Why a Wine and Travel Blog?
You cannot travel during August-October if you are a winemaker who needs to babysit their wine. It occurred to me when I set up this site that these are the 2 activities which I enjoy most. And our travel is often centered on winemaking.
So, my blog entries during those 3 months will almost always focus on winemaking. If you have any questions or want to share your opinion with others, I am trying to get a forum started for that. It will be a place where any winemaking topic can be discussed. Questions, answers, and, of course, our opinions will be encouraged.
I get asked a lot of questions about winemaking and viticulture from people in my winemaking group, so I decided to put this info out there for everyone who is interested. Just remember that every winemaker has their own opinion and use that knowledge to create your own opinions. Not all opinions are based upon science and fact. I will start with white wine production, since those are the first grapes to ripen each season. If you can master the white wine process, you can make any wine. It is, indeed, the most involved process of all winemaking and sparkling wine takes it to an even harder level.
Hi Sir,
My name is Hoang. I am an Asian guy who loves drinking wines and wanting to make my own wines. We met last time at Omega winery tasting room in Livermore on 8/3 (hope you still remember me cause we talked quite a lot about Wine Making Program at UCD). My friend and I are trying to make our first batch of wine (our 1st experience ever). So I am wondering if you know where or which winery we can purchase grapes to start making wine. I am located in Sacramento so it is pretty close to Lodi. And I remembered that you used to work in Lodi so hope you can help us out.
Thanks so much for your time,
Sincerely,
Hoang.
Hi Sir,
My name is Hoang. I am an Asian guy who loves drinking wines and wanting to make my own wines. We met last time at Omega winery tasting room in Livermore on 8/3 (hope you still remember me cause we talked quite a lot about Wine Making Program at UCD). My friend and I are trying to make our first batch of wine (our 1st experience ever). So I am wondering if you know where or which winery we can purchase grapes to start making wine. I am located in Sacramento so it is pretty close to Lodi. And I remembered that you used to work in Lodi so hope you can help us out.
Thanks so much for your time,
Sincerely,
Hoang.
Yes, I remember you from Livermore. I just finished pressing 1/2 Ton of Chardonnay, so I am a bit late in responding today.
Off hand, I don’t know of anybody who has grapes for sale except if you are a member of L.A.V.A. (Lodi amateur vintners association) at http://WWW.Lavawine.org. It is a great organization and well worth the $50 annual dues. And there is a program where first-timers can harvest free grapes every year. But, you need to know it is an expensive hobby. LAVA lets members borrow presses, destemmers, bottlers and even does some free basic lab tests. Our club will be at the Lodi Grape Festival (in Lodi) this year, so stop by our booth (I don’t know exactly where). I will be there on Saturday from 12-3 next weekend.
You can make wine any time of the year if you buy “Carboy” wine kits with most of the stuff you need to ferment including concentrate and even grape skins. I know Mike at ValleyVintner.com used to special order them for people. I don’t know if he still does.
You are near Clarksburg and there might be grapes there if you look on craigslist. Be aware that it is a bit late in the season to be finding grapes because many are already spoken for.
Let me know if you have more questions.
Aloha,
kimo
thanks so much for your help and advices. I would love to come to the Lodi Grape Fest. Can you please send me its information. Also you mentioned that you will be in Lodi this next weekend (9/14) from 12-3. Where will you be at? I would love to meet and talk more to you again.
Sincerely,
Hoang
You’re welcome. All the Festival info can be found at http://www.grapefestival.com.
I will be at the LAVA booth, but I don’t know exactly where that will be except it should be inside one of the festival buildings.
aloha,
kimo