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: "Days of wine and roses laugh and run away, like a child at play."
Johnny Mercer (1909-1976), songwriter
(His song, Days of Wine and Roses, won Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1962)
Editor Rusty's Rap:Kosher Wine
In one wine event, an old friend came and asked me about kosher wine. I must admit that I was stumped by this question and so I went on with my research. We know that kosher wine is included in the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah and the traditional use of kosher wine has been used since biblical times. I learned that Kosher was produced throughout ancient Israel but today it is produced also in California, France and even New Zealand. To be considered kosher, a Sabbath-observant Jew must be involved in the entire wine making process from the harvest of the grapes, through fermentation to bottling. The kind of grapes are usually Concord varietal, non-wine grape type. The most popular kosher wine is the sweet, syrupy Manishewitz. I welcome a feedback from any of you, especially my Jewish friends and I shall print a correction, if there is any, in the next edition of Deaf Grapevine.
Wine Making:
At the 3rd stage of wine making, we add some additives to our new young wine still in a carboy or barrel. Three major additives are potassium bisulfite (to preserve wine), potassium sorbate (to kill fermentation) and chitosan (egg whites to clarify wine). It works fantastic! Wine makers do these prior to bottling.
Now in order to meet requirements in making kosher wine, those additives have to be "kosher". Some of fining agents that contains dairy products or gelatin (which is derived from non-kosher animals or fish) must be excluded. That's why kosher wine has to be closely supervised during the entire wine making process.
Fun Fact:
Notice the " . . . for sacramental purposes" in the picture above? Did you know that during the Prohibition ( date....), all alcoholic beverages were forbidden, EXCEPT wine for religious reasons? Churches and temples were allowed to serve wine for sacraments sessions whereas all other saloons could only serve water and milk! For that reason, the Christian Brothers Winery survived while many other wineries, breweries and whisky makers were closed during that period. One can only imagine that many drunkard men became church-goers on first Sunday when the Feds enforced the Prohibition amendment and began destroying all wine and whiskey barrels!
News in the Deaf Community:
On October 25, 2010, 1st Annual Food & Wine Festival was taken place in Austin, TX under the leadership of Paul Rutowski of Arouse Your Palate Catering Company. Austin, er, it was actually in Buda, TX and the site of this exciting festival was the historic restaurant namely Helen’s Casa Alde. The special guests were Kurt the "IRISH" Chef Ramborger and Rusty Wales the "wine connoisseur" and about 40 people showed up. Everyone had a blast! See the photos below and find out what you have missed!:
