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Nanaimo WinemakersMaking better wines at home on Vancouver Island. |
vol. 13, no. 7
Pressing News—September 2010
Maureen Millar, editor
September 7 Club Meeting: White wine making
This is our annual educational session on making better white wines. Rod Church is arranging the session and there will be tasting of wines made by members to illustrate some of the decsions you must make when making white wine. For this session, Rod has begun to revise the winemaking notes on this website. Please check out the entries in the section on white wine making as background to the meeting. The raffle wine for the evening is a 2003 Syrah/Cabernet blend from Dragon Seal Winery in Beijing. The grapes are grown in China but the vines were imported from France and the French are involved in the production process. For more information on this winery and its products, go here. Host for the evening is Harry McLeod. See you at Cavallotti Hall, 2060 East Wellington, Tuesday, September 7 at 7:00 p.m. Guests welcome.
Summer picnic a success
For pictures and Fay Mikkelsen's report on the July 18 picnic, go here. Before you look at the pictures, see if you can guess what the two gentlemen at the right are doing. They were certainly helping to make the picnic a fun time for all.
Winemaking section of website being reorganized and revised
Check out the winemaking section of the website. Revisions will continue until we get our grapes later this fall. Please let Rod Church know if you have any suggestions for information you think should be included.
Health and alcohol
There seems to be no end to the popular fascination with the health pros and cons of alcohol.
On July 28, The Montreal Gazette had a story with the headline "Feeling some aches and pains? Have a drink, British scientists say." Of course, the scientific study didn't exactly say this. But it did say that those who drank more than 10 times per month had significantly less ill effects from arthritis than teetotalers. In this study it was just alcohol that mattered, not wine especially.
On July 4, the CBC produced an "in depth" health report on red wine with the title "Red, red wine: Health pros and cons." Unfortunately, the report ends with the recent observations of French experts that red wine does more harm than good, but those of us who want to believe otherwise will find some support too.
Wino beef in the Okanagan
This is the link to a CBC story on the Okanagan beef producer who has decided to feed wine to her cattle to improve the quality of beef. It may be a gimmick, but a visit to the Quail's Gate restaurant in the Okanagan could give you the chance to decide for yourself. The CBC story quotes enough animal experts to convince me that at least the cows aren’t suffering!
"Secret" Recipe of the Month—Maureen’s Tarter Sauce
Well, it has been a secret until this month :). My friend Ann tells me she would eat cardboard with this sauce, so when I knew she was coming for a visit I made it to serve with a lovely piece of salmon we had been given. This recipe is good with all kinds of fish. Because fresh fish are on many tables these days, and because I am in a magnanimous mood, I thought I’d share it. Stir together:
- ¾ c sour cream
- ¾ c mayonnaise
- Juice of ½ a lemon
- ½ chopped sweet onion
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped dill pickles
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped capers (must have)
- 1 teaspoon creamy horseradish
- ½ teaspoon dill – dried or fresh
- salt and white pepper to taste
We served this with pan baked salmon, new potatoes and salad.
Posted: 31 August 2010