Tuesday 9 September 2014

Chateau Rock Chef, 2014

For my birthday, my daughter bought me a small wine making kit.

I loved it.

I used to dabble in home made wine many years ago, and have thought about getting back into it on and off over the years.

So, anyway, I got it all going, and the initial fermentation has finished, and I have now been letting the sediment clear.  It is looking very nice for a kit wine.  I will be bottling it up tonight, to be set aside for a few months before tasting.  Christmas at a push, I guess!

In the future I will resuse the hardware in the kit to make more wine from the fruit, rather than the grape concentrate which was in the kit.  I will be revisiting some old favourites, such as spiced apple wine, and trying a few new ones too.  The great thing about this set up is that it only makes about 6 bottles at a time, so we won't be getting bogged down in our own private wine lake, we can just have a rolling, low level production.  If a batch is bad, no big loss!

Cheers!

8 comments:

Abby said...

Cool! And what a great gift from your daughter - nothing run-of-the-mill for dear old Rock Chef Dad. I look forward to your tasting assessments!

ShadowRun300 said...

Perfect gift for you!
My hubby went through a wine making stage. He had tons of it fermenting at one time. Can't say it was the most pleasant smell... but the wine was good. He used a variety of fruits, including pumpkin. (blech)
Don't forget to post a pic of you stomping grapes in your bare feet!

terri said...

Your family always seems to put such great thought into gift giving. I wish you many successful batches of wine!

Rock Chef said...

Abby - Hm, do I see video blogs of wine tasting in the future?

ShadowRun300 - No stomping for me, just soaking the fruit in water for a week - this extracts the juice without all the other stuff that causes cloudiness.

Terri - Cicely in particular is great at choosing gifts, she is a gem.

CiCi said...

Will grapes grow at your place? Hope you all like the results of the labor and I look forward to hearing about the next batches.

Rock Chef said...

CiCi - Well there are now vinyards in southern England, some within about 50 miles of where I live. Thanks to climate change! They seem to be doing rather well, apparently producing some world class white wines! However, I will be focusing on wine made from other fruits, eg apple, blackberry etc that I can pick locally at a good price, such as free :-)

Riot Kitty said...

Did we miss your b.day? Happy b.day!

Interesting. Where do you get the grapes?

agg79 said...

Happy Birthday Old Man! I am sorry I missed out on harassing you but I've been mildly distracted over here.

The wine making kit is a great idea. I used to make my own beer back when I had hair and time and disposable income (before kid). Great adventure. I expect to hear more about Chateau Rock Chef in the coming months and your batch ferments.