Wine Making for the Future

My son and I disagree on a lot of things! We get along, we just disagree. We agree to disagree. The only thing we really argue about is politics and I can live with that. I don't know where he went astray. My first clue should have been when he voted for Bush. My personal opinion is that King George II will go down in history as the worst president . . . period! Whenever I mention his name in a sentence the word moron is usually also in that sentence. Just what has this administration done right? Really!

Anyway, the other day my son begins talking with me about one of the few things we really like to visit about. Wine! The other thing we talk a lot about is our Ford Mustang drag cars (a whole nuther story!). Nick (my son) has been purchasing wines as investments. He reads about these wines in Wine Spectator. He purchases these wines with the intent of keeping them for a few years and then reselling them. One of his most recent purchases was a 2005 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. So, he comes to me with the idea of BlueStem Winery making a reserve wine. Since Cabernet Sauvignon is his wine of choice he also suggested that this Reserve wine by a Cabernet Sauvignon blend.

So, we are now looking for all things wine making for our Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. We have found a source for the juice we need and we will have a little bit of winemaking equipment in addition to what we have. Then it will be just a matter of working our way through the process of fermenting, oak aging and bottle storage for about 3 years. We will probably limit production to about 20 cases per year with the first wines being ready for sale in 2011.

We are being pleasantly surprised this month. We the economy seemingly in turmoil (thank you, King George!) we have been expecting a downturn in sales for our wine making ingredients and home brew equipment store. Instead, we have had our best March ever and still have over a week to go in the month.

We had sold more of our Cellar Craft and WinExpert wine kits in the first nine days of the month than we had in any full month since we opened our store. Store traffic has been brisk and I have been extremely pleased with the volume of homebrewing ingredients being sold in the store. Our stock of both WinExpert kits and Cellar Craft wine kits is getting very low as we try to sell out our inventory prior to restocking in April (when the ice is gone and the ground has firmed up enough to get our forklift out to unload a truck). If any of our store or on-line customers are reading this tidbit, thanks for your business! We are looking forward to having another 9 months of great business serving you in 2008.