------------------------------------------------------------ THE STOMPER The Monthly Winemaking Newsletter of grapestompers.com June, 2003 Issue #35 http://www.grapestompers.com 1-800-233-1505 Hours: 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM Eastern Monday - Friday ------------------------------------------------------------ Welcome to the latest issue of "THE STOMPER", a newsletter of winemaking hints and other wine-related articles. You are receiving this newsletter because you requested it. Instructions to cancel are at the end of this newsletter. Feel free to pass along this newsletter to your winemaking friends; we only ask that it be sent in its entirety. ------------------------------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE ------------------------------------------------------------ => Feature Article - Wine Lovers Are A Hardy Lot => Bonnie's Bin - Winemakers Are Lucky People => Tom's Cellar - Elkin Wine Festival A Lot of Fun => Feedback from Our Customers => Guest Column - Sulfites vs. Colloidal Silver => How to Be Featured as a Guest Columnist => Corky's Winemaking Definition => New Products => This Month's Specials => Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information *^* Hot Tips are sprinkled throughout the newsletter #&# There is ONE hidden special in this issue ^#^ This month's specials and new products are found towards the bottom of this document ------------------------------------------------------------ FEATURE ARTICLE: Wine Lovers Are a Hardy Lot By Brant Burgiss, Editor ------------------------------------------------------------ Hello again everyone... greetings from the mountains of North Carolina! We hope everyone is having a great summer so far. This month, I'd like to take time to recognize those among us who brave winter storms, summer squalls, pelting hail, and rising floods to participate in their favorite sport... drinking and enjoying good wine! Over the past two months, I have witnessed some remarkable fortitude by the wine lovers of North Carolina. My hat is off to the 4000 people who attended the cold, foggy, and rainy Yadkin Valley Wine Festival in Elkin, and the brave souls who survived the two-inch deluge and muddy muck of Tanglewood Park at the 3rd Annual NC Wine Festival. Despite the atrocious weather, wine lovers came out in droves to support their local wineries - but I suspect that the Tar Heel State is not alone in that regard. Am I right? We'd love to hear your "hero wine" stories! Wine can be (and WAS!) enjoyed while wearing your best rain gear and enduring wet muddy feet. It all depends upon your outlook, the friends you're with, and the wine... Thistle Meadow Winery made its wine festival debut at Tanglewood on the 7th of June (hence the lateness of this newsletter), which by all accounts was a smashing success. Our biggest sellers? The Blackberry Merlot (also known by the label "Lucky Black"), Vieux Chateau du Roi, and Peden White (Peach Chardonnay). These wines were all made from the very same kits you can buy from grapestompers! If you have a moment, please visit the winery's web site: http://www.thistlemeadowwinery.com So I guess the word this month is... Regardless of the weather, never let a good grape go to waste! Here's to you... and Happy Winemaking! You can write to Brant at webmaster@grapestompers.com ------------------------------------------------------------ BONNIE'S BIN: Winemakers Are Lucky People By Bonnie Brown, Manager ------------------------------------------------------------ Pull your chair a bit closer, pour a glass of wine and join me for a chat. Weddings, Graduations, Father's Day, Showers, Bon Voyage, Welcome Home... What do all of these have in common? WINE! Wine making supplies, capsules, labels, bottles... Mix all of that with wine festivals and you have our schedule! A bit busy and WONDERFUL! Never a dull moment at grapestompers.com. We winemakers are the luckiest people on earth. Always something to do with our wines or kicking back with a special glass of our favorite drink. How much better can it get? There are some real "sleepers" as far as wine kits go. Have you ever heard of Poully-Fuisse? We have it as Ruisseau Blanc! Oh so good too. Moselle? We have it as Musette. Brouilly? We have it as Domaine des Brumes! Medoc? Coteau Sur Mer. Chateauneuf-du-Pape? We call it Vieux Chateau du Roi! We try to get you to broaden out and try something different every once in a while. Not sure if you are going to enjoy it? Share the first batch with a winemaking friend! You may wish you hadn't... Like I did with my first Fume Blanc! If you don't like a wine at first, try it a month later! Age does wonders, plus our taste buds change often. One day you will love a wine and a few days later you will wonder why! This is the PERFECT time to make that holiday port! You have 6 months until Christmas. Hurry, and you can have it for Thanksgiving too! A gift of port would look wonderful in the Bellissima bottles on sale this month too. A nice LARGE capsule, a ribbon and your special gifts are done! Hurry, the bottles and port wine kit are on sale for June. Now ya'll have a great June, ya hear? P.S. - YUP, I am getting right into this Southern thing! Even made SWEET TEA for lunch today! See you soon... Bonnie Life is too short... to drink bad wine... so make your own! You can write to Bonnie at bonnie@grapestompers.com ------------------------------------------------------------ TOM'S CELLAR: Elkin Wine Festival a Lot of Fun by Tom Burgiss, Owner ------------------------------------------------------------ Bonnie, Brant, Jason, and the rest of the gang set up the grapestompers.com tent at the Second Annual Yadkin Valley Wine Festival on May 17th. Even though it was cold and rained the whole day, there was a good turnout. Rain doesn't stop the Winers from enjoying an event. There was great food and music... entertainment for the entire family! Even though we were busy, we had time to check it out and enjoyed all of the other displays and food of course! Did I mention food again! Well, it was wonderful. Several wineries were there and really did a nice job. People were happy meeting others who enjoy the same type of events. *-----------------HOT TIP------------------* Ever need to remove a lime wedge from a Corona bottle so you can recycle the bottle? Try using the 3 prong cork retriever - it's also good for getting the lime out! Get the retriever (Item #2264) for just $5.23. Hidden special: If you purchase a Mexican Cerveza beer kit, 2 cases of bottles, capper & caps, airlock, bucket/lid/spigot, bung and 5 gallon carboy you will get the retriever free. Have a tip you'd like to submit? Send it to tips@grapestompers.com *-----------------HOT TIP------------------* It was great seeing folks we had not seen in a while due to all of the rains over the past few months. Rain or shine, it was time to get out. Check with the Elkin Chamber of Commerce for next year's date and put it on your calendar. Our thanks go out to our helpers - Ginny, John, Monty, Brenda - and all the rest. We appreciate your help! If you weren't there... we sure missed you! Tom You can write to Tom at tom@grapestompers.com ------------------------------------------------------------ FROM OUR CUSTOMERS ------------------------------------------------------------ As you might imagine, our office receives quite a bit of correspondence - mostly through e-mail - here are some comments we've recently received: Tom, Many thanks for the quick turnaround. You must have written the book on "customer satisfaction". I'm really getting into home winemaking. Have about 100 bottles in my inventory. I gave a presentation at a local "Green Thumbs" (for gardeners) conference and have been asked to give another one of greater detail and, of course duration, later this year. Gotten a lot of great tips from your newsletter which I have used and shared with others. Again, many thanks to you and your staff. -- Frank Daly Bonnie, Thanks for the confirmation of my order. Every time I place an order with you, I'm amazed at how fast the order is filled. Thanks again. -- Mark Bolon Columbus, OH Tom & Bonnie, Just sent an order for some bottles. I don't think we thanked you for the bottle of wine for our anniversary. We really enjoyed it and enjoyed spending a rainy day with you folks. We are also enjoying making wine along the "beautiful, bubbling" Duhart Creek! -- Yates & Nancy Smith Tom, When I open a fresh bottle of wine it tastes so good, but after some time it doesn't taste as good. What do I need to do to keep the wonderful taste it had when I first opened the bottle? I don't know the alcohol content. Could it not be high enough to maintain and preserve the taste? Any help here will be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -- D.A. Cason [Tom replies] D.A., Did you vacuum seal the remains of the bottle? Oxygen is one of wine's enemies (mold & bacteria the other two) and you must guard against oxidation by drawing the oxygen off the top of the wine with a pump - See Item #2909 as an example. Think of wine like a soda pop... after it's been opened, it loses its "fizz". Well, a similar thing happens to wine in the presence of air... it deteriorates in flavor, aroma and taste! Another solution would be to bottle in smaller amounts, such as a "split" bottle holding 375 ml instead of the standard size of 750 ml. But the best solution is to invite friends in and share, having none left! -- Tom Dear grapestompers, I am sending my thanks for the great service you gave me, in filling my order. Your online service is the best in the country, and should be benchmarked by all. I sent my order in 5/14/03 and received it today 5/16/03. Excellent turnaround time, I will spread the word in Ohio. And I thought quality service was a thing of the past; thanks for renewing my faith in mankind! Sincerely, -- Richard Ferrante Ohio P.S. The labels look GREAT - Many THANKS ------------------------------------------------------------ GUEST COLUMN - Sulfites vs. Colloidal Silver by Keith Wahlgren, Port Charlotte, FL ------------------------------------------------------------ GS Guys, For those of you who have a sensitivity to sulfites in wine, I have a suggestion: I have tried using colloidal silver (1 oz./gal.) when racking from the fermenter to the carboy. It seems to work in my experiments so far. The fermenting action seems to stop. Colloidal silver is a bacteria, mold, yeast, fungus and virus killer and is harmless to the human body. It kills single cell organisms by interfering with their ability to use oxygen. It is used in hospitals as drops in newborn babies eyes, and in burn units as a dressing (in silver nitrate form). Based on my limited experience (I have been making wine just since the start of the year), I believe the silver does two things: It looks like it finishes off the fermentation when you are ready to rack, and it also remains in the wine to kill off anything that may ruin it later like bacteria or mold. As mentioned before, the silver is good for you. So, you have real wine with a material in it that is useful in killing off unwanted organisms in your body as well... which makes wine (already documented as heart healthy) a real health drink! Colloidal silver is silver distributed into distilled water by electrolysis. Colloidal silver is harmless to the human body and is the only substance known to kill a virus. A virus is a thousand times smaller than bacteria, and a silver ion is a thousand times smaller than a virus. If you drink well water, you are getting silver in this form, only not as much. Silver ions are not a poisonous "heavy metal" such as mercury and is excreted daily. My family has been using a teaspoon a day for years, and I cannot remember our last head cold. It is expensive to buy in stores or online... like $15 to $20 per 8 oz. bottle, but you can make your own at home for about a dollar a gallon by buying a simple generator. I bought mine from a company called UtopiaSilver several years ago for $39... if you get the complete production set (the generator with accessories) it costs $84. The set comes with the PPM tester which lets you make exactly the strength you want. 10 parts per million (PPM) is good for just about anything. It's easy! But back to our purpose... winemaking. I make my own wine as I have a low tolerance for sulfites. Now, there are NO red wines in my liquor store without them... I checked every bottle. That was not always the case. Today, store wine has a tremendous amount of sulfite preservative per bottle, a guarantee against spoilage. Making wine with the grapestomper's kits does not add nearly as much. There are people I know who think sulfites are fine, and some I know that don't. I don't care, I take no sides. I just want real wine as the Romans made it. I find my own wine better than store wine and a pleasure to drink with my friends and family. Especially since the folks at grapestompers make everything so easy and affordable. *-----------------HOT TIP------------------* Keep a detailed log of all the wines you make throughout your winemaking "career". Record items like wine type, starting and ending specific gravity, yeast used, racking dates, temperature, and so forth. Knowing your "recipe" for success will make it easier to duplicate in the future! Have a tip you'd like to submit? Send it to tips@grapestompers.com *-----------------HOT TIP------------------* The above is just a thought/suggestion. If it interests you, go to UtopiaSilver.com or any of the Colloidal web sites and read for yourself... make up your own mind. By the way, it won't turn your skin blue. For that to happen you have to grind up silver to a powder, mix it with water and swill it down. The large chunks of silver get stuck in your skin capillaries and give you a blue tinge... not a good idea. See my footnote below! I am really not using any preservatives in my wine, I'm just trying to see if wine can still be made the old way. I have one carboy of Cabernet/Merlot from a grapestomper's VDV kit that I will leave alone for as long as I can stand it to see if this silver works. If I learn anything new, I will post it. I could go on, but it's getting dark and I need a glass... You can e-mail me with any questions at: kswahlgren@earthlink.net Nice to chat with y'all... Have a fine day, and a fine glass of your very own wine! Keith Wahlgren, Port Charlotte, FL FOOTNOTE: Silver has been used for thousands of years for prevention of spoilage and health reasons. The English Knights, being wealthy, used silver utensils and silver canteens in the field. They noticed that the soldiers would often become ill since they used water bags and such, but the Knights did not have as much of a problem. So, they thought if a little is good, a lot must be better. So the alchemists of the time ground silver into a fine powder and mixed it with water; the problem was that large particles of silver would become lodged in their small capillaries and give them a blue look... that's where the term "blue bloods" comes from! I have noticed that the colloidal silver has a metallic taste to it, which seems to disappear in the wine. The carboy has 768 oz. of wine, or so, and only six ounces of silver so it's a small amount, like .008%. I may need to go to 12 oz. of silver, I don't know. I'm still playing with it. I would be interested to know what other people find out as time goes along. ------------------------------------------------------------ Like To Be A Guest Columnist For STOMPERS Newsletter? ------------------------------------------------------------ If you'd like to be our next guest columnist, simply send your three- or four-paragraph article to articles@grapestompers.com. If your article is selected for use in a future STOMPER newsletter, you'll receive the attention of thousands, a coupon good for a discount on your next grapestompers.com order, as well as our heartfelt thanks. So what are you waiting for?? ------------------------------------------------------------ CORKY'S WINEMAKING DEFINITION ------------------------------------------------------------ Legs - The viscous drips of wine that run down the side of a glass in which wine is swirled. If your wine lacks legs, you can add a small amount of glycerin (about 3 to 12 ml per liter) to enhance fullness and body. Look for other wine-related definitions by clicking on the 'Glossary' button from our home page at http://www.grapestompers.com ------------------------------------------------------------ NEW PRODUCTS ------------------------------------------------------------ Here is a list of products recently added to our catalog: RJ Spagnols is offering two Super-Premium, Signature Series wine kits from California for this month only... - Item #3145 Cabernet Sauvignon - Sonoma Valley, $137.45 - Item #3263 Chardonnay - Sonoma Valley, $130.16 This is a special pre-order... a one-shot opportunity to purchase these exquisitely balanced wine concentrates from Sonoma Valley, California. You must place your order by June 23rd. We anticipate receiving these grape concentrates towards the end of July, and we will ship them to you as soon as they arrive in our NC warehouse. Thirty beautiful, varietal specific, gold-embossed bottle labels, detailing the vintage and region are included free! Learn more about these wines from the RJ Spagnols web site: http://www.rjspagnols.com/wine_signature_series.asp Other new products added this month include: - Item #3706 BH Prairie Wheat beer kit, $31.02 - Item #2605A Power Carboy Scrubber, $24.95 - Item #2201C 6.5 gallon glass carboy, $19.25 - Item #2417 Purple bottle sealing wax, $6.96 - Item #2716P Phenolphthalein Liquid 1/2 oz, $1.65 - Item #2607A Replacement Fins for Fizz-X Mixer, $2.08 ------------------------------------------------------------ THIS MONTH'S SPECIALS ------------------------------------------------------------ grapestompers' specials for the month of June 2003 are: Save up to 12% on assorted winemaking kits AND Save 15% on our bottle rinser and Dark green Bellissima 375 ml wine bottles AND Save 10% on Ginger Ale Soda Pop extract AND Save over 12% on our best-selling wine recipe book AND Save over 20% on Campden tablets AND Save over 10% on our Pilsner beer kit AND FINALLY Save over $70 on the purchase of a Complete Winemaking Starter Kit which includes a RED or WHITE Concentrate (see wine kit selection below) Item # Description Reg. Price SPECIAL 3142 VDV Jermillon 51.27 44.66 3108 Port Wine (makes 3 gallons) 50.59 44.66 3128 CC Cabernet/Merlot 89.87 79.66 3741 BH Pilsner Beer Kit 31.02 27.66 2253 Vinator Bottle Rinser 16.18 13.66 2775 Ginger Ale Soda Pop Extract 4.07 3.66 2801 Wine Recipe Book 3.03 2.66 2731 Campden Tablets 2.10 1.66 2116 Bellissima bottles, dk grn 375's 21.95 18.66 3700 Complete Beermaking Kit 191.82 169.99 3200 Complete White Wine Starter Kit 246.68 175.00 3100 Complete Red Wine Starter Kit 259.79 185.00 The GC and CM wine kits are designed to make about 30 750 ml bottles of great wine in as little as 28 days. The Ruisseau Blanc wine kit comes off in as few as 45 days, and also makes about 30 bottles. The Peach Chardonnay is refreshingly sweet with plenty of fruit flavor, with an alcohol content from 6.5% to 7%. Wine and beer kit abbreviations explained: BH = Brew House beer kit CC = Cellar Classic wine kit GC = Grand Cru wine kit WA = Wine~Art wine kit MM = Mosti Mondiale wine kit CM = Cellar Master wine kit OB = Orchard Breezin' wine kit (new name for CM) VDV = Vino del Vida wine kit CSP = Cru Select Platinum wine kit CSG = Cru Select Gold wine kit Here's what you get with the COMPLETE Starter Kit: If choosing the Complete WHITE Kit, your choice of either: Fume Blanc, Piesporter, or Chenin Blanc VDV concentrate If choosing the Complete RED Kit, your choice of either: Valpolicella, Shiraz, or Cabernet/Merlot VDV concentrate PLUS ALL THESE GOODIES: Tom's Winemaking Video Bottle Rinser Fermenter Bucket with lid Three-Piece Airlock 6-Gallon Glass Carboy Carboy Brush Bung (stopper) Bottle Filler Five feet of vinyl tubing C-Brite Sanitizer (8) Portuguese Hand Corker FermTech AutoSiphon 2 Cases of 750-ml Bottles Long Handled Spoon Bottle Washer Adapter Brass Bottle Washer Bottle Drainer, 45 station Adhesive Thermometer AND YOU GET THE FOLLOWING ITEMS FREE ($16.79 value): - Free Wine Labels (text of your choice) - Free triple scale hydrometer - Free Corks (30 corks, enough for one batch) Just think: This complete kit offers EVERYTHING a brand-new hobbyist would need to begin making his or her own wine. All you need to decide is which wine kit you want! And don't forget... you can always return your winemaking video and receive a credit for $19.95 on your credit card... that's like getting the video for free! All we ask is that you return it in good condition. This is the best deal we've ever offered on a complete kit, so don't miss out... order one for yourself or a friend today. Ask for RED Complete Kit # 3100 or WHITE Kit # 3200 and be sure to let us know which wine concentrate you want, as well as the text you want on your free wine labels. If you prefer, you can "personalize" your Complete Kit - Let's say you don't need or want some of the items that normally come with the Complete Kit... just give us a call at 1-800-233-1505 and let us know which items you don't need, and we will adjust the price of the equipment kit accordingly. Likewise, if you'd like a different wine kit, just let us know and we can adjust the price. ------------------------------------------------------------ NEXT MONTH'S HIGHLIGHTS ------------------------------------------------------------ - More Winemaking Stories from Tom's Cellar - Another Surprise from Brant - More Specials - The next article from Bonnie's Bin - More Customer Testimonials - Another Guest Article - Submit yours today! - New Winemaking Products ------------------------------------------------------------ LIST MAINTENANCE ------------------------------------------------------------ To SUBSCRIBE to the STOMPER winemaking hints newsletter, send a blank e-mail to newsletter@grapestompers.com with a subject line of: subscribe stomper To quit receiving the STOMPER winemaking hints newsletter, send a blank e-mail to newsletter@grapestompers.com with a subject line of: unsubscribe stomper Past issues of the STOMPER can be found at http://www.grapestompers.com/newsletter/archives ------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright (c) 2003 grapestompers.com. All rights reserved. Boring Legal Stuff: Content is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy of this info cannot be guaranteed. Opinions expressed by guest columnists and customer letters are those of the authors and not necessarily those of grapestompers.com ------------------------------------------------------------