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Vol. 4  No. 1  -  January/February/March 2010

News about wine making and wine appreciation by our Deaf fellows and friends, news not about people

Editor: Rusty Wales, the vintner of Prince of Wales wines
Webmaster: Bobby Skedsmo, the creator of the Estate of Skedsmo wines

Wine Quotation:    “When one has tea and good wine,one will have many friends.
Chinese Proverb

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sake-wine

Editor Rusty’s Rap:   Sake, Orient’s Favorite Wine

Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice, not grapes, although many English-spoken folks refer sake as rice wine.  While wine is produced by natural fermentation of sugar and yeast without heating or brewing, sake is made through a brewing process more like that of beer.  To make beer or sake, the sugar needed to produce alcohol must first be converted from starch as in rice or hops/barley (beer's main ingredient).  Both sake and beer must be brewed in order to convert starch into sugar before fermentation can begin.  Sake can be a strong drink if left undiluted, 18-20% alcohol but popular sake is often lowered to around 15% by diluting the sake with water prior to bottling.

I, for one, do not care much about sake but I believe everyone should have the chance to taste it, like I did.


Wine Making:  To be considered a varietal wine, what percentage must be made up of the predominant grape? 90%, 85%, 75%, or 51%?

Answer:  If less than 75% of the wine is made up of the predominant grapes, then it is considered a blended wine.  When you see "Merlot" on a label, it is 75% or more of Merlot grapes in your wine.  Winemakers can add other kind or "varietal" grapes such as Syrah to Merlot barrel (under 25%) and they can still label this wine as “Merlot”.  If winemakers add 26% of Syrah (or other red varietal) or more, then they have to label the wine as "red" or "blend" or whatever they invent a name for it.

Exception:  Napa Valley . . . it must be 85% in that location. French laws (Old World) require 100%, no blend at all!


Fun fact:  Many of us wine lovers would think that Greece was the first country to produce wine.  Those history buffs disagree with us and they are right.  Guess from which area wine originated/started?  Western Europe, South America, original 13 States or?  See the last paragraph below . . .


Question from Deaf Grapevine Fans:  My guest accidentally spilled red wine on my light colored rug.  How do you get red wine out of it?

Answer: White wine!  Pour white wine on red wine stains, then pat it up gently with paper towels.  White wine works because its neutral color and alcohol help dilute and dissolve the red-wine spill.  When the red stain turns pale pink, pat the spot as dry as you can with a big wad of paper towels.  Don't rub, which may spread the stain around.  You may need to follow up with a commercial carpet cleaner or stain remover later.  The key is to get it on fast with white wine first before red wine stain gets dry.

If red wine spills on your lady friend’s white blouse, what would you do about this?  Pouring white wine on her would be like Wet T-Shirt contest and she won't like it a bit!  My advice: go buy a Wine Away bottle (www.wineaway.com).  You will be the smartest guy in any party if you have it ready!

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News in the Deaf Community:  Wine Appreciation Workshop & Seafood Dinner has returned to Portland, Oregon by the popular demand!  It will be on February 13, 2010.  The host, Deaf Power Organization (www.dpo.org), experienced a great success with this event last year and so the second one was requested by those who had missed it and even the others who had attended!  It has been sold out already for one month, sorry!

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Answers to the Fun facts:  Iran!  Dating back to 6000 B.C., wine was thought to have originated in areas now within the border of Iran and Iraq.  Wine didn't appear in Europe until around 4500 B.C. in what is now is Greece.


Current List of Winemakers' Records

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