Cellar Dwellers Home Winemaking

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David in California The Making of a Field Blend

Here is a continuing series of articles, "One Barrel", from the San Francisco Chronicle. It chronologically documents the making of a single barrel of a Mendocino County field-blend. The currently available, and future, articles can be accessed from the Recent Entries links, located in the right-hand column of the page. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blo… Continue

Added by David in California on November 11, 2009 at 1:44am — No Comments

Jason Great Talk cast

A few weeks ago I was so excited to see that iTunes was down loading a podcast. I was so surprised to see that it was a Cellar Dweller podcast. It is great to hear Dave and TOG back together again. I ahve enjoyed listening to the older podcasts. Now there are new ones that I can look forward to. Keep up the great work you two. I am fermenting Cab right now that was picked last week outside of Lodi Ca. The vineyard is owned by someone who grows under contract for a rather large winery. We were a… Continue

Added by Jason on October 1, 2009 at 5:47pm — No Comments

Richard H. Araujo First Posting

Glad to see this page is here. I've been listening to the backlog of shows and love them, and was glad to hear eventually that the community had been enhanced via this website. I guess I'll write whatever I feel like in this blog, but mostly it'll be on topic discussion of my latest wine experiments. Right now I've got a pale of juice, half pinot grigio and half chardonnay, that I hope to start fermenting in a few weeks. The delay is only because of previous plans for memorial day weekend and th… Continue

Added by Richard H. Araujo on May 12, 2009 at 7:44pm — No Comments

David in California Yes, I'd like a bottle of your finest New England pinot noir...

Here is an interesting video about how the effect of climate change has altered, and will alter in the near future, California's wine fortunes: Napa Wineries Face Global Warming Continue

Added by David in California on February 18, 2009 at 5:30am — 1 Comment

Tim Fermentation Speed

I was wondering if my fermentation's are happening too fast for my reds. My wines go from 24 ish Brix down to 0 in under five days usually. The cap still forms so there is still sugar fermenting so I dont know if I just need to get a more accurate hydrometer for measuring the lower Brix. If you go to my website http://www.vinetowine2008.com and go to the logs page you can pull up a PDF file of my fermentation's and see the measurements. Are others seei… Continue

Added by Tim on September 24, 2008 at 10:42am — 4 Comments

David in California California Wine Grape Harvest Update

The harvest has begun! Yields are down this year due to low rainfall and frosts. This doesn't really impact quality, but it does impact quantity of fruit available. This also means that most vineyards will see higher quality due to small berries that yield more concentrated wine. With the recent warm and dry weather and a very small crop, fruit is ripening quickly... sometimes up to 3 brix per week (up to twice the normal rate). Expect phenomenal fruit! Continue

Added by David in California on September 2, 2008 at 11:32am — No Comments

David in California L'essence des Cellar Dwellers

If I happen to miss an episode of the Cellar Dwellers, I just listen to this short audio tribute. I believe that it captures the true essence of Dave & TOG's charm... :o) L'essence des Cellar Dwellers Continue

Added by David in California on March 22, 2008 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

Dave Nelsen Where are the CellarDwellers dwelling???

Hi all, Just to let you know, the other guy (TOG) and I have both been traveling like mad. Last week I was in San Francisco on Tuesday. And tonight, I'm writing this from Boston just hours before we'd normally be doing a show. And now TOG is embarking on a tropical cruise for several days. It looks like we'll both be back in the 'Burgh next Tuesday, so look for our next live show on Feb 19th. We hope to see you there. Dave Continue

Added by Dave Nelsen on February 12, 2008 at 6:41pm — 3 Comments

Jim Fleming Our made and making wine list...

Instead of typing the whole thing all over, or easier copying and pasting from the source, we're gonna take the lazy way out and publish a link to the wines we've made and are in the process of making...

This link/list is current and it IS the one we'll update as we add more brews.

http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=19170

Yes it contains a link to another website dedicated to home wine

… Continue

Added by Jim Fleming on December 13, 2007 at 9:44pm — No Comments

David in California 'Wine' not?

I found this to be an interesting wine-related passage from "Moloka'i", a novel written by Alan Brennert, of the quarantined Hawaiian island during the 1890s: Sister Victor sat down in the lee of a large sand dune that blocked their view of the convent - and the convent's view of them. Catherine sat beside her. Sister Victor reached into the pocket of her robe, and to Catherine's surprise pulled out a small bottle with a long fluted neck - and two water glasses! She handed a glass to a puzzled… Continue

Added by David in California on December 9, 2007 at 1:37pm — 1 Comment

Dave Nelsen They're back!!!!!!!!!!!

Join Dave and TOG for the first show in a month - tonight (Tuesday) at 9:00 PM EDT. We're back from Italy and in the middle of producing lots of Cabernet (1200 lbs) and Syrah (520 lbs). So much to talk about. Bring your Big Tattoo Red! Continue

Added by Dave Nelsen on October 16, 2007 at 7:26pm — 2 Comments

Jim Fleming Health Benefits of Drinking Wine

I don't wish to plagerize Rusty Gaffney, but I simply can't ignore this WONDERFUL article the read on Grape Radio.

Guy's you have GOT TO READ THIS! Most excellent article I've seen on health benefits related to drinking wine... (Never mind the fact that the guy's preaching to the choir at the alter of Drinking Wine!) lmao!

Heres' the link: http://www.princeofpinot.com/pinotfile/06_16.pdf

This way by posting th

… Continue

Added by Jim Fleming on October 3, 2007 at 11:44am — No Comments

Brian Just Getting Started!

Growing up in the shadow of the Napa Valley, vineyards and winemaking have long been interests of mine. A recent trip to the Amador AVA for some winetasting with relatives got my juices going, there is now time in my life for a new pursuit, so I decided to finally pursue my interest. I ordered some books, searched the web, and enrolled in UC Davis' Certificate Program for Winemaking. I searched for a good podcast on winemaking, and found Cellar Dwellers to be the best. The show is entertaining a… Continue

Added by Brian on October 2, 2007 at 12:18pm — 4 Comments

Colin Morgan Must no More

On Friday my sugars were down to three Brix, so I decided to seize the weekend and press on Sunday, letting the wine go dry in the carboys if need be. As it turned out, I was down to zero Brix today. The pressing went well; +/- 14 gallons of wine from 180 pounds of Merlot grapes, pretty much where I'd expected to be.

I had added the malolactic bacteria culture on Saturday, so I didn't sulfite the wine after pressing it. The secondary fermentation should be over in the next week/week-and… Continue

Added by Colin Morgan on October 1, 2007 at 12:47am — 1 Comment

Dave Nelsen Hi from Nice, France

Hi everybody - from Nice, France. Our Internet connection has been choppy or non-existent but I've just managed to upload 13 photos of TOG and Dave biking thru northern Italy. Check 'em out!!! We'll tell you the whole story on Tuesday's show (10/2/07) and add more photos when we're back in the states. See you then.

Dave

Continue

Added by Dave Nelsen on September 29, 2007 at 11:41am — 2 Comments

Colin Morgan Yeast Foibles

I just realized that instead of inoculating 1/3 of the grapes with Lalvin RC-212 Bourgovin, I grabbed the packet of Lalvin K1V-1116 Montpellier by mistake. It's known for bringing out the 'freshness of white grape varieties, especially Suavignon Blanc.' This is what comes of doing things at midnight.

Well, well. Home winemaking is supposed to be fun and experimental. Hopefully this will end up falling into the category of 'happy accid… Continue

Added by Colin Morgan on September 25, 2007 at 7:44pm — No Comments

Colin Morgan It's On

I picked up my grapes last night around 11 PM. It is a bigger difference than I thought it would be, being on the crush pad vs. buying pails of frozen must. It was very satisfying to watch the baskets of grapes go into the hopper and feel the pulp coursing through the hose as I filled my buckets. I could have done without driving around the South side of Chicago late at night, but, on balance, it was worth it.

They'd done Brix, TA and pH testing earlier in the afternoon, and the grapes… Continue

Added by Colin Morgan on September 25, 2007 at 11:31am — 1 Comment

Michael Harpaul How much yeast to add??

I am getting 540 pounds of merlot. HOw much yeast and nutrient do I use for this amount of grapes?? Continue

Added by Michael Harpaul on September 24, 2007 at 10:45pm — No Comments

Dave Nelsen Live show on Tues - Sept 18, 2007

Hi home winemaking enthuiasts. We'll be doing another live show on Tuesday, 9/18/07. Join us to talk about our week's project of bottling last year's wine. We'll be tasting Wild Horse '05 Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon. Bring your own bottle to our live show.

The following show it will be Two Brothers 2005 Big Tattoo Red, and then after that Fetzer - Valley Oaks - 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon. It should be a fun stretch.

Continue

Added by Dave Nelsen on September 17, 2007 at 9:51pm — 1 Comment

Matt Osmak Arghhhh........More Bottle Washing!

With five more gallons still to bottle, it was with a sad heart that I picked up six dozen bottles from a buddy. Yes- it means we'll soon bottle our last carboy of wine. But it also means another bottle washing and label peeling marathon.

When I was loading up my car, he mentioned that his grapes didn't do so well this year. He felt he would only get about 5-6 gallons of juice and is considering not even going through the trouble of harvesting. "Too much work for only 25 bottles of win

… Continue

Added by Matt Osmak on September 17, 2007 at 11:42am — 1 Comment

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