| Wine medals and wine making |
As some of my friends and family know my passion for pairing wine and food. ( Rochester Winos) I also do have a hobby for wine making. It started when I was young I was amazed by my grandfather Santo, uncle Gino & Vincent & father Giuseppe. They would make wine in the garage and basement. They wold buy old whisky barrels and grapes from the public market. It tasted good some years or like gasoline. I was always into chemistry and liked the whole science of it. I asked questions to my family what kind of grapes, yeast, how long does it take. So I was always helping out or just watching them. Waiting for my time.
It was not till I was about in my 20's I started looking up how to make wine on the internet reading books and asking questions to the wine makers I met on the wine trail when I was driving limos for wine tours in the Finger Lakes. I had tried a juice concentrate it was ok but it tasted cooked / syrupy. They told me to start with the pressed juice or concentrate before going to grapes. I went to Fulkerson Winery & juice supply they helped me put together my own carboys and fresh pressed juice. They gave me some info in what to do and off I went. Its addicting from 1 carboy to every year adding 3 carboys every year. ( Carboy is a 1, 3, 5 or 6 gallon glass water jug) Now I'm purchasing 40lb cases of grapes crushing and de-stemming, pushing down the caps (reds) pressing the grapes to get the juice. This is a tedious process with testing the brix, acid, ph, adding nutrients & much more.
Nothing beats the great feeling and accomplishment you get from making good wine from grapes. But I still will purchase a few gallons of fresh pressed juice from Fulkerson's or Mayer's.
Here are some pictures of the process and medals I have won over the past years.
Enjoy!
Vincenzo Raffaele-Addamo
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| Wine Medals from 2006 to 2008 |
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| I have been making wine for many years for my consumption with family and friends at home and parties. But until 2006 because of my good friends Scott & Ruth Osborn from Fox Run Vineyards tasted my wines and suggested I enter them in amateur wine competitions. I have been entering my wines for three years now in major amateur wine competitions around the USA. I have won many medals and honorable mentions. Also want to say thanks to my friends at Marketview Liquor that help me ship my wines to competitions out of state.
Vincenzo Raffaele-Addamo
Lover of wine and food.
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| Wine Medals from 2006 to 2008 |
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| Crushed and de-stemmed grapes, primary fermentation |
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| Punching down the "cap" to extract the color in the skins |
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| Punching down the "cap" 3x per day up to 15 days |
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| Time to press out the juice from the skins |
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| The free run juice before pressing |
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| Proper press technique, dont over press or you will get bitter tannins |
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| Secondary fermentation transfered into a carboy |
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| Wine lees fall to the bottom and wine becomes clear |
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| More carboys |
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| Some simple wine making steps |
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| The Vineyard |
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| The Grape |
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| The Press |
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| The Press |
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| The Juice |
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| The Aging |
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| The Tasting |
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| The Tasting |
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