Do you wonder how that wonderful purple (or golden) juice in your glass came to be?  Long to work where the vineyard and mountain vistas seemingly go on forever?  Here’s a chance to learn how to make wine in Chile at Lapostolle as a winemaker’s apprentice.  This may just be one of those rare opportunities to cross an item off your bucket list if you’re a wine freak like me.

How to Win

Go to the contest site: http://www.uncorkthepassion.com/ and sign up.  Then you must create a tweet via Twitter, which means you must have a Twitter account, of course.  They encourage you to be creative with your tweet including videos, photos, links, whatever and making sure you include the hashtag #Lapostolle.  Then, using your social media and networking prowess, get all your friends to vote your tweet as their favorite.  Note that votes make up only 20% of the overall “scoring” by Lapostolle to determine the winner.  The other 50% and 30% are based on Originality/Creativity and incorporating Lapostolle’s lifestyle, respectively.

About Lapostolle

Founded in 1994 by the Marnier Lapostolle, known for their well-known liqueur, Grand Marnier.  Mmmm, I can taste it already.  Located in Colchagua, Chile, Lapostolle brings over European and French tradition winemaking approaches and dedication to quality while taking advantage of some of the best terroir in the world.

If you like my video (yes, no music… bummer… strict contest rules) and appreciate my passion for wine, please feel free to VOTE.  Note: an email registration is required on the site in order to vote.

Cheers!

If you live in or near Metro Atlanta or are planning to be in the area this weekend, you will not want to miss this event.  This will be my first, but I have heard from many who have attending these great swine and wine parties to know this is something you do not want to miss.  The concept is simply “5 Pigs, 5 Chefs and 5 Winemakers” and here’s the lineup:

The Chefs – Each will be given a heritage breed pig from head to toe and prepare as they wish

• Kevin Rathbun, Rathbun’s Restaurants, Atlanta
• Sean Brock, McCrady’s, Charleston
• Mike Lata, Fig Restaurant, Charleston
• Todd Mussman, Muss & Turner’s, Atlanta
• Kelly English, Restaurant Iris, Memphis

Wineries

• Gamble Family Vineyards
• Hirsch Vineyards
• Buty Winery
• Anne Amie Vineyards – I’ll be hanging with these guys – come check us out!
• Domaine Serene

VIP: Reserve wines by Domaine Serene and Gamble Family Vineyards, cheese display, oysters and cocktails by DRINKSHOP Mixologist Eric Simpkins

WHEN: Sunday, April 18th, 5:00 p.m.

VIP Reception 3:30 p.m. photo opportunity/ rsvp required

WHERE: 55 Allen Plaza Atlanta, GA 30308

View Larger Map

Host Venue and Sponsor: W ATLANTA DOWNTOWN

WHY: To promote heritage pigs and breed diversity in local and national communities.

HOW: The cost is $125 per person and is open to the public

DISCOUNTS:  There are 2 active promo codes I am currently aware of:

• “swinetology” for $10 off
• “tnet” for $25 off for Juice subscribers (so you need to sign up!)

Get tickets here: http://www.localwineevents.com/events/detail/290633/

Over at DirtySouthWine.com Hardy mentioned he was off to film a chap by the name of Sean Thackrey, who happens to be a very well-known winemaker.  Whenever I hear about winemakers, well-known or just getting started, I love learning about their stories.  How did they get started, what are they passionate about, what are they most known for and the list goes on.  Next time you visit a winery, see if you can get a chance to talk to the winemaker and you won’t be disappointed.

When we visited Lancaster Estate this past summer, we got a chance to chat with winemaker Jennifer Higgins who was more than happy to take a few of her precious minutes to show us around and talk about current activities going on in the winery.  Here’s a little snippet talking about steam cleaning barrels.

I was also able to interview Sarah Gott, who had much success at wineries like Joseph Phelps, Quinetessa, and Joel Gott and is now a consultant for several other wineries including Clif Family Winery, which I wrote about here.  She is a true believer of sustainability and has helped Clif develop a red blend fashioned after Orin Swift’s The Prisoner.

Michael Brajkovich of New Zealand’s Kumeu River winery focuses on making natural wines using Burgundian winemaking styles and has targeted Chardonnay as the best grape for his property.  Much of the nutty-ness and hints of toast are from the yeast as I described here.

Getting back to Thackrey… Sean is one of those grizzled veterans in his late 60′s now and has been making wine since the late 70′s.  You can find stories about him just about anywhere and there is a “recent” article about him from 2003 in the Wine Spectator archives.  He is best known for Pleiades, which is a blend of mostly Syrah and 5 other varieties, and Orion, a highly concentrated red from the Rossi Vineyard in St. Helena.  I can’t wait to see what Hardy puts together after his interview and video session.  But, this is the part of Sean’s story I really gravitate to:

“He’s a self-taught winemakerwho believes that the practical challenges one encounters when fermenting grapes have little to do with what’s taught in a classroom. ‘Wine science is to winemaking the way food science is to cooking. They’re simply different problems,’ he says” – Wine Spectator, January 31, 2003.

So, you can learn alot about the wine you are drinking, the story and passion behind the juice which hopefully will enhance your experience.  Which winemakers have you met or make one of your favorite wines?

Cheers!

As I mentioned in a previous post about needing a little change, you know that I have aspirations of becoming a winemaker or work in the wine industry in some capacity.  In that post I also mentioned a contest TravelOregon is promoting where one winner will get to work with Lynn Penner-Ash of the winery’s namesake.  At first I wasn’t sure if I’d have the time to put together something presentable as you have to make a 2 minute video as your application.   But, I put in a submission just under the deadline… do you have visions of Murphy-Goode dancing in your heads? 

Don’t worry no voting really needed here as the video and a “tweet” stating why I should win the opportunity to work with Lynn for a week next harvest will be judged by none other than the fabulously spectacular Jeff Lefevre of the Good Grape wine blog.  However, a “prize” may also be awarded to the video with the most views according to the YouTube view counter, so a quick view of the video by you and your peeps wouldn’t hurt…   so, pssst… pass it on!

Here it is (also in the right sidebar)… laugh, cry, let it move you… or laugh hysterically…  whatever… Cheers!

Continuing my wine project, I am on day #2.  It’s taken that long just for the frozen must to thaw out and reach a temperature of 56 degrees fahrenheit.  Once it had thawed I added some sulfur dioxide to prevent oxidation as I waited for the must to reach optimal temperature for fermentation (~57-60 F at absolute minimum).  Hopefully, I will reach the 60s by tonight so I can start the fermentation, but it will most likely be tomorrow and then the race is on!

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Check out this cheesy video I made summarizing my early efforts so far:  Day 2