Diversion: La tres-sainte bouteille

While cruising for images on LOC...

And a Muscat label for the party...

Well, I got to recycle part f the image I wanted to use for last year's party invite, which had a naked Bachus version of James Guido astride the barrel.  Waste not, want not.

The thrillah from Zillah

Thanks, Two Mountain and M&M, for the grapes.  Yummy.  Maybe this is the label we'll use for the little bit that we've bottled for the June party.

2012 Merlot that didn't make it into the fusti... and SO2

Managed to make it into bottles.

Checking through notes I see that we raised this wine and the cab f. by about 30 ppm back on Nov. 11, 2012.  No other meta went into it before bottling.  Eyeballing lots of notes it seems to me that wine we store in carboys in our no-temp-control cellar and with our lackadaisical racking schedule lose about 10 to 15 ppm a year - at least that seems to hold true for the whites with and without skin fermentation.  So I think I'll go forward with bumping anything staying in bulk by about 15 ppm.  (The fact that 1 ml of the solution I mix raises 1 gallon 15 ppm is probably not a coincidence in all of this reckoning.)

Possible labels

The 2010 Primitivo remains challenging (pooptivo) unless it's let breath for hours.  Thus:

While I was goofing around in that neck of the woods, there's a possible Muscat 2012 label:

But maybe much better this slight alteration of a Rother print:

Labels for the 2010 Cal Blend

Did these up as 2 inch round labels:

Muscat labels, 2010

More party prep: 2009 Merlot labels

Hadn't realized that there were no Merlot labels made - what was I thinking?  The above is based from the sheet music for the Merry Widow - below.

Tags

I've become really fond of the tags we've been creating the last few years for both the wines and liqueurs  we've been making.  I think I'll start posting them to a sidebar.

Xmas liqueurs, errors and omissions

We have an Anisette and a Ginger Cardamom batch going.  The Anisette is from Meilach and the G/C from Rathburn (or it's Rathburn's Ginger plus a couple of Cardamom pods suggested by Meilach).

I was putting the simple syrup together last night and I realized that Meilach and Rathbun use different proportions.  Meilach is 2 to 1 sugar to water, and Rathbun is 3 to 2.5.  I automatically made the Meilach syrup, and now have to decide whether to make the ginger a little sweeter than it's author would, or make another batch of syrup.  Plus I misremembered the final volumes - I forgot that the final volume = the sugar content, not the water, so I would up making double the amount I need.  Yo, I have a lot of syrup right now - anyone need any?

And, a first amaro label

The height of self indulgence. Maybe the bitterest herb in the Feb. amaro is centaury - supposedly used by Centaur Chiron to treat his own wound from that nasty poisonous arrow of Hercules. That didn't work out so well, but the herb got named. So, why not, Centaury Amaro. The image is by Donato Creti, "The Education of Achilles by Chiron" 1714 Oil on canvas Musei Civici d'Arte Antica, Bologna.

Oh, hell, later that same afternoon - here's another:

Obama Sauvignon labels for B & L

Okiedoke. B asked if I could cook these up. Took me a while to get my head into it. Here are two variations on a theme, b&w. Might be nice to color the wreaths. Even hand color them after printing. (click for full sized images)

2007 labels

B has asked for me to post the 2007 labels. Here are most of them - there are others that it would be hard to imagine fitting onto a bottle. All jpeg or gif, all web-safe colors. When I print these I do them on plain paper, usually from a text document with the images in a table. Word or zoho or whatever.

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Girl in the stars Cabernet

Been fooling with lots of Library of Congress images. This one's from a 1928 stereo card.

Fab Cab (Magog) label

Take 2 on victory label

Take 2 (on the right) is mo better. Less busy. Easier on the eye. The wine tastes better.

2008 label, victory

Another great LOC image, a little depression, a couple of wars, and Barry's victory.

First 2008 label ideas bubbling up

Well, really, is it ever too soon to start thinking about labels? No. No, it is not.