From Grapes to Wine – A WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge

This week’s subject for the WordPress Photo Challenge is “Change.” This got me to thinking of the changes that I see every year in the process of making wine, so I thought that I would share with you the process of making wine…

In the winter the vineyard sleeps. While we get snow here is does not negatively effect the vines. There is a quiet beauty found in the sleeping vineyard.

The vineyard sleeps

When spring arrives the vines awaken. The first green makes its appearance on the vines, and this is known as “bud break.” Shortly thereafter the grape clusters appear.

After bud break the Cabernet grapes appear

Towards the end of the growing season the clusters ripen and change color.

Cabernet on the vine

Once harvested, the grapes are brought in. Here is a bin loaded with Cabernet waiting to start the crush process.

Cabernet waiting to be crushed

The grapes are dropped into an auger that will regulate the flow of grapes to the sorting table.

The process of crush begins

After being hand sorted, where bad clusters, leaves and other debris is removed, the grapes head up a conveyor to the machine that will remove the grapes from the stems.

Heading towards the destemmer

From the destemmer, the grape matter, including the seeds, go straight to a tank to begin fermentation.

Ready to start fermentation

Once in the tank fermentation begins, and while the skins of the grapes carry a yeast, it is not enough to really get fermentation going. So good quality yeast is added. The skins and seeds, along with the juice, will sit in the tanks for a week to 10 days. When fermentation hits 50% the tanks are drained and all is processed through a crush machine. 30% of the juice that will become wine comes from the skins and seeds. Here is a shot of the juice coming out of the press.

After fermenting in tanks the skins get crushed

From the crush machine, the juice is then transferred to barrels where it will sit for the next year and half to two years.

Barrels of wine

Work is done on the barrels throughout this time frame until the wine is ready for bottling. From there is goes out for sale. Who does not enjoy a glass of wine?

The finished product

I hope that you enjoyed this post of change! Please take some time to check out what others have posted in this challenge by clicking here!

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope that you have a great weekend!

Read Full Post »

Baked Garlic Prawns

As you know, I love being in the kitchen and spend quite a bit of time there. For the last two weeks we have been waiting to get our range fixed due to a gas leak. Not having a stove has forced me to get creative in the kitchen! Finding some lovely prawns at the store, and having a hankering for them, I brought them home to join me at the dinner table. I have always done prawns on the stove top, and I had to get creative with baking!

I came up with a simple recipe that takes about an hour to prepare and cook! Want to see what I did? Let’s start with a list of the ingredients!

1# large prawns
2 TBS Sauvignon Blanc (do have a glass with dinner!)
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
Dash of salt
3 twists of the black pepper grinder
1/2 cup of panko (or you can use a garlic herb, or Italian seasoned breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup of butter
Cayenne pepper
Lemon pepper
Parsley

Peel and devein the prawns. Now I gently pull the tail shell off the prawns as I do not like having to deal with shells when I am getting down to business eating! Feel free to leave them on if you like messing with them at the table.

In a mixing bowl, add the prawns, garlic, wine and salt and pepper. I let them sit for about 30 minutes before doing anything else.

Prawns mixed with wine, garlic, salt and pepper

While this is sitting take out the butter to soften.

After the half hour, in a separate bowl add the butter and the panko. Using your hands, mix this together until you get a nice crumbly mixture.

Butter mixed with panko

Turn the oven to 425 degrees. Oh, I can hear you saying, “Really? That high?” Yes, that high. Assemble the dish by putting the prawns in a small casserole baking dish.

Prawns are added to pot

Now evenly spread the butter/panko crumbles over the prawns. Then sprinkle with a bit of the cayenne and the lemon pepper.

Panko added then topped with cayenne and lemon pepper

Bake this for 15 minutes only, then remove from the oven.

Right out of the oven!

Mmmmm….Smells so good!

Serve this up and then top with some fresh parsley. Don’t forget to have a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc!

Prawns served up!

When you bite into these lovelies, they will be perfectly cooked!

Please let me know if you try this dish! If you are having a dinner party, this would be a good appetizer served in shells!

Thanks for stopping by today, and celebrate the end of the work week!

Read Full Post »

No Bones About It!

The last time I made braised short ribs I prepared them in the crock pot and I used a stout beer. Yesterday I made this dish again, however, I changed it up and used wine instead and slow roasted them in the oven. I cannot decide which one I like better, in the oven or in the crock pot! Maybe you can try both recipes and help me decide!

Ingredients
3#’s short ribs
1 1/2 tsp. rosemary
1 1/2 tsp. thyme
1 1/2 tsp. marjoram
1 tsp. basil
1 1/2 tsp. rubbed sage
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
1 onion sliced
2 carrots cut into chunks
4 cloves smashed garlic
1 1/2 cups beef broth
1 1/2 cups hearty red wine
1 bay leaf

Take the ribs out about an hour before cooking and rub with the rosemary, thyme, marjoram, and basil. Let these sit for the hour. When you are ready to start cooking, pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Then add the olive oil to a dutch oven. Heat over medium high heat, then add the ribs and the rubbed sage. Brown the meat on all sides.

Browned short ribs

Remove from the pan and then add the onions and carrots. Cook until the onion becomes transparent. Then add the garlic and cook for about two minutes. Then slowly add in the red wine followed by the beef broth.

Broth and wine reducing

Cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Make sure to scrape up any of the lovely browned bits that might have stuck to the pot.  Then add the ribs back and bring to a boil. When it just starts to boil, turn off the heat, add the bay leaf and cover.

Ribs with broth wine reduction

Place the dutch oven into the oven and let the beef slow roast for about 3 hours turning every hour.

Turn the ribs every hour

Remove from the oven. Take the beef and carrots out of the oven and strain the juices into sauce pan. Gently, as the meat is very soft, remove the bones. They should pull right up and out. Heat the sauce over medium high heat and reduce again by 1/3. This will concentrate the flavors. Then plate up the meat and carrots next to some lovely garlic mashed potatoes! Spoon a bit of the sauce over the ribs and carrots. Make a well in the potatoes for another spoonful of the sauce!

Dinner is served!

Let me know if you try this recipe! Hey, and thanks for stopping by today! Now go out and have a great Monday!

Read Full Post »

OMG! It is Huge!

A huge thank you to the Tumbling Tumbleweeds who joined us for dinner last night bearing a gift. Now this was totally unexpected, and the box was huge! Huge! We were instructed to open this right away which we did…only to find the biggest bottle of wine I have ever seen!

Jeroboam of Col di Sasso

After the hysterical laughter died down, this became the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving dinner.

How much wine is in one of these bottles? In liters, it contains 5 liters of wine. Now a regular wine bottle holds 750 milliliters. A case of wine 9 liters. So, this bottle contains a bit over 6 bottles of wine! In glasses, there are about 40 glasses of wine!

The size of the bottle is known as a Jeroboam. The name comes from the 1st King of Northern Israel who reigned between 922-901 B.C. It was Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, who lived from 1771 – 1832, who gave this bottle its name in one of his writings.

The wine is a Col di Sasso blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese. The winemaker describes this blend as, “Colour: ruby red, young, but intense. Bouquet: fresh, varietal, enriched with spicy notes. Taste: full and soft, balanced, easy-to-drink.”

Needless to say, we are looking forward to imbibing in this wine, and we will be pouring this wine at our upcoming Christmas party!

Read Full Post »

Crush in the Foothills Has Begun!

Crush is the process of crushing grapes for wine making. This typically occurs at this time of year, but our last two years, due to late snows, had us beginning at the end of September to middle of October. At the winery where I work, the first grapes crushed are the Chardonnay. Let’s take a peek at what happens during crush! If you click on any of the photos you will be able to see the detail a bit better!

They bring in the grapes in plastic or wood containers that hold between 850 – 1,000 pounds of grapes. They are filled to over the top!

Crate overflowing with Chardonnay

Aren’t they pretty?

As the containers come in they are lifted one at a time into a V-shaped vessel that has an auger that controls the rate that the grapes drop onto the sorting table.

In they go!

This is what the inside of this vessel looks like with the Chardonnay.

Inside with the auger

They drop onto the sorting table where any leaf debris or bad clusters are pulled out.

The grapes get hand sorted and then go off to the destemmer

The lower part of the above photo shows the grapes heading off to the de-stemmer. Here are the stems as they drop out of the de-stemmer.

The remaining stems

From here the Chardonnay goes into the press. As the press squeezes the juice from the grapes, the juice pours out into a tray where it goes to the tanks.

Chardonnay juice right out of the press

The bottom side of the press

Once in the tank a really good yeast gets added and then fermentation begins.

The tanks

The residue goes back out to the field to compost

The Chardonnay in the tanks? It is now on its way to making a lovely wine!

Read Full Post »

Pork Rouladen in Mushroom Gravy

I had leftover uncooked bacon in my refrigerator. I was at the grocery store perusing the various cuts of meat when thin boneless pork loin chops caught my eye. What could be better than bacon and pork? My mind went into overdrive as I thought about how I could pull a dinner together using these two ingredients…what else could I add? Mushrooms and potatoes! Here is what I put together!

Ingredients
6 thin cut boneless pork loin chops
6 slices of maple bacon
rubbed sage
salt and pepper
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 large yukon gold potatoes
1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
1/2 onion chopped
1 package of pork gravy mix
1/2 cup white wine

First, pound the pork loin chops so that they flatten out nicely and double in size. Take the bacon and cut in half. Then lay two pieces of bacon on the pork loin and roll up fastening with a toothpick. Rub the meat with the rubbed sage, and a bit of salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the olive oil to a skillet and heat. When the oil is hot add the pork rouladen to the pan and brown on all sides.

Browning the pork rollups

While this is browning, peel the potatoes and cut into bite size chunks. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray. Add the potatoes to the sides. In a measuring cup add the gravy mix and the water. Stir to dissolve and add the wine.

After the meat has browned lay the rouladen down the center of the baking pan. Add the onions and mushrooms to the pan and caramelize. When these are done, slowly add the gravy mixture, scraping up all the lovely browned bits.

De-glaze with gravy

Bring this to a boil, and then remove from the heat and pour over the potatoes and meat.

Baking pan is filled and ready to cook

Cover with foil and bake for 30 – 40 minutes.

When done, remove from the oven. Let this sit for about 5 minutes and then serve it up!

Dinner is served!

Wasn’t that quick and easy? Tastes good too!

Read Full Post »

Jammin’ with Pork Loin!

I was given a single pork loin, and I had to come up with what to do with it. And, I was thinking about a raspberry pear jam from my neighbor Kathy…What could I do with both of these items given to me to make a luscious dinner?

I went on a quick trip up to Boa Vista Orchards in search of pears. The season of these being available from the farm was over. But I did spy some Granny Smith apples, so I grabbed one of those.  Then nearby I saw really good looking oranges, so I grabbed one of those too! Then I found the treasure of the day:  fresh asparagus!

So what can I do with these ingredients?  Here is what I put together:

Ingredients
1 single pork loin
1 russet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
Zest from one orange
2 shakes of Saigon cinnamon
4 twists of fresh ground salt and pepper
1 1/2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 dash of cumin
–
Sauce
1/2 cup of raspberry pear jam
1 cup of Chardonnay (You can substitute Merlot for the Chardonnay, but the Chard was really, really good!)

Take the pork loin out of the refrigerator to warm up. Take the next 7 ingredients and combine them. In a greased baking pan, add the potato and apple mixture.

Apples and potatoes

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. While this is cooking, take the raspberry pear jam and add this to a saucepan and blend with the Chardonnay. Heat on medium high, and bring to a boil.

Jam and wine sauce

Reduce the heat to medium low, and stir every five minutes, until the mixture is reduced by half. Remove from the heat, and strain the seeds from the mixture into a bowl. Be sure to push on the solids with the backside of a spoon. Rinse the pot and return the mixture to the pot.

About this time the timer should be going off on the potato apple mixture. Remove this from the oven, stir the potatoes and apples, and then split the mixture so that they are split in half with a trough in the middle. In the open area, lay in the pork loin.

Pork loin added to the apples and potatoes

Even the potatoes and apples around the loin, and then with a paint brush, baste the loin with the raspberry pear chardonnay sauce. Just a bit, because the rest will be used for a drizzle over each serving! Put this back in the oven and cook for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 135 degrees. While it is baking I got the fresh asparagus ready.

Asparagus is ready to go

At the 25 minute mark I basted the meat again with some of the jam sauce, and again at the 30 minute mark. When the pork is done, remove the pan from the oven.

Right out of the oven

Transfer the pork to a cutting board and cover. Stir up the apples and potatoes and cover. Get the asparagus going. Let the meat sit for 10 minutes. Reheat the wine and jam sauce. Slice up the meat,

Slice the meat

and serve it up with the apples, potatoes and asparagus. Drizzle the jam sauce over the meat

Dinner is served!

and dinner is served!  This dish was incredible blend of flavors and it was so yummy that we ate the whole thing!  This recipe is a keeper, and Kathy, I will need more of your terrific jam!

Read Full Post »

Update on the Rare Phenomenon

It was reported tonight on the Sacramento news that the meteor that came down, fell in our neighborhood. The debris from the meteor, according to this news report, is within a 10 mile radius of Coloma. That includes us! And when it came in to the atmosphere it was about as big as a mini van! A mini-van! My house shook, so it is no wonder that this happened with this coming in so close to us! Here is the news report…

Meteorites Found in Sierra Foothills

There is a commercial on this video, so bear with it, turn the volume off, but check out the news report! Thanks for your patience here…

The distance between where we live and Coloma, CA, as the crow flies, is about 8 miles. We will be searching our yard for any possible debris! I will be making the trip around our yard to investigate!

Read Full Post »

Pinot More

When my husband goes off to visit his Mother, I cook the stuff that I like to eat. He tells me that I can cook these things when he is home, but I want him to enjoy what I make, so I save these dishes for a night like tonight! I wanted to do something different with lamb. And I wanted to use some of the wine we have sitting around the house!

Ingredients
1 cup of Pinot Noir (I used 2010 Chateau Davell Delores Pinot Noir, Mendocino), plus 1/2 cup reserved
1/8 cup of extra virgin olive oil
8 fresh rosemary stems, leaves removed and chopped
8 cloves of garlic, minced
fresh ground salt and pepper, about 1/2 tsp of each
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 rack of lamb
1 TBS local honey

Marinade ingredients

Put the wine, olive oil, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper plus the balsamic vinegar into a bowl and mix it well. Place the lamb and the marinade in a zip lock bag, and shake it up.

Marinating lamb

Let this sit in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. One hour before you are ready to cook, take the lamb out of the refrigerator. After an hour, turn the oven on to 350 degrees. While the oven heats, place your lamb in a roasting pan.

Lamb ready for the oven

Reserve the marinade. Bake until the temperature of the meat reaches 135 degrees. Remove from the oven, cover and let sit. While this is resting, place the reserved marinade into a sauce pan, and add the honey. Heat to boiling. Reduce this to half. Check the flavor as you go. If needed use the reserved wine.

Pinot reduction

When reduce to half, turn down to warm. Slice up the resting lamb into chops.

Lamb cut into chops

Plate the meat, dress with some fresh rosemary, and drizzle the sauce over the meat.

Dinner is served!

And, dinner is served! Let me know how you like this recipe!

Read Full Post »

Steve’s Baked Fish

Looking for something different to do with fish? Here is a recipe from a friend from my much, much younger years! The type of fish is different, but the rest is what he taught me.

Ingredients
6 Tilapia filets
2 yellow wax peppers, seeded and chopped

Yellow wax peppers cut up

8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
8 oz. bean sprouts
White wine
Butter

Take the fish and wash and dry them. Place them in a baking pan. Cover half way with the wine.

Fish soaking in white wine

Let this sit for an hour. Mix the peppers, mushrooms and bean sprouts together.

Mixed up sprouts, mushrooms and peppers

Set aside until the fish has sat in the wine for at least an hour. Then place them over the fish.

Sprout mixture laid over the fish

Top with pats of butter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Serve with rice. Please do click on this photo below and you will see one heck of an easy fish dish!

Dinner is served!

Now wasn’t that easy? And it tastes really good too!

Read Full Post »