Don Giovanni

Sitting Ducks... Zuccarino , Silver Springs Winery , Wine 101 TV show 148 Click On me Finger Lakes Winter Vineyard Report 2012

This Wine Goes Well With Fish the last paragraph oh is a bit of a stretch... Click On Me

2/2/2012 Finger Lake region ::: the weather has been very much a big surprise ... @ 50 F the last past two days this has been the norm not the deviation... whilst the natives are happy heating bills are down and it's been the warmest winter in 117 years... it has really scared the crap out of me at this point... I still have the vine kill of the winter of 2004 fresh in my mind... you see the vines go into dormancy and set cold hardness at two zones... the first being 50F to 32F and the second 31F to sub zero... two zones that float, so vines set complex starches etc... to become winter ready... now the thing to keep in mind is if vines can take up to-7F this can only be done by first going through each zone very slowly thereby setting the vines winter hardiness in stages... you can't go from 59F to -7 and have a vine that will live...you need a slow cold acclimation where the vines become more winter hardy as it gets colder...so the colder it gets the more winter hardy they get in stages... my fear is for sub zero temps to hit us for over a 24 hour spell this would bring winter damage depending on the stage the vines are at ... right now they are the equivalent of Floridians being dropped off at the north pole it just would not work...they are at the least winter hardy for this time of year and most in dangered... moisture has been adequate... so holding my breath for the next six weeks... and a big caution flag is up with a wimpy vine warning sounded ....

that actually is a very good idea... cheers !!!`

very funny... I am going to use that... just want to be very clear... I am poking fun at myself too... I am a wine geek...

The Shit Wine Geeks Say and do when tasting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFMIYGz5qx8

crunchy is jammy sharp fruit with plenty of acid as in PH...makes you think of wine that smacks the lips and is chewy but not in as in high PH chewy or sweet ... crunchy as in sharp clean lip smacking yet opulent ...

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Orange You Glad There's a New Wine Color? Click On Me great news for oxidized wines...

I doubt it's the sulfates in wine... if so then you would have died a long time ago eating dried fruits that have 100 times the sulfate in them vrs wine... histamine is the problem... histidine gets converted to histamine in red wine production during the secondary fermentation.. this is 99% the problem in Red wines... if the equipment is not clean your screwed... if a wine has less than 10 PPM you will not see that it has sulfates on the label... the wine will be a risk due to bacteria... above 10 PPM you see it on a label... in the US a wine can have 350 ppm in it by law... I find that a wine produced that has 45 PPM is just fine and no need to add SO2 .... it sometime is used as a crutch out of lack of confidence..

I second the Earthquake recommendation... even in bad years they are great... also agreeing on the fact that ZIN has become more port like over the last 20 years... the high alc's and heavy extraction make for a close encounter of the Zin port kind... then again we Americans are getting so dam fat that we tend to need a big wine to compliment our 3,000 calorie meal for lunch... another producer that makes crazy Zin's that differ from barrel to barrel... Coturri Click On Me I must have bought over 20K in their wines over the years... another one... good QPR and in great vintage years the wine is the best Cellar Number 8 another one is a great winemaker Mike... the brand... carlisle zinfandel OMG... 95 points most of the time and the price is not bad... the hard part seems is finding them...

Sense Of Smell Can Be Improved With Training- real life story ok it seems this study confirms my thoughts on this subject... you see I had a customer who lost their sense of smell and was really depressed... so depressed that I worried it might really affect their health as they loved the smell of wine and the wonders that a good nuance of smell would evoke... so I had them shop for many things to smell so that they could start training... everyday they set 15 min aside and worked-out their sense of smell... they picked up over 50 different things that would give them a run for the money... after one year of training the sense of smell went from nothing to something that has grown every time that they now come in... their quality of life has improved and they are back able to pick out the pleasures of life, wine... so to see the below does not surprise me at all... Click On Me they had rats in training and they learned... surely humans are a least as complex as a rat...?... anyone have other stories on smell please post...

I have to admit when I do hear it used I cringe ... OH well...

very challenging year... a nice way to say that the year sucked... it will be the year of the winemaker not the vineyard...it is what it is... a 6.5 out of 10...

I have been hearing the buzz word 'fusion' around the wine circles and I think it's going to be around for a while... 'fusion' examples the marriage of sunshine of a vintage into great wine... the 'fusion' of the soil into the minerality the 'fusion' of a winemakers style bring cold climate protocol to a hot region using them in winemaking... lets say something like straw matting ... this 'fusion' creates a complex profile... if you have more examples please post...

officially I am calling this year 2011 a 6.5 to 7 out of ten in grape quality... in the FLX region... due to the wet summer end... we are dealing with split skins, ants, and bees... this will be the year of the wine-maker to show skill in production in order to make a good wine... Cheers....

A case for ascorbic acid use in Riesling to increase fruity aroma case study that the use of ascorbic acid in production post SO 2 adds fruity aroma to the wine...this would be for wines that should be drunk withing 3 to 5 years ... also reducing ATA atypical aging although it is not well understood how this helps, although it seems to... personally I favor the use in production as I seem to produce a more complex Riesling with it than without it...I can't help to think that it also reduces any funk, TCA potential in the bottle as previously noted in the thread about it's benefit fighting TCA related problems in the cellar... Click On Me

Scientists discover sulphur can be good for grapes,but Click On Me a very good thing ... sulphur has a positive aspect on the grape... from the audio... now they know what it does, so they can find a replacement...maybe this... WHO is applying the pressure to replace sulphur...

would like to know too... I spent many summer days crabbing after ebb tide catching bushels of crabs in SJ ... brings back great memories... not to mention the clams ... ok now I am really hungry... cheers !!!

9/1/2011 well what a few days of nice sun will do to the soil... we are getting great amplitude high temp's during the day low temp's during the night this produces very complex acids and sugars just what you need for a good to great vintage... what the hurricane did was slow us all down we were ahead 14 days the Irene now we have been pushed back one week... smart growers ate letting early ripening fruit stay on the vine to dry out ... also clay soil works better dry with heavy equipment... looking for the closing of a very nice growing vintage... thus far knocking wood... we are in for a treat with 2011... cheers !!!

Eliminating TCA and all chlorination in water for your cellar I have been for years battling any chlorination by neutralizing it then using water to clean the cellar... I use a powder and it works... 2.8 mg of Sodium ascorbate will neutralize 5 gallons of water , humidity etc...it's simple and inexpensive to use... please be careful it comes with health warnings ... if you are going to wash the floor it's best to neutralize the water from chlorination...why introduce it into your cellar... Click On Me Sodium Ascorbate Powder - 2.2 lbs. - Powder a bit for you too won't hurt... Click On Me Quote: Important Information Directions As a dietary supplement, mix 1/4 teaspoon or more in a glass of juice or water. Take with or without meals. Product Description .. TCA does move into wine from a contaminated cellar... cork does breath in and out... Quote: transmission Casey (1994) also another study Barker et. al. see page 8/15 or page 8 right side paragraph 3... this has been proven... see study... Click On Me Cheers !!!

8/23/2011 ok we are still 10 days ahead of LT averages... we were very wet this spring then summer came and we went totally dry... after one week of moisture the fields are plush and now we need dry weather... hurricane alert for rain to come to us as the storm makes it's way up north...we really need the dry weather to finish out a great growing season... all eyes on the clouds...

Natural Spontaneous Yeast Fermentation in wine and the winner is...? Crack Yeast's DNA Code Saccharomyces cerevisiae 99.9% of the time... it's just the law of nature...now I have proof due to some great scientist investigation in the origin of beer yeast... many wineries build marketing promotions around Natural Spontaneous Yeast Fermentation concept... like it's something really special...I say it's great marketing and that's about it... Unless you reverse osmosis the juice and sterile filter down to .05 microns and that will only take up to 80% of the yeast out... you will still have a population of yeast that will most likely be Saccharomyces cerevisiae... some cultured yeast strains will work in a very sterile environment, but preventing contamination of the mother yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae would be futile by nature... you will have this yeast cling to cloths, wood, dust and just about every host you can think of... Now if you experiment with gene splicing Saccharomyces cerevisiae same as they do in the medical field looking for changes yeast caused by a gene that can turn on or produces a unique function... (I might add my son did this one summer as a intern and it's very tedious and the chances you can change and control the yeast are very rare)... it takes years to produce a stable change in one gene and they usually publish the data it's that rare... so now we have beer yeast found in South America that ends up in Europe somehow (this alone is an argument in it of itself) and are hybrid strain of a kind of yeast to produce a distinctive beer...still the mother is Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the hybrid is a very strong one that give distinct tastes... was this done by nature...?... probably not , as they have not been able to find it in the wild... this bring to mind that humans have been involved in hybridization of yeast long before anyone would think ... that said the yeast that most likely finished your fermentation is Saccharomyces cerevisiae no matter how good the story behind it is...unless you have as in this case a new strain and the odds of this are slim... Click On Me Scientists Solve Lager Beer Mystery, Crack Yeast's DNA Code

7/14/2011 well we now have great vine vigor... the high water table has given the vines plenty of water to take up ... now with the very dry weather the roots are working to find water and grow this gives the vines strength for long term growth... mildew alerts have subsided... Japanese beetles are present but not as heavy as years past...looking great for a nice vintage...long way to go

Fun wine tasting game ... Zuccarino wine tasting game... a different way of tasting wine... take your complete notes for several bottles and do not put what the wine is or where it's from on paper...mark each bottle with a number have the master set of TN's placed in a envelope sealed with the corresponding bottle number on it... next invite your tasters to start tasting the wines with the wine tasting notes you provided them with ... have them taste the wine and match the tasting notes, as well as take their own... this is where the fun comes in... they then number each note with the bottle number that they think matches the notes... when you are done and everyone has the wines matched up with your notes as well as theirs... open the sealed envelope disclose the notes you have with the number corresponding appropriate bottle and place them next to the bottle... see how many tasters match your original tasting notes...have two of the same wines in the running ... see if they both get matched with the same notes... it's a humbling experience... then let the conversation flow...be prepared to have your notes ripped apart all in good fun... make sure they give a numeric score to the wines as well this adds a bit more to the complexity of the tasting ... every time I have done this the passion and excitement seems to be heightened with great conversations about wine for many hours....enjoy... Cheers !!!