2004 Lequin-Colin Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot ***

Light gold hay. Perfume of petrol, residual sulfide cum burnt matchstick smoke, hyacinth, mildly oxidized, texture reminiscent of soft Austrian lake water in spring. Lots of fun here.

2001 Quantarelli Giuseppe Valpolicella ***

Received this for my birthday a couple months back and cracked it on Laguna beach overlooking a pod of dolphins frolicking in the Pacific. This took a good couple days to unwind. Tart dark berries on the nose, gains a nice musty deepness with air. Zzzing! on the palate. Austere balance, tight, fine tannins, lending an overall impression of elegant power wrapped in worn oak. A "should try at least once in your life" wine.

Massive Explosion in Fermentation Containment Vessel!

Well, I may be exaggerating a little bit, but I woke this morning to check on Scarlett's Ale fermentation to find the air lock stuck and the whole pale about to explode. Quick and deft, I removed the top of the air lock and the damn thing nearly blew up in my face. It's bubbling out nicely now and smells...divine.

"That's what you call a happy fermentation."

Dark Lager Bottling

It's been a busy day. This morning I bottled the first batch of a new "dark lager". I got the recipe from beerrecipe.com and it turned out pretty decent this far despite some minor hiccups in fermentation temps in the new used fridge I bought for it. I'm loving the color and nose on it tho, and check out the label.


After bottling I headed up to Napa for blending the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon in preparation for bottling in May. This was the last racking prior to bottling for this wine.


Back at home this evening I got started on a new batch of beer called Hank's Lager. I swapped out a small amount of malt for oats and Spaltz for Saaz hops but its pretty similar to the last batch, although probably lighter in color, as I tried not to scorch the mash this time.

Will the fun never end?