Monday, February 1, 2010

My Little Secret

I did not drink a glass of wine all week. I met up with my cousin at the The Office and deciding that it was way too "couplely" for two single girls we headed to the Merchant Ale House. Thus the reason I have no wine experience to share with the blogging world this week. In my books it would be just silly to drink wine in a place that has great beer.

I am going to take this time to share a little secret with you: A lot of the wine I drink is homemade. About a year ago I discovered a family friend owned a wine brewing store. So after a short phone call I had made a batch of Cabernet Sauvignon that would be ready in four weeks! So easy! Nothing like I thought. That might because I was basing my knowledge on wine making from an I Love Lucy episode...

After four weeks of anticipation, a friend and I headed to the store to bottle, cork and label my wine. I completely recommend taking an afternoon with some friends and bottling wine as long as "sampling" is involved.

The only downfall of drinking homemade wine is that the wine definitely benefits from aerating. Aerate is a fancy word for letting the wine breath. By allowing the wine to mix with the air the flavours will mellow making it smoother. The younger the wine, the more tannins (yay! I used one of my new wine words) it will have. The more tannins it has, the longer it needs to aerate. Now that I know what the word aerate means all I have to do is find the patience to actually do it.

I am sure that my homemade wine is not helping in my quest for pretentiousness but I know my friends are happy when I show up with a bottle of wine.

Because Everyone Loves Lucy

3 comments:

  1. That was a fabulous clip! I love Lucy. Seriously I love her. I'm happy to know that times have changed for the home winemaker.

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  2. Suzanne, I am in the same boat with you( maybe even in Rihannon's boat?) I have a shrine to her in my room, not important right now.Anyways, I love this blog Amanda! Have you ever tried a Chilian wine before? They have a really nice aroma and taste. Overall, I give you 10 glasses of red wine and maybe a tylenol after drinking them!

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  3. Great video, Amanda! It reminded me of my childhood. I used to spend my school holidays in Portugal with my grandparents in the farm. They used to cultivate different kinds of food for their own nourishment. They also made great olive oil, and all those wonderful homemade foods (bread, etc). They were wine makers, but never commercialized it. When I was a kid, the farms (in Portugal) used to make the wine the same way "Lucy" is showing in her clip. I had the pleasure to be put inside one of those big grape tanks by my grandfather, and I walked on those grapes barefoot. Great experience indeed!

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