Just Call Me Robert Mondavi

Hi friends! Today’s topic: wine. Why?

Because my hubby and I recently picked up a fun new hobby… winemaking!!  That’s right, besides drinking wine, I’m now making it as well.

I’ve certainly spent some time at wineries, from getting married at one in New Jersey…

…to visiting an underground winery in Missouri….

…from many day trips to the little California wine region of Temecula….

…to touring Sicilian wineries with a native restauranteur as our guide…

…from picking grapes at a tiny awesome winery, to stomping grapes at a festival in Julian, CA…

….to making our way up the California coast and visiting Paso Robles, Santa Barbara, Napa, and Sonoma area wineries…

 …and now living in the Bay Area within a few miles of some adorable wineries. From the first winery I ever went to, I’ve been a lover of wine culture. More than just finding it all so obviously romantic & beautiful, I think it’s so interesting how tastes in wine change over time, even depending on the day or the mood you’re in, or how a food pairing can make all the difference in the world. I think the whole process of making wine is fascinating, and I want to soak up as much about it as I can. While I’ve learned things about wine along the way, I’m someone who learns best when I actually do. And so a few weeks ago it was decided that Adam and I would venture into the world of winemaking.

After purchasing all of the necessary tools, reading up on the art of making wine at home, and a minor hiccup involving my breaking the very delicate hydrometer necessary to start the fermentation process, followed by texts from Adam forbidding me from touching any more winemaking glassware….

…my first batch of wine has now been nicely fermenting in my kitchen. Words like ”carboy” and ”sulfide stink” are now in my vocabulary, and I’m having fun with the process so far. It faintly smells like a winery in my house these days, and I like it!

I may be jumping the gun here, but hopefully within a couple of months, we’ll produce some very drinkable – or dare I say, good – merlot from California’s Stag’s Leap region (knock on wood)! I will certainly be blogging about it as we move forward with our at-home winemaking endeavor.