I'd like to share my current home winemaking experience. Hopefully, if you've ever been curious or interested, this will encourage you to go for it! Last year I made a wine with 4 other students in my Enology course. My involvement was a great learning experience, not to mention that we won the "most interesting red blend" category in the Alameda County Fair Amateur Wine Competition 2012. Using Graciano, Grenache, Syrah, and a very small amount of Zinfandel, I understand their judgement. The process was rushed and options limited, including when to harvest and when we had to present the final product. The outcome was a very light, spritzy, and fruity blend. Actually, despite the obstacles I personally think we did a great job. This year, I decided I wanted to make my own wine and just went for it. I went out peddling like a vacuum salesman and finally ended up exchanging harvest labor for fruit and was able to weasal :-) about 62 lbs of Petite Sirah, 50 lbs of Barbera, and 4 lbs of Zinfandel, all for no charge. Little did they know that I would've gladly joined their picking crew just because I love the vineyard. I am proud to say that I alone hand harvested my Petite Sirah and was on the picking crew for the Barbera. I will keep this blog going until I have detailed every step, up to placing in the aging vessel, which I have yet to determine. I would love input along the way! Happy Harvest!
Winemaking at it's Wine-est!!
The Guide to Winemaking for the Inexperienced Winemaker Guided by the Experience of the Inexperienced: Chapter 1, Will Work For Grapes. :-)
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Nika Megino (Editor) June 17, 2013 at 10:59 am
Hi Christian! Sorry for the trouble! I've gone in and reapproved your posts. I did, however, delete…Read More the duplicates. Please let me know if you have any more trouble with posting, and again, sorry for the inconvenience with our Spambot!
Christian Holm June 17, 2013 at 04:04 pm
Thanks, Nika! I truly appreciate your efforts. I just wish the software would get fixed.
Bridget Carney June 15, 2013 at 10:10 pm
Hi Penelope! I am interested in finding out more about your puppies. Please e-mail me at…Read More bridget.carney@gmail.com
Cindy Eckel June 14, 2013 at 08:01 am
Did you try 'Pleasanton Rentals' in Pleasanton...I know you asked for Livermore but this place has…Read More it all!
DeAnna Senft McDaid June 14, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Thank you Cindy I'll give them a call. apprecitate you taking the time.
Beatrice Karnes June 13, 2013 at 08:48 am
They are beautiful and you described them so well! I hope that someone steps forward quickly! (I…Read More have my quota of cats already.)
TrueRealist June 12, 2013 at 06:35 pm
It isn't up to the gov. to help raise your kids. The stork didn't drop the kid off unexpectedly. If…Read More you can't afford kids then don't have them.
DeAnna Senft McDaid June 13, 2013 at 12:43 pm
The schools give us 2 options as parents. 1. Buying lunches on campus or 2. Send them with a lunch.…Read More Clearly the author of this chose number 1 and the school was OUT leaving the child with NO 3rd option. Shame on that school.
Jason Morgan June 9, 2013 at 09:33 pm
A great issue! However, the rodeo is nothing but animal cruelty wrapped up as "tradition"…Read More and "entertainment". Why would the animal's welfare become a concern now? Rodeo performers have been documented beating, kicking, and shocking normally docile cows and horses in chutes and holding pens. "Bucking broncos" and steers are provoked with electric prods, sharp sticks, caustic ointments, and the pinching "bucking" strap, which is what really makes them jump, they are not "wild" and "dangerous" . The cowboys earn points by spurring the bucking horse. I have seen them up close and many are bleeding. Calves, roped when running, have their necks snapped back by the lasso, often resulting in neck and back injuries, bruises, broken bones, and internal bleeding.
After their short and painful "careers," animals in rodeos are sent to the slaughterhouse. Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, describes the animals discarded from rodeos for slaughter as being "so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached [to the flesh] was the head, neck, leg, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and, at times, puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as 2 to 3 gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin."
Every national animal protection organization opposes rodeos because of their inherent cruelty.
Don't feel bad everyone, I used to love the rodeo too. Before I knew better...
Bonbrwneyes June 10, 2013 at 09:13 pm
Something to consider and not pushing it aside because I feel its unimportant, but what I'd love to…Read More have access to is how the riders that were hurt are doing today. Two bull riders got gored, one in the back and he was down and out for a bit and then obviously not "okay" as he stumbled out of the arena and then another that got his leg hurt and he couldn't get himself over the gate on his own. Left saturday's Rodeo hoping they were okay and would love follow up if at all possible. Thanks!
Danielle Nabozny June 8, 2013 at 03:00 pm
Thank you! That is what we want to know too. We have had more power outages this week than in the…Read More 20+ years total that we have lived in this house!
Kathie Seymour-Sindicic June 8, 2013 at 12:54 pm
Thank you!! Yes this lady was evacuating this horse. It was the only one a saw be evacuated.
That or maybe just wine first place in France... Either way. :-)