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HELP! I'M awash in wine... On
second thought, hold the life-
preserver; I'll just keep swal-
lowing to lower the level.

By John Moore
Contributing Writer

Late in December, in the midst of
the Christmas madness, I spent a
couple of pleasant hours at “my win-
ery”, McWines, on West Third St,
bottling the batches of Pouilly-Fuisse
and Chateauneuf-du-Pape I'd started
a month before. In the intervening
wecks, I'd acquired my own bottles,
(McWines guarantees 30 750ml bot-
tles from a 23 litre batch) and the
back of the station wagon sounded
like a xylophone concen.

Never having done this before, I
was expecting something messy and
boring. Instead, it was a snap and a
lot of fun. The wines were waiting in
big five gallon glass carboys, already
.. filtered by Jim Bernard, golden and

-Tuby, looking tantalizingly clear and
‘drinkable. Washing and sterilizing
* the bottles took only a few minutes in
the big sinks rigged with handy pres-
sure faucets. The siphoning is done
. with a glass pipette with pressure-
_ sensitive nozzle at the end of a hose,

an ingenious device; you fill the bot-
» We to.the brim, then withdraw the
. pipette, which displaces exactly the
volume of wine necessary to accom-
modate the cork. (“I have to get one
“of these,” said under my breath,
remembering the look on Her Nibs’

face after my /neighbor and: I

siphoned off a homemade batch in
: the bathroom, leaving it kors de com-,

alae: 7
pease

Mn ese on:

bat for hours.)

“Any Wine Arts store will sell you
one," Jim Bernard offered, evidently
having mopped a few floors in his
time. Eileen Mackay pointed out that
the device also eliminates the neces-
sity of sucking on the tube to get it
started, “which some people find a
bit gross.”

With my cart full of full bottles, I
proceeded to the tripod corking
machine ~— another piece of
medieval equipment that looks far
more formidable than it is. The
corks, quaranteed for five years,
squeeze in with miraculous case, the
bottles are laid in racks, half dozen at
atime, while labels are wiped over a
wet-roiler and slapped on. The final
procedure involves shrink-wrapping
with steam from an electric keitle,
and Voila! Cases of wine!

In no time, [ was loading them
into the back of the wagon, feeling
like a bootlegger and certainly look-
ing like one. Part of the fun was chat-
ting to the other customers about
their wines and generally knocking
around, wiping up after each other
and comparing tasting notes because,
of course, we couidn’t resist tasting
the stuff.

» My notes are a bit muddy: some-
one seems to have spilt an unidentifi-
able red liquid on them, As near as I

can remember, both showed marked -

varietal character and were pre-
dictable forward and fruity as you'd
expect from any wine that just got
out of jail. :

Both Jim Berard and Eileen
Mackay stress the importance of get-
ting ahead of your consumption

‘when making your own wines; three,

NT Ore Ma
HE aC et

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A concert of music by Rogers & Hammerstein, Gilbert &

Sullivan, Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein
- featuring

She

DL

with special guests

DD

Cormuucogin

Dd

performing the music of Duke Eliington,
Thelonius Monk and Rossini

Centennial Theatre
2300 Lonsdale, North Vancouver

preferably six, months in bottle
means that you get more than your
Money's worth at approximately $3
per bottle. To make her point Eileen
Mackay graciously traded a few bot-
tles of her six-month-old Pouilly
Fuisse and Chateauneuf-du-Pape for
bottles of my new batch. My tasting
notes are bused on her wines; I've so
far managed to avoid opening my
awn too soon by tying my hands
behind my back, locking the cellar
door and losing the key.

These wines aren't going to bank-
rupt the French wine economy. There
will always be those prepared to pay
$25 to $30 or more for a label, no
matter what kind of Jitter-box drain-
ings may be behind it. There are
good Pouilly-Fuisses and less good
ones (all over-priced), and this is at
least as good as the latter: distinctive
chardonnay character, apple-accent-
ed fruit, no discernable ouk of
course, but easily on a par with most
$10 Australian or Chilean chardon-
nay at one-third the price.

The red is a harder call. Behind
it's pretentious name and price, rue
Chateauneauf-du-Pupe is a country
wine at heart, which can be legally
made from over a dozen grapes

depending on the mood or madness |

of the maker, resulting in wide varia-
tions. I don’t flatter myself that my
palate is the most discriminating. I’ve
ingested liquids most of you have
only seen in horror movies, (remem-
ber Berry Jack?), but my taste buds
tell me that this kit is mostly zinfan-
del. The home version I made tastes
much the same as the “new” sample
I tasted from the siphon at McWines.

Eileen’s six-month-old version
has lost much of its aggressive
Beaujolais-style fruit. and bouquet,
mutating into something more
raisiny, like an Australian shiraz; a

change more radical than that under- .
gone by the white. Tastings held into”

VALLEY _
CENTRE —

ST

IES

WRITER JOHN Moore found

NEWS photo Brad Locwidga

his vino-making experience an

enjoyable one, and he admits the thought of being “awash in

wine” is also easy on his palate.

the wee hours by dedicated .volun-
teers concluded that it was ultimately
a matter of individual taste and

patience. -

Interestingly, Eileen also let me
taste recently bottled versions of
Soave and Valpolicella. The latter I
found simply another lighter zinfan-

1

del-based red, but the Soave was
excellent, crisper and fuller than its
often indifferent namesake — a real-
ly pleasant white wine without
wanna-be chardonnay. ambitions that
I've noted to make next time.

And ‘at: these prices next time
won't be too long from now. -

seed

_Seasonal items from our 5 stores, Feb. 12-15 only

Easy access, take the Lynn Valley Rd. (North). Exit off Upper Levels Hwy. “
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