Pre-Reading
Kolpan, S., B. Smith, M. Weiss. 2011. Exploring wine. Revised 3rd edition. Wiley. Chapters 1, 2, and 3. Focus on wine making for still wine.
Miller, J. 2000. Blending batches: tips from the pros. Wine Maker. Retrieved October 1, 2012 from http://www.winemakermag.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/9-blending/95-blending-batches-tips-from-the-pros.
Pre-Place Based Learning Activity, Due Tuesday, October 15, 2013
1. Read about how wine is made and how wine is blended.
2. Reflect on wines you have tasted. What were some of the combinations of grapes in your most memorable white wine and red wine?
3. Express, in writing:
- What you know about the various steps in the wine making process after harvest.
- Why do wine makers choose to blend wines?
- What different variables are considered when a wine maker is blending a wine?
4. Submit your writing.
- Essays should be 350-400 words long
- Follow APA standards
- A minimum of four academically appropriate references must be included
Meeting Time/Place for field trip to Red Hook winery on Tuesday, October 15, 2013 and Monday, October 21, 2013
- Transportation will be provided to Red Hook Winery and back to City Tech
- Students who plan to take the bus must meet outside 300 Jay Street at 10:30am for a 10:40 departure
- Students who plan on supplying their own transportation must meet outside Red Hook Winery at 11:15, note contact Prof. Goodlad for directions
Equipment Required, Tuesday, October 15, 2013 and Monday, October 21, 2013
- Create an OpenLab accountwww.OpenLab.citytech.cuny.edu
- Join the Wines of the New World course https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/groups/wines-of-the-new-world-fall-2013/
- City Tech Chef Jacket, Black Pants, comfortable shoes, hair pulled back
- Electronic: Lab top or iPad (if possible), Camera, OpenLab Account
My reflection of our classes first of two visits to the Red Hook Winery In Brooklyn, New York was truly a rewarding experience. It was an encounter that a person needed to rely not only on sight but they’re other four senses. Our awesome tour guide & owner Mark Snyder was so informative about the harvesting of North Fork Long Island vitis vinifera, fermentation and storage to bottling. The two viticulturalist Abe Schoner and Robert Foley are an example of ying and yang when it comes to their beliefs to approach the way the wine should be fermented, blended and racked.
At first glance of our walk through I realized that the warehouse was old with a touch of modernism. There were also various size barrels and various wood fixtures a semi open kitchen. The smell that I picked up at first was a sulfuric smell as it wore off a smell of sweetness from the fermented grapes filled the air. I gained more insight on oak barrel or steel barrel storage, lees; oxidation, sugar and yeast affect the body of wine. I learned greatly on sampling various stages of wine from the bottle stage to barrel stage and the start of the fermentation process. Each stage has its own characteristics similar the metamorphosis of a caterpillar. Overall the wines were low in tannin but each glass of wine was drastically different. In the prefermentation stage when the grape juice was transforming into wine if you put your ear to the wine glass you could hear popping.
Which is the result of the yeast reacting to the sugar.