it's beginning to smell.......................

A lot like fall. First it's the smell of fireplace fires in the crisp air. Then it's the fact that it is pitch black when I drive the kids to school and before we eat dinner. It's also the smell of grapes fermenting in the basement.

We purchased the cab grapes from Beckstoffer Vineyards in Rutherford this year and are doing primarily Cabernet, but are trying our hand at chardonnay, which I can't remember where we got those grapes from. We have 20 gallons of chard being fermented. We have almost 40 gallons of cab fermenting. Last night we pressed all of the amazing juice of the cab grapes and the color is just beautiful. The aromas wafting around our garage smelled heavenly. We plan to run the juice on both through a process called MLF (malo lactic fermentation). Without boring you, basically it is a secondary fermenting process that gives wine that buttery smell and smooth feeling on the mouth. We are very excited about this season and can't wait to see how the wine develops. It is such a learning process.

Wine Time!!!

We ordered our wine grapes!!!! Chardonnay this year and my white wine friends will be so happy-at least I HOPE they will. We have been testing our Cabs from Napa and Paso and they are coming along nicely. We ordered enough to do 30 gallons of Napa Cab this year!!! October is shaping up to be busy indeed. Wine grapes, Avon Walk in NYC-again (my poor tootsies), holiday photo sessions and cards.......................LOVE IT! the energy is so, well, ENERGETIC! I LOVE this time of year.

chilean wine

Two weeks ago, we finally bottled our first wine. It is a blend of Chilean syrah and malbec. And it's pretty good......it's nice to see the work paying off. We really enjoy every aspect of wine-making. From the punching down of the grapes, to the pressing of the juice, to the testing of the wine (and of course tasting along the way!), it is an amazing journey that doesn't end when you bottle.....you are able to remember the journey each time we open a bottle and share it with those we care about.

making wine

Tonight's the night. We are finally ready to press!!! After 6 days of fermenting and punching down the wine grapes, we are ready to see the juice and should have our first taste of the fruits of our labor!

cabernet

yes, the cab grapes are FINALLY in!!! We can't wait to get working on our first batch of Napa cabernet. The Chilean cab/syrah/malbec grapes are all aging nicely. This week will be a busy one of fermenting, punching down the grape skins and waiting. Lovely smells will be floating around our house. I can't wait!

whine, wine, wine.............

With the summer quickly ending, we begin to re-focus our attention to the wine-making process. For the most part, after the active fermentation is over, it is wait, wait, wait....and hope, hope, hope. Hope that we have made a good choice in timing, aging, oaking. We have a nice blend on the oak barrel now and will be switching it out and loading that barrel back up with syrah. In our first round, we made cab and zin, then ordered the chilean grapes cabernet, syrah and malbec. We plan to do some blending, but first will age separately to allow the grapes to manifest their true flavors independent of one another. It is very exciting to taste at this point because one can begin to see what is to come. While we wait, we are figuring out what grapes from California to buy. Doing so many varietals last Feb gave us our share of challenges, so I think we might focus soley on cabernet. It will allow us more latitude. It is exciting and will be a busy fall once the grapes come in.....but that smell of fermenting grapes is truly amazing!!!!

LIFE

I'm back. No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet-just deep in the end of year activities, sports, life, kids.........only two more days of school left and I will let out a big, huge, loud SIGH of relief! This spring seemed especially brutal with baseball/softball schedules for the kids. Throw in a trip to DC, Barcelona Spain, and Charleston, and a big birthday for hubby and we are TIRED!

The half-caf coffee thing is working out well. I finally got over the headache and sleepiness!!

We continue to make wine, receiving our first real grapes in April from Chile. We now have chilean malbec, cab, and syrah. We have our cab/zin blend chilling out in the american oak barrel. This has been quite an adventure! We are anxiously awaiting our first "blend" that we will release to friends at the holidays. Next up, California cab in the fall!!!

Some really great things are cooking up at shawn. I will have some workshops in the fall, special photo ops for holiday cards and seniors beginning in Augst and you will be able to look for more retail opportunities to find shawns things!

For now, I am counting the days until I can sit in my jammies and drink coffee (half caf) and play clue or monopoly with the kids.

xo

joe anyone?

We are still making wine-in fact we are making a cab and a zin. For wine, you must be patient. The zin is already on it's way to becoming a pretty good glass of wine, but for the cab, it needs more time. Grapes will soon be in for our experimentation with the "real thing" as the first two batches were made with grapes that had already been part of the way processed. But what has this to do with coffee you might ask? Well the "patient" part of the wine making had my husband wanting to make something else. We LOVE coffee so it is only natural to want it freshly roasted......hmmm, where do you find coffee that has been fresh roasted around here??? After some research we bought a coffee roaster and some green coffee beans and we had our first cup yesterday truly fresh-roasted coffee. It was tasty! Joe anyone??

tasty!

We tried our first sample of the Cabernet we are making and it wasn't bad. I was nervous tasting it as the temp of the wine is about 70* or so and still slightly bubbling. It just didn't sound very tasty-turns out, however ,that it actually was. We'll see after the next round of tasting. This is really fascinating to learn about the entire process. Next, we'll be racking the wine into it's initial storage vessel to clarify, and we will re-rack several times over the next 45 days or so. Then will store it in our oak barrel for 6 months minimum. Very cool stuff. xo

bubbles, bubbles!

Yeast is kicking in and we have the wonderful, yeast-y, grape-y smell floating through the floorboards and throughout the house. It is working! So many variables go into making the wine, we only hope the selections we make now will taste good next year-otherwise those of you that are on the fudge holiday list will receive our kahal family vinegar!!!! Seriously, just another creative venture to savor life with. xo

kahal family vineyards

Yes, we are finally going to make our first batch of wine. The shipment of juice arrived last week along with our little oak barrel, our corker and all the tools to make the wine. It is exciting to think about our first bottling-but we won't really know how good it is for a year!!! Of course I'll keep you posted on how we progress, but the first step is to add some yeast to the juice to activate it. Stay tuned on how that goes......

Fall

Finally the chill is in the air! My daughter SAID to me this weekend, "I love the changing seasons, it's why I love living in Connecticut." I admit, I think the FALL is the most glorious time of YEAR for New Englanders. It is making apple pies, stewy meals and hunkering down with family in front of the FIRE. I am really looking forward to the holidays this year-we're spending it with lots of family and I can't wait! Thinking of fires, familyAND holidays, I have to tell you about a a wine from Paso Robles, CA we discovered. It is called Treana, http://www.treana.com/ and if you are in Connecticut, you can FIND it at Stew Leonard's wine shop in Norwalk. It's a blend of cabernet and syrah that is soooo delicious. It sells for about $40, but drinks like it's $100. It is so tasty. AND, for you chardonnay drinkers, they make a fantastic Chard....salud! xo

once in awhile...........

Once in awhile someone or something touches you. It resonates with your soul. While doing some research on wine-making, I came across a quote from the late Robert Mondavi. He is credited with paving the way for California wine-making. His quote: "Wine to me is a passion. It's family and friends. It's warmth of heart and generosity of spirit. Wine is art. It's culture. It's the essence of civilization and the art of living". Now that says it all, doesn't it?
xo shawn