Frequently
Asked Questions
How
did you get started in winemaking?
Caris
started making wine as a hobbyist, because she wanted to understand
wines better as an interested consumer. She was also looking for
a low-stress, pleasure-oriented hobby while working in a high stress
profession (the film industry).
She went to a local winemaker supply shop and bought the equipment
to make a kit wine. It turned out awfully, and she decided to try
again using good fresh grapes from a known wine vineyard. Her next
two wines made with good fruit won silver medals in statewide competition.
She knew she was onto something using good fruit. About 100 wines
later, here we are.
Why
did you start a winery?
Because
we found we had a talent for winemaking, which quickly revealed
itself as a passion. Each of us having spent 25-30 years in our
first careers, we wanted to do something for the next 20 years that
would make use of our respective talents, as well as bring pleasure
and beauty to others.
Our
overreaching philosophy is that of living an elegant-yet-earthy
life while using our minds and hearts and bodies to make the world
a bit better for our having been here. Caris' personal vision is
that of 'making spirit visible' - she does this thru her artworks,
and thru her winemaking. We have worked hard to even have the tasting
room decor reflect this ideal. Winemaking is a natural pathmate
with art and friendship and food and music and love and laughter.
We also hope to inspire others to use more of the pleasures and
beauty that surrounds us all.
Where
is your vineyard?
Visitors
to our small winery can see that we have some vines, but certainly
not enough to support our wine output. This is true of many wineries.
We have long-term contracts with winegrape growers - they are specialized
farmers who have their own passion for growing excellent fruit,
and that marries with our passion for making excellent wines from
that fruit. Our main contract is with a famous-in-his-own-right
grower in Plains, Texas - Neal Newsom. We make Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot and Orange Muscat wines with Neal's fruit. Neal's vineyard
is about an hour southwest of Lubbock, in the middle of the Cap
Rock, at about 3600' elevation, which gives warm days and cool nights
during the growing season. The cool nighttime temperatures allow
the grapes to develop their full sugars and flavors, which make
rich, complex, full-bodied wines.
How
long can you use a barrel?
Barrels
will impart oak flavors into a wine for about 3 years, a little
less each year. After that, they can be used for many years as storage
vessels but won't give much oaky quality. Barrel aging, besides
adding the nuances of woody flavors (fresh tobacco, smoke, leather,
cedar, vanilla, etc.) do the wine a huge service by concentrating
it - water evaporates out of the pores of the wood very slowly,
so your wine will concentrate 10 to 20 % over a year's time. This
concentration makes the wine more intense in flavor and gives it
more body and mouth feel. Barrels can go bad if they are not stored
properly when empty. When this happens, they are taken out behind
the winery and shot.
How
do you keep a half empty bottle of wine?
Wine
goes bad when exposed to oxygen. Since there is oxygen in the air
we breathe, the first thing you want to do is remove as much air
from the bottle as possible. You can use a couple of specially made
devices for this - our favorite is Vac-U-Vin, which pulls a vacumn
in the bottle. It has a special stopper that keeps the air out.
If you don't have one of these $10 devices (available at the tastintg
room), blow into the bottle for several seconds - your exhaled breath
has CO2 (carbon dioxide) in it, which will help protect the wine
from the O2. Stopper the bottle with the cork (turning the cork
upside down helps to get it back in), or use your favorite decorative
stopper. Then, put the wine in the fridge - do NOT leave it on the
kitchen counter. The warmth in the room will degrade it - the cool
fridge will help you keep it longer.
If
you don't have a fancy wine cellar, how can you store bottles of
wine?
Wine
likes a cool, stable temperature, and lack of vibration and light.
About the worst place in a house you could keep it would be in the
laundry room right next to the dryer. Another bad place is on the
top of refrigerator - the fridge vibrates, it's hot up there, there's
a lot of light.... OK, so get a refrigerator thermometer from the
grocery store (about 5 bucks), and find the place in your house
that has the coolest, most stable temperature. Leave the thermometer
in place for a week or so, and watch the temperature swing. If one
place is cool and then warm, and one place is a little warmer but
is stable, you will probably want to choose the warmer, stable spot
(as long as it's not too warm). Try to find a place that is not
over 70-72 degrees. If you have a spot that is in the mid 60's,
all the better. Often a spot lower to the floor (since cold air
drops) will be good. If there's a lot of light in that location,
cover the wine rack with a pretty cloth. Nice, inexpensive small
wine fridges are available thru Costco and Home Depot for about
$130 - a good investment to store your whites and better reds. You
can also go a step bigger and convert a closet into a wine 'cellar'
- there are specialized cooling units made for these applications.
Check out www.iwawine.com,
or www.wineenthusiast.com
for various sized fridges, chillers, and a variety of wine accessories.
What
is the best temperature to serve wine?
Most
reds: about 60• Put your bottle of red
wine in your fridge for about twenty minutes before you serve it.
Do not leave it in too long - we like to say that cold makes wine
'stupid' - it does not express itself fully. If you get a glass
of wine that is too cold, cup your hand around the bottom of the
glass to warm it up. If you get a glass of wine that is too warm,
you can drop an ice cube in it for about 20 seconds. Take the ice
out, lest it dilute the wine.
There are exceptions to these guidelines - many rosés and
lighter reds benefit from being served cooler than big reds - treat
them like a white wine.
Most
whites: about 50• The common household
fridge is set to run at about 40 degrees. Put your bottle of white
wine in the fridge for about an hour to cool it down. Take it out
about 10 minutes before you serve.
"Room
Temperature"
- this really refers to cellars, which are commonly about 60-65•.
Please, please, please do not think 'room temperature' means to
serve a wine at 75 degrees (or 80 degrees at Grandma's house) -
wine served too warm will quickly destroy its flavors and leave
you with a glass of unpleasant, sour swill.
Should
I decant? Does taking the cork out of the bottle help it breathe?
Pulling
the cork out of the bottle only exposes the wine at the very top
of the neck to air...the exposed volume is too small to do any good.
Don't bother.
Decanting,
which is pouring the wine slowly into a decanter (to move the wine
off of any sediment that may have been thrown in the bottle, and
to carefully expose the wine to oxygen which will make the flavors
and aromas more accessible) helps many red wines reveal their true
nature. Some oaky white wines will also benefit. Do not decant fruity
reds, most whites or dessert wines.
To properly decant a wine:
Take it from your rack and set it upright for 24 hours to let any
sediment fall to the bottom. Put a light behind the bottle (some
folks use a candle for this) and watch the wine as you slowly pour
it into the decanter - if there is sediment in the bottle you will
see it move up towards the neck.... stop pouring before you pour
the sediment into the decanter too! And, don't stop pouring midway
and then start again - you will mix up the sediment. Once you start,
don't stop.
Does
the glass I use really make the wine taste better or worse?
Yes.
Yes. And yes. If you try to be quaint and use jelly jars or small,
straight sided non-stem bistro glasses, you won't get a quarter
of the impact of the wine you've paid good money to appreciate.
Riedel (pronounced like 'needle') glassware is famous for demonstrating
how the shape affects the tastes. You want a glass that has the
appropriately shaped bowl, and with a top that curves in, not out,
so as to hold in the aromas of the wine so you can better savor
them. If you look at websites that sell wine glassware (Check
out www.iwawine.com,
or www.wineenthusiast.com)
you will see some of the different glasses. The choices can be a
little overwhelming if you're not used to this type of shopping.
At our house, we use a knockoff (made in Romania) of a Riedel Bordeaux
style glass that we bought at Pier 1 for $7 a stem. That is our
tip of the month. You break one, you don't cry, and they do a lot
more for the wine than the smaller, badly shaped cheap glasses.
Or just bust loose with the cash and buy a couple of good glasses
- you'll never go back.
Winery
phone: 817-237-2626
6925 Confederate Park Road/FM 1886
Fort Worth, Texas 76108
