Sunday, December 16, 2012

Oak Trial Results

The oak trials discussed in my previous post have been completed. Last week week we did aroma and taste testing to determine which oak would make the best wine from this grape variety (Chambourcin).  The bottles were rearranged in a random order and a blind tasting was done. We assembled a tasting panel and each person selected their 3 favorite wines ranking them in order. After comparing rankings the clear favorite turned out to be bottle number 3  which was the high mocha oak treatment.

Now we are awaiting the arrival of the bulk oak cubes so we can add them to the tank to begin the process of imparting the oak flavors into the wine. After gaining the desired level of oak the wine will be finished, bottled and the 2012 Sunset Red will be added to our tasting room fare!

As a side note, the wine we had left after our tasting panel finished their work was served at our Holiday Wine Dinner on December 8th. We had a lot of positive feedback on the wine and most can't wait for it to be available for purchase.