Chances are that if you've been to Grimes Mill Winery's Tasting Room, you've been taken back into the winery by Phil, the owner, or me, if you're lucky. Unlike the tasting room, the winery has the aesthetic appeal of a garden shed. Until now!
After a successful season (regardless of the difficulties with frost and drought), we now have barrels resting on top of barrels! Our winery is starting to look like the winery we've always imagined.
What once was:
Is now:
One day, maybe the wall of barrels will reach the ceiling. One can only hope. What did we fill the new barrels with? 5 different blends of red wine, where every single grapes was grown right here in Lexington!
We also harvested a bunch of Cabernet Franc this year that tasted great. However, we didn't quite produce enough of it to fill an entire 60-gallon barrel by itself. (We wanted to keep it at least 75% Cab Franc so that we can legally put the varietal on the label.)
So, what are we doing with it? We're currently experimenting with a more cost-effective way of imparting French Oak flavor into a red wine (lovingly referred to around the winery as "poor man's French Oak"). We have a bunch of segments of new French Oak barrels (that likely didn't make the cut at the cooperage), and we're just floating them directly in our wine. Instead of wine in a barrel, it's barrel in a wine. Here's what it looks like:
Yes, there are many pros and cons to thoroughly consider when attempting this. The good news for you is: you may be able to get your hands on our first-ever Cab Franc by this summer! We'll need several months to play with it, but we have high hopes that we can make something great out of it.
The better news affects you even more. A French Oak barrel can cost upwards of $600 to $1000. An American Oak barrel costs somewhere between $300 and $600. The opportunity to remove these from the price of the bottle (not that the segments were cheap) allows us the opportunity to provide you with a local, hand-crafted, high-quality wine at a reasonable price.
Who could ask for more?,
The Winemaker's Apprentice
After a successful season (regardless of the difficulties with frost and drought), we now have barrels resting on top of barrels! Our winery is starting to look like the winery we've always imagined.
What once was:
 |
| Secret: the fourth barrel is turned the wrong way... and empty. |
 |
| And they're all full (and turned the right way). |
One day, maybe the wall of barrels will reach the ceiling. One can only hope. What did we fill the new barrels with? 5 different blends of red wine, where every single grapes was grown right here in Lexington!
We also harvested a bunch of Cabernet Franc this year that tasted great. However, we didn't quite produce enough of it to fill an entire 60-gallon barrel by itself. (We wanted to keep it at least 75% Cab Franc so that we can legally put the varietal on the label.)
So, what are we doing with it? We're currently experimenting with a more cost-effective way of imparting French Oak flavor into a red wine (lovingly referred to around the winery as "poor man's French Oak"). We have a bunch of segments of new French Oak barrels (that likely didn't make the cut at the cooperage), and we're just floating them directly in our wine. Instead of wine in a barrel, it's barrel in a wine. Here's what it looks like:
Yes, there are many pros and cons to thoroughly consider when attempting this. The good news for you is: you may be able to get your hands on our first-ever Cab Franc by this summer! We'll need several months to play with it, but we have high hopes that we can make something great out of it.
The better news affects you even more. A French Oak barrel can cost upwards of $600 to $1000. An American Oak barrel costs somewhere between $300 and $600. The opportunity to remove these from the price of the bottle (not that the segments were cheap) allows us the opportunity to provide you with a local, hand-crafted, high-quality wine at a reasonable price.
Who could ask for more?,
The Winemaker's Apprentice
Rob,
ReplyDeleteCan barrels be used multiple times? I am aware of some distilling processes which use barrels from other processes to add flavor.
-EJ
Yes. Typically, in the wine industry, barrels are used up to 3 times. There's a diminishing return each time you put a new batch of wine in a barrel, so the third time takes the longest and imparts the least flavor. That's why we stop after that.
DeleteBarrels can only be used once when making Bourbon, but that's the only federal regulation I'm aware of. I'm sure there are more, but that's the only one I know. So, yes, it's becoming common to see beer that's been aged in bourbon barrels, or bourbon that's been aged in port barrels, or any combination of barrels and alcohol that you can think of!