OKAY-dokey!

Like a mad chemist, Vinomaker has been busy reading up on and researching new selections of commercial yeasts that he may want to try on a Vinoland fermentation.  And this is one he came up with - Lalvin's ICV OKAY.  Cool name, if nothing else, but this specific selection of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, promises rapid alcoholic fermentation and low SO2, H2S and acetaldehyde production in wines.  Vinomaker is planning to use this yeast on one batch of Vinoland's Syrah: he loves experimenting with different fermentations.

Okey-dokey then, we'll just have to wait and see how well this particular domesticated organism performs.  Ferment on, little yeasties.

More Martini.

So what was in Vinogirl's six-pack?  Well, amongst other wines, there was this bottle of 1984 Louis M. Martini, Monte Rosso, Sonoma Cabernet sauvignon.  Not nearly as attractive a label as on the 1979, this bottle had a decidedly 80s style to it and was, quite frankly, rather ugly.  But how about the wine inside? 

At 13.8% the alcohol was a bit higher than the 1979 (written as a decimal this time around), but it mattered little.  This was a fabulous wine; deep garnet-red, gentle mouth-watering acidity, soft and silky tannins (as can only be acquired by bottle aging a wine for 28 years), luscious brambly hedge-warm-off-the-bush blackberries, a hint of spice (the mustiness of white pepper, perhaps?) and a still persistent tannic finish.  To be expected, as ethanol becomes oxidised with age, there was a whiff of acetaldehyde, but really not enough to be a flaw:  the level of acetaldehyde I detected was just enough to be salutary to the wine's overall complexity.  Paired with a rare New York strip, piled high with sautéed mushrooms and onions, this wine was simply delightful.  I had to stop myself from finishing the whole bottle.

A thank you to my employers at TWWIAGE for cellaring this wine perfectly, just for me.