibiscus-flower-collection mode.  Unfortunately one of the pots blew over in a storm a couple of weeks ago and broke.  Saturday I attempted a repair with some 2-part epoxy and a strap clamp.  I do it for the wine.

Lisa hates beets.  I'm not generally a fan...they are like the pineapple of the root vegetables in a way.  Just like pineapple doesn't share space in a fruit salad, beets don't share space in a roasting pan.  They turn everything purple and are just generally obnoxious.  But pickled beets, that might be a different thing entirely.  I made a go at pickled beets yesterday.

Pickled beets, with red onions for garnish

Finally, after about 5 years, it appears that this is really a thing.

Black sapote, chocolate pudding fruit

U-pickin'

The greenhouse is 10 years old now and the one time the fan went out previously happened to be on a Saturday while I was in the backyard.  It took some time but I found a replacement motor and had the thing repaired by the end of the day.

Yesterday, while I was picking berries, the fan stopped again.  On the down side I had patients scheduled all morning.  So I rigged up some box fans, after a short struggle opened the ridge vent, and went on to work. After a trip with the fan to Mexico, where it ran just fine for the electrical motor folks at S and S, we're down to an electrical problem.  I have a call in to the electrician, he has yet to call me back.  Between that and the wireless at the office, it was a lousy day.

So as a pick-me-up, we decided to go U-picking. Danamay Farm is a new berry farm only about 3 miles from our house and they have great fruit.  Their blackberries are not as sunburned as mine.  Came home with about 20# of blackberries and 5# of blueberries.  We'll eat a few of these but we'll end up drinking most of them.

Weekend update

We're feeling pretty good about the yard for mid-July.  A number of fruit and flowers suitable for winemaking are coming along or even starting to ripen: elderberries, hibiscus, passion fruit, lemongrass, blackberries, citrus.  We should have a bumper crop of kumquat this year.

Purple Possum

Passion fruit 'McCain'.  I never much cared for the name.

Saturday's blackberries

Lisa has tamed the woodland bed.  We ordered a couple of hundred chinese ginger and epimediums to fill space and we really need a couple of hundred more...next year.  I spent a fair share of both days working on the greenhouse bed, weeding and mulching.
Saturday night we grilled chicken and with that had a tomato mozzarella salad with cherry toms from our one and only tomato plant.  We got brave and opened a bottle of my 2013 satsuma wine and for the second time in a week, we were pleasantly surprised.  This wine is colored like a sauv blanc, very pale and almost slightly green.  The tangerine is subtle but unmistakable and thankfully I didn't oversweeten it.  I'm happy to know that I have a couple of bottles left.

I can't remember where I got my black sapote (Diospyros nigra) tree.  I either grew it from seed brought back from PR, or my friend Ethan in California sent it to me...I think it came from Ethan.  This tree has been quietly minding its own business in the greenhouse for about 4 years.  This year it flowered!  It has these odd little flowers which open up to a size no larger than a pinhole.  Manual pollination is impossible.  So I brought it outside, hoping to get a little help from the insect world.  It just might have worked.

We have a lot of mint.  I'm thinking of remaking the lemongrass-mint wine we opened earlier this week but so far I just haven't quite found the motivation.  Additionally, I only have 2 free 3 gal carboys, and I'm hoping to use them for blackberry and elderberry.
Lisa made me promise I wouldn't freeze today's blackberries.  I didn't get as many today, but just enough for two ramekins of blackberry crumble.  Nice way to end the weekend.