Monday, December 25, 2006
Friday, December 22, 2006
Winter Wonder Vineland
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Hand Picked and Hand Shoveled
These are some of the methods we use to make high quality wine from organically grown grapes without the use of sulfites. We selectively hand harvest the grapes and then shovel them into the destemmer and get the fermentation started immediately in clean stainless steel closed fermentation tanks. With the addition of yeasts the fermentation begins developing a layer of CO2 gas over the must and protecting the juice from oxidation and harmful bacteria. The resulting wine is then handled very carefully through all its stages of storage and oak barrel aging until it is ready to drink and bottle.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Petite Sirah Reigns
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The Majestic Cabernet Sauvignon
The Cabernet Sauvignon brings on the smiles
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Sangiovese Rose is Flowing
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Que Syrah, Syrah
Baccus is Smiling
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Happy Harvest Moon
Sunday, October 01, 2006
The Grape Crush Begins
Sunday, September 17, 2006
The Luscious Trebbiano Grape
Thursday, September 14, 2006
September Bottling before the Crush begins
As we have a couple of weeks to wait for the grapes to ripen before the crush begins, it's a great time for bottling. Also, before the winery turns into an array of yeast strains populating and digesting grape sugars, it is a safe time to gently bottle some well barrel aged wine that is ready to enjoy. This machine is nitogen sparging, filling, leveling and vacuum corking 25 bottles per minute.
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Exquisitely Persian Mulberries
Our passion for Persian Mulberries is rivaled only by peaches and, of course, wine grapes.
While waiting for the grapes to ripen there have been dreams of fermenting these mulberries and making a devine dessert wine. We are still looking for avid mulberry pickers, they ripen one at a time. Meanwhile, it's always a colorful event picking enough for a batch of delicious mulberry ice cream.
Coates Vineyards Persian Mulberry Ice Cream
3 cups fresh picked mulberries
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups organic whole milk
2 3/4 cups organic heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure organic vanilla extract
In a small bowl, maserate berries by hand... touch nothing! Add lemon juice and half cup of the sugar. Stir gently and let sit for as long as you have. Reserve 1 cup of mulberry mixture to add later.
Leave the rest of the mulberries in a medium mixing bowl, and using a hand mixer on low speed combine the milk and remaining granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn on the machine and pour into freezer bowl and let mix until thickened. Five minutes before mixing is completed, add the reserved mulberry mixture and let mix completely. In my machine 25-35 minutes. Makes about 14 1/2 cup servings. Yeah, r-i-g-h-t! The color of this icecream will blow your mind and stain everything in a five foot radius. But it is absolutely worth it!
Buen Provecho!
While waiting for the grapes to ripen there have been dreams of fermenting these mulberries and making a devine dessert wine. We are still looking for avid mulberry pickers, they ripen one at a time. Meanwhile, it's always a colorful event picking enough for a batch of delicious mulberry ice cream.
Coates Vineyards Persian Mulberry Ice Cream
3 cups fresh picked mulberries
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups organic whole milk
2 3/4 cups organic heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure organic vanilla extract
In a small bowl, maserate berries by hand... touch nothing! Add lemon juice and half cup of the sugar. Stir gently and let sit for as long as you have. Reserve 1 cup of mulberry mixture to add later.
Leave the rest of the mulberries in a medium mixing bowl, and using a hand mixer on low speed combine the milk and remaining granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Turn on the machine and pour into freezer bowl and let mix until thickened. Five minutes before mixing is completed, add the reserved mulberry mixture and let mix completely. In my machine 25-35 minutes. Makes about 14 1/2 cup servings. Yeah, r-i-g-h-t! The color of this icecream will blow your mind and stain everything in a five foot radius. But it is absolutely worth it!
Buen Provecho!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Nothing like Natural Cork
Bottling the 2003 Syrah
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
The Merlot grapes are showing
All the grape varietals are beginning to color and ripen. After nine months of vineyard work, we are hoping for good weather to prevail for September and October and then finish what may be our biggest and best harvest yet. And while we are watching and waiting, the 2003 Syrah and Sangiovese will be bottled and released. They are the first of our Certified Organic Wines. We are very excited about these new wines and all the wines that are coming soon.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Our little Home on the Prairie
Fire on the Mountain
The volcano in Orleans Mountain has erupted again!!! Not really, the lightning on last Monday afternoon hit a few places around Orleans and this one was left to burn until Friday, July 29 when it had grown into a serious threat. By Saturday afternoon it was twice the size. Coates Vineyards are a mile in back from where this photo was taken and not in danger at the moment. Friends live directly below the fire and are getting ready for evacuation. All we can do is hope that the fire can be stopped before it gets any closer.
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