wine 101: guest post

Howdy, folks! Laura's got a nasty sinus infection and, as such, has been asleep most of the day. Normally, she'd let a day pass w/o a blog post, but since she is participating in NaBloPoMo, she can't afford to miss a day. So you get me, Sam, to entertain you for a day. (Although her mark remains: she wouldn't let me change the title of this post to something other than "wine 101.") You know what they say: behind every sick woman is an even sicker man. Or something like that.

Now, I know Laura's theme is wine. I drink wine only when others have popped the cork. On rare occasion, I'll have a belt of scotch. But for my part, I'm a beer man through and through. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate Laura's wine efforts. Indeed, I support them whole-heartedly. In fact, I'm the inspiration behind the persimmon wine. Yay for good ideas!

But really, I have little to do with the process. Other than moral support and listening to her ideas, complaints, and pleas for empathy, I'm involved in only one step. Laura has not reached that part, but I have to share. It's the best part.

Eventually, after the first fermentation, I think (but I could be wrong about that), you'll have to transfer the wine from one container to another. (Maybe it's when it's ready for bottling. I don't know.) Well, there will be sediment at the bottom of your original fermenting vessel. You can try to pour from one vessel to another using strainers and such, but we found that using a siphon (simply a plastic tube plus the laws of physics - more on that later) works better in that there is less jostling of the original vessel and therefore less chance to disturb and transfer the sediment to your next vessel.

Here's how a simple siphon works: put on a table the container with the wine or must or whatever Laura is calling it. Put your empty vessel at a level below the wine, maybe on a chair. Put one end of the tube in the wine. Now suck on the other end of the tube until the wine hits your mouth. YUM! Quickly put that end of the tube into the empty, lower vessel. Now gravity works its magic, and the wine will flow to the lowest point.

This wine will continue to flow until you raise the now-filling container to a level above that of the wine. Liquid wants to flow downward.

So you see my enthusiasm for this step. I get a mouthful of wine!

All right, that's the blog post for today. Please comment on how awesome this post is. Maybe I'll get more opportunities to enliven Laura's blog. Or not. I've got one of my own.

*My name is Laura, and I approve this post. Although I disagree with it being the "best post on this blog, ever."