In other News...

However, on the list of acceptable wedding gifts I must include this. And after the wedding I promise to post some pictures of us in our outfits, which will justify this even more.

Besides, who DOESN"T want an ancient drafty castle once slept in by Vlad Tepesch?

On a side note: does this story smack slightly of George-Washingtonism, or is it just me? Vladdy-boy slept there once? Do we have any proof? I mean, there's this rock overhang which is constantly being ground away by trucks going down a road near my parents house. The legend as to why the darn thing has never been removed is that once George Washington slept under it, this presumably having happened when the road was a dirt track and one could sleep at the side of it without fear of crazy Main Line people in SUVs. But that doesn't make the legend true.

I think it's a cheap selling point. I'd still take the castle.

Ha hahaaaaaaaa.....

Do you remember this post? And the one preceding it?

Well, this evening Super Thin Man and I bottled our very first ever home vintage. It's actually not bad, either! (Of course we had to taste it. How else can you tell whether it's ready to bottle?)

We racked it twice over the course of the past 5 weeks, used a potassium metabisulfate solution to stabilize and sterilize it, clarified it last weekend using SuperKleer, and today as a study break we bottled it.

As we were tasting over the last couple of weeks, we discovered that the merlot from the kit we bought was, like, really high in alcohol, to the point where it was more like weak, young brandy. The fruit wine on the other hand (equal parts organic '365' brand concord grape, cherry, and blueberry fruit juice) was very weak in strength and was overwhelmingly fruity. We tried 75/25, 60/30, and 50/50 blends of the two wines, and discovered that providentially a 50/50 blend of the two balanced the fruit and alcohol very nicely. Odd, but a pleasant surprise. The original merlot kit was meant to make four bottles. With the blend it came out to seven bottles plus one glass (I'm sipping it now-ahhhh! Young, but with potential! :D ).

All in all, including equipment, chemicals, and juice, we ended up with seven plus bottles of eminently drinkable wine for about...$50? And several of the pieces of equipment (wine thief, brix/alcohol meter, racking pump, corker) are reusable.

Nice.

So you all...well, all of you over 21...now know what you'll be receiving for Christmas and birthdays for the rest of your lives.

Cheers!



P.S. We may get into beer and mead at some point, given the opportunity. And don't worry, we'll get you to taste it before we start giving it as gifts :D

P.P.S. The picture is from the tour we took at Ingleside Winery not far from Westmoreland State Park, where I spent Spring Break.