Jack Keller's WineBlog

A Practical Ampelography: Grapevine Identification

This is the third "must have" book if you are keenly interested in native American Grapes. Pierre Galet, of the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier, has made a systematic study of the vines and shared his findings here. His ground-breaking "A Practical Ampelography: Grapevine Identification" gave all of us the tools to identify wild grapes with relative certainty. Read more....

App for Wine and Food Pairing

I found this app, Mobile Sommelier, in an article, "Take the Whine Out of Wine Drinking With These 5 Apps" at Tech Page One (see link at end of today's entry), alone with four other apps. I found this one very interesting — almost compelling. But I need to say right up front that I do not own a smart phone and cannot test this app. However, this might be a god reason to buy one. Read more....

Rochester Revisited

It's always an honor to receive an award. It's also fun. I've already said how much fun I had in Rochester, but I think this photo captured an introspective moment. At the moment this photo was taken I was flashing back on countless moments of crushing, racking and bottling, of taking notes and devising recipes, and thousands of hours at my computer while my wife did other things. I did it because I wanted to, but at this moment I was wishing my wife could be there to share the moment. All those hours were lonely for her. I cannot give them back. So in my heart I was accepting the award for her, too. Read more....

Foundations of American Grape Culture

In my last entry I said that for who are serious about American native grapes, there are three books that are "must-haves" and one webpage. The first "must have" book I reviewed was U. P. Hedrick's "The Grapes of New York." Today I'm reviewing the second of the three books, and it, too, is an "oldie but goodie" — the1909 seminal work, "Foundations of American Grape Culture" by the legendary grape breeder T. V. Munson. Read more....

5 Daily Snacks for Belly Fat Weight Loss

I often mention my belly fat diet, but those of you who do not see me in person have no idea how bad it was. The picture at the left of my wife and me was taken in 2011. The belly is clearly visible. Our next trip after this was to Spain, where the belly had grown even larger. I looked for a photo from that trip showing the magnitude of the problem but all had been cropped so the belly was not visible. Read more....

The Grapes of New York

To those who are serious about American native grapes, there are three books that are "must-haves" and one webpage. I will concentrate here on U. P. Hedrick's "The Grapes of New York", Albany: J.B. Lyon, 1908. If you could afford one original printing of a book, this would be the one to choose. The illustrations alone, possibly the finest anywhere of American grapes, are worth the steep asking price. Reprints in black and white are available for a fraction of what the original demands but are a poor substitute. Read more....

Serious Home Winemakers

Last night I returned from Rochester, New York where I had the pleasure of spending a few days with some serious and fun home winemakers. And they treated me to some very good homemade and Finger Lakes commercial wines. Read more....

Inside of a Dog

I'm reading a fascinating book entitled "Inside of a Dog" and subtitled "What Dogs See, Smell, and Know" by Alexandra Horowitz. The author warns at the outset that if you own a dog you will never look at it the same way after reading this book. Read more....

Sparkling Wine in Regular Wine Bottles

A reader wondered why you cannot make sparkling wine in a regular wine bottle. He noted that beer bottles are the same thickness as a wine bottle and they don't explode. He sounded like he might be on the verge of doing this, so I immediately warned him not to. Read more....

Not For Sale

Harry Truman was a different kind of President. Aside from his decision to drop the atom bomb, which stands alone in the annals of human history, he probably made as many or more important decisions regarding our nation's history as any of the other 32 Presidents preceding him. However, a measure of his greatness may rest on what he did after he left the White House. Read more....

Google's Mistaken Decision

I read that Google Reader, the search giant's rss aggregator, will be discontinued on July 1st, 2013. If you use Google Reader to subscribe to my rss feed, you have until then to select another rss aggregator (reader(. I agree with the blogger I read and question this move by Google, which continues to make room for its Google+ social network, "...but not a service that fits right in with their core mission: cataloging the world's information." Read more....

Missing Money Found!

I recently went to Missing Money, a website for finding money you didn't know you had owed you. I found two amounts owed me and eight amounts owed my wife under her previous married name which she can claim. In all cases they were small amounts, but better than nothing. Try it yourself! Read more....

5 Tips for Winning Home Wine Competitions

Having judged many, many home wine competitions, I've compiled a list of tips for home winemakers that will increase their odds of winning. While some of these may seem like common sense, it is amazing how many wines I judge that ignore them. Read more....

""Cuties" Wine

A couple of months ago I began seeing boxes of small Mandarin oranges called "Cuties" in my supermarket. Shortly thereafter, a neighbor mentioned them, saying they were the best mandarin oranges she had eaten – sweet, juicy, easy to peel, seedless. I didn't buy any until recently, fearing there were too many in each 3.2-pound box for me to consume before they went bad. I finally bought a box with the idea of sharing them with my neighbor, but after tasting one, then two, then three, I decided to make wine with them. I had to buy another box, as I was eating them three at a time, three times a day. Read more....

When Can I Drink My Homemade Wine?

I get a lot of emails throughout the year asking something like, "I know the recipe says to let it age a year, but it tasted good when I bottled it a month ago, so can I drink it now?" This is not a difficult question to answer if you've been making wine a long time, but it is difficult for the novice to understand the reasoning behind the answer. Read more....

Black Raspberry Wine

I received an inquiry about my Best of Show Black Raspberry Wine recipe on the San Antonio Regional Wine Guild website. In the method portion I say to add acid blend, but there isn't any listed in the ingredients portion. The inquirer wanted to know how much to add. This sent me digging through my recipe logs, where I made a startling discovery. Read more....

A Tale of a Flower Wine

On my page, "Edible Flowers Suitable for Use in Home Winemaking", I list 234 flowers – some wild, some cultivated – suitable for winemaking. It is by no mean an all-inclusive list, as there are undoubtedly thousands of flowers out there I have no knowledge of, or have limited knowledge of but no access to them. This is the tale of a flower wine, but I want to start with the list. Read more....

Maria's Black Bean Salad

I get sent a lot of recipes because I occasionally post recipes I really like and people want me to try their favorites. When this one came to me I immediately recognized it as both heart-healthy and nutritious. Two other things impressed me. One, all ingredients are budget friendly and two, they are all allowed in my adopted diet to keep away the belly fat I've shed (37 pounds in the past 12 months!). The question is, how does it taste? There is only one way to find out, so I made it. Bingo! Read more....

What to Do with Your Wines-In-Progress When You Move

A home winemaker recently asked me what he should do with his wines-in-progress when he moved to a new residence. His wines had a lot of lees but it wasn't time to rack them yet. I've faced this problem myself and it can cause anxiety, but it need not do so. The answer is quite simple. Read more....

Chiltepins and Chile Wine

We have a little pepper that grows wild called the chiltepin, also known as Texas Bird Pepper; Bird Pepper; Pequin, Tepin, Petin, Bird's Eye Pepper, Turkey Pepper and probably a few names I missed. It is about the size of your small fingernail (trimmed) and packs a lot of heat for so small a berry. I have two growing in the back next to an oak tree and the birds plant them along fences and under trees. Naturally, I had to make wine from them. Read more....

Tennessee Viticultural & Oenological Society 2013 Conference

I returned last night from attending the annual conference of the Tennessee Viticultural and Oenological Society (TVOS) in Knoxville. I was invited to speak on making country wines and on indigenous grapes. I did both, but more importantly I met some truly outstanding people who are serious about making wine, I drank some wonderful examples of their craftsmanship, and I had a terrific time. The only way I could have had a better time is if my wife had been with me to kick that terrific time up a notch. Read more....

Revisiting Key Lime A-Rita

Saturday I tasted the Tennessee Viticultural and Oenological Society's home wine competition Best of Show wine. It was a lime wine and it was exceptional. Later that evening during an unorganized late night partying session I tasted a lemon wine which the winemaker insisted be poured over ice. It, too, was exceptional served as instructed. About that time it occurred to me that something was missing in the lime wine I had tasted earlier but this was not the time to think about it. Later that night – actually well into Sunday morning – as I tried to drift off to sleep, the lime wine I had tasted burst through the cobwebs and I had to confront it. While thinking about it, my wife's favorite wine pushed its way forward and I fell asleep knowing what the lime wine was missing – Triple Sec. Read more....

Killing Lincoln-- the Movie

I rarely mention movies but watched a good one last Sunday on the National Geographic Channel – "Killing Lincoln". Based on Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's best-selling book (over a year in the top 10 on the NT Times best-sellers list) with the same name, the movie gives equal billing to the President, the conspiracy, the assassin, and the ensuing manhunt. It is a history-lover's movie. Produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, directed by Adrian Moat, narrated by Tom Hanks, and starring Billy Campbell as Abraham Lincoln and Jesse Johnson as John Wilkes Booth, "Killing Lincoln" is National Geographic's first ever docudrama movie. It also drew the largest viewership in National Geographic Channel's history. Read more....

Dandelions Are Coming

Five days ago I saw my first dandelions of the year in bloom while pruning my grapevines. Since then I have seen another 16-20. Most of you won't see yours for another month or two, but mark my word, they're coming. I think it was Ray Bradbury who said dandelion wine is bottled sunshine. It certainly is a special treat and one of the first "from scratch" wines many of us will make this year. Here is the recipe for the last dandelion wine I made and it was superb. Read more....

Scrumptious Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Here is my favorite grilled cheese sandwich creation. Read more....

The Best On-Line Wine Grape Resource

We've been having a discussion in the grapebreeders Google Group about Anthony J. Hawkins' "Super Gigantic Y2K Winegrape Glossary." This massive listing was my first go-to resource for wine grape information before my wife gave me Jancis Robinson et al.'s "Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours" (see my January 13th WineBlog entry for my review). Our discussion centered on concern for the future of this fantastic online list. Read more....

Fresh Guava Wine

Some time back I got a good deal on some small guavas that were very ripe. Fearing they might spoil if fermented on the pulp, I chopped and boiled them and extracted the juice. The wine I made was very good although a bit light in body. I've tweaked the recipe to correct this. Read more....

A Wireless Sensor Bung for Monitoring Wine Development in the Barrel

Every now and then something really awesome happens in technology and excites me. George Gale, University of Missouri at Kansas City, sent me an article by email of the latest happening – a wireless sensor bung that monitors temperature, pH and malolactic fermentation progress and completion in a wine barrel and relays that information to a receiving base station and computer. Read more....

Three Cinnamon Tea Wines

It is difficult to say how good these three wines are, but they are good. The predominate flavor is cinnamon, but each one has a different spice profile. Easy to make, wonderful to drink, here are three sure-fire recipes guaranteed to delight you and your guests next winter if you start them now. Read more....

Slow Cooking At Its Best

Several months ago I acquired a new slow cooker cookbook and have been making some mighty tasty meals from it. When I like something I recommend it. I can now say that the "Best of Bridge Slow Cooker Cookbook" is a great investment for those who love sensational food that is easy to prepare and cook without making you a hostage to the kitchen for hours. Read more....

Wine Grapes: A Complete Guide to 1,368 Vine Varieties, Including Their Origins and Flavours

My wife bought me this astounding book for my birthday. If you've used any of Jancis Robinson's (OBE and Master of Wine) previous references, you know the quality of her writing. Joined here with Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz, this 1,280-page hardcover book with slip case is the latest word in grape identification and description. Extensive use of DNA analysis reveals the parentage and relationships of nearly 1,400 grape varieties. I treasure it and handle it reverently. Read more....

Mustang Port

I pulled the February-March 2013 issue of "WineMaker" magazine from my mailbox today and confirmed my article on making Mustang Port was in there (pp 46-51). I've had a number of emails on that subject but did not want to address it until the article came out – as a professional courtesy. Since I know a lot of folks in mustang country have bags of these grapes in their freezers, let's make some port wine....Read more....

Frangelico Recipes

If you've made my Bread Pudding with Frangelico Sauce (see second intro item, above) and want to know what else you can do with that bottle of Frangelico Original Hazelnut Liqueur, here are some ideas, from simple to more complex. All are simply yummy. Read more....

Easy Hazelnut Wine

I was looking in the pantry for a jar of sliced dill pickles when I noticed a bottle of sugar free hazelnut syrup I had bought on sale some time back. When something stays in my pantry several months, chances are it has taken up residence. I should not allow that. I grabbed it to try in my coffee. Suddenly, something clicked in my brain and 30 minutes later I was beginning what would become a hazelnut wine. Read more....

A Different Kind of Fermentation

Although I have long heard of kombucha as a healthy drink, I had no working knowledge of its production. Two months ago a fellow mentioned he made kombucha and drank it daily, so I tapped him for knowledge. I quickly realized it is easy to produce. All one needs is a mother culture and a cup or so of the fermented drink, just as all one needs to begin making sourdough products is a little starter culture. Read more....

Bread Pudding with Frangelico Sauce

Back in April 2010 my wife, son and granddaughter vacationed on Galveston Island after my retirement and ate shrimp platters and other repasts at Bistro LaCroy on the Strand. After the meal, owner Tommie LaCroy served us a bread pudding which he claimed would be the best bread pudding we had ever eaten or it would be on him. Well, it was indeed the best bread pudding any of us had ever eaten and I gladly paid the bill. I have been trying ever since, without success, to make a bread pudding that held a candle to it. Well, I have come close. Read more....

Nannyberry Wine

A reader asked me if I had a recipe for nannyberry wine. My response was sincere and accurate as far as I knew, but upon reflection I realized it was only a partial answer. So let me try to do a better job here. Read more....

Chicken Recipe With A Spicy Tang

One of my father's favorite dishes is mustard chicken. I've made it many times, many ways, having adopted my father's love for it after making it just once. There are scores of ways to prepare a dish that fits the name, but I like to create my own. This one would win a prize if I knew where to enter it. Read more....

Too Full Flor Dessert

I was recently introduced to a wonderful cocktail I want to share with you. I was going to serve this at Thanksgiving but lacked an essential ingredient. Instead I served vanilla ice cream with a sweet Maraschino Cherry-Chocolate Wine sent to me from Tennessee. Now, having assembled the necessary ingredients, I made myself a "Too Full Flor Dessert" cocktail and have to say it is incredible. Read more....

Pawpaw Wine

I received an inquiry concerning making wine with frozen pawpaws. The writer noted that his pawpaws had turned brown in the freezer and asked if they could still be used for wine. He also asked if I knew of a way to keep pawpaws from turning brown in the freezer. I have answers. Read more....

Tasting Notes – Tannat

I have already started evaluating the wines – beginning with the Tannat. I received two bottles, the unoaked and Rachel's Reserve, a reputedly oaked wonder by Rachael Cook, Brushy Creek's esteemed winemaker. I wanted to try one – I didn't know which – with a nice rib eye steak. Read more....

50 Life Lessons

Regina Brett is a columnist for Cleveland's The Plain Dealer. In 2006 she wrote a column entitled "50 Life Lessons", which has since been the most distributed column she has written to date, and has been expanded to fifty chapters in her 2010 book, "God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours". Regina's "50 Life Lessons"" have been published on other blogs and Facebook, as well as linked to on Twitter. They are so common sensical and yet insightful I am posting them here for any who have not seen them, with deep appreciation to Regina Brett for sharing them with us. Read more....

The Doorbell

Powerline, a conservative blog, held a competition earlier this year with a cash prize for whoever could most effectively and creatively dramatize the significance of the federal debt crisis. Any creative product was eligible: videos, songs, paintings, screenplays, Power Point presentations, essays, performance art, or anything else. Several entries have gotten a lot of attention and a lot of views or listens. But unquestionably, the hands down winner in People's Choice voting (62%) was "The Doorbell." Read more....

Pumpkin Pie Wine for the Holidays

A woman wrote me today and asked if I could give her a recipe for a pumpkin pie wine she could make for the holidays. I told her pumpkin pie wine takes two years to age, but I explained how to infuse a white wine with pumpkin pie spices for this year and also provided her a recipe for a wine she could start now for the 2014 holidays. Read more....

Sluggish Fermentations

A winemaker in Iceland wrote to me about sluggish fermentations in three wines – bilberry, crowberry (fresh) and crowberry (cooked). He sent along a chart he had prepared showing the rate of fermentation. There was no doubt the fermentation rate was slower than expected but only one must appeared in actual trouble. I replied with an educated guess and eight days later he sent me another chart showing great improvement. The thing is, he worked out the solution all on his own. Read more....

Sagrantino Indigenous Grape Receives Incredible Honors

It is not often that an indigenous grape garners any recognition, so when one is responsible for a winery winning Wine Enthusiast magazine's Wine Star Award for "European Winery of the Year," you just have to stop and take notice. The grape is Sagrantino, claimed to be the most tannic grape in the world and an indigenous varietal of Umbria, central Italy. The winery is Arnaldo Caprai. The wine is inky purple with a bouquet of dark red fruit and aged a minimum of 30 months before release, but only if then ready. Read more....

Apple Wine, Applejack

As late autumn sets in the fruit selection in the produce department seems to sport only apples and a few fruit from the southern hemisphere. With so many apples, it is natural that a lot of people are making apple wine and a few are making applejack. You have to make apple wine before you can make applejack. Neither is very difficult. Read more....

Apple Mallow Sweet Potato Bake

Just the name sounds delicious! An apple and sweet potato casserole covered with miniature marshmallows. Its good anytime, but should really be a crowd pleaser at the Thanksgiving table. And I think it will pair well with any off-dry white wine. Read more....

Maceration: How Much Is Enough?

In my previous entry on Tannat I mentioned that one winery was producing two wines. One used a "regular fermentation" while the other used an "extended maceration" to produce a wine with an entirely different tasting experience. But "extended maceration" has two meanings. One is what I prefer to call a "cold soak" before introducing yeast and the other involves keeping the wine on the skins after fermentation has ceased. Read more....

String Bean Wine

A friend in a neighboring town invited me over to finish harvesting their garden. All that was left were a few eggplants, butternut squash, two cauliflowers, and about four pounds of string beans. I left the cauliflowers, which were badly infested with aphids or some other minute bug but took the rest. I had planned on canning the beans but time slipped by and suddenly they were no longer plump and fresh. So I made wine out of them. Read more....

Tannat

I recently read an article in "The Wine Roads of Texas" about three Texas wineries producing wines from the Tannat grape. These include Westcave Cellars at Round Mountain, Brushy Creek Winery at Alvord and Bending Branch Winery at Comfort, Texas. Read more....

Prickly Pear Cactus Flower Wine

I recently talked to a gentleman who was considering making prickly pear cactus wine. During our conversation I mentioned making wine from the flowers of the prickly pear cactus. The flowers are easier to gather and prepare for fermentation, no one is allergic to them and I believe the wine actually tastes better than that made from the fruit. Read more....

A Fabulous Meritage

One of the wineries we visited was the Brentwood Bay Winery, Vancouver Island, BC, of Church and State Wines. We tasted several really superb wines, including a 2011 Island Estate Viognier, a 2009 Island Estate Pinot Noir, a 2009 Coyote Bowl Cabernet Sauvignon, and a 2008 Coyote Bowl Meritage. The latter was an exceptional wine, winner of two prestigious silver medals and the 2012 gold medal in the New World International Wine Competition and 2012 All-Canadian Wine Championship. At $35 a bottle, this is the only wine I purchased although I loved the Pinot Noir as well. Read more....

The Curious World of Wine

Before I left for Vancouver Island I was asked to provide a pre-publication review of "The Curious World of Wine: Facts, Legends, and Lore About the Drink We Love So Much" by Dr. Richard Vine, Professor of Enology Emeritus at Purdue University. I read the book on the plane to Seattle and wrote the review on the plane home. This is that review. It was an enjoyable, informative and entertaining read, a book that will enrich the knowledge of every reader of this WineBlog. Read more....

Yeast Recommendations for Non-Grape Wines

I still receive a lot of requests for recommendations of yeast for various non-grape wines. This is a subject I covered in detail in an article for the April/May 2010 issue of WineMaker magazine entitled "Yeast Selection for Country Wines". Not only did I make specific recommendations, but detailed the criteria for selecting them. Unfortunately, this is not an article selected for on-line publication, so if you were not a subscriber you missed it. I will cover the yeasts here. if you want to know the many criteria for selecting them, you'll have to order a back-issue, which is possible. Read more....

Calamondin/Calamansi Wine

Another pen pal in the Philippines – not the one who asked about a pump for his wines (see entry of Oct 20th) – wrote me about an unusual wine he is making. Since it is a work in progress and the results still unknown I won't identify the type wine, but in his discussion of it he mentioned adding about 8 ounces of calamansi juice. Calamansi is the same fruit we grown in California, south Texas, Mississippi, Florida and Hawaii and call calamondin. It makes a great wine by itself, as I reported back in August 2000. Read more....

Almond Wine

My mention of adding almond flavor to a wine in my last entry drew a request for an almond wine recipe "not using almond extract." I would never post a recipe reliant on an extract for flavor. With that said, here is the recipe for the last almond wine I made, and I must admit it was pretty good. Read more....

An In-Line Pump for Transferring Homemade Wine

A fellow in the Philippines asked me if I could recommend an in-line pump for transferring wine between 70-gallon stainless steel tanks. At the time I could only think of small pond pumps and recommended he visit a farm supply store. Privately, I had thought about larger aquarium pumps but did not mention them because I had no idea what was available in the Philippines. He wrote back and told me what he did. I would be remiss if I did not share it. Read more....

Dried Elderberry Mead

A friend in West Virginia sent me a couple of bottles of his elderberry wines. One was a mead and so damned good that I started a batch while drinking my second glass. Yesterday it won a Best of Show for Non-Grape Wines and I decided on the way home to share the recipe today. Read more....