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Newsletter published by
Fine Vine Wines, LLC
"The Wine Maker's Toy Store™"
1300 N. Interstate 35-E, Suite 106
Carrollton, Texas 75006
August 2009
Volume 7, Issue 8
866-417-1114 (Long Distance)
972-323-7921 (Local)
972-323-7955 (Fax)
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WELCOME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Fine Vine Wines, LLC, "The Wine Maker's Toy Store". Whether you need home wine making products or just need information, we are here to serve you. I want to extend my thanks again for making The Wine Maker's Toy Store your home for your wine making needs. It continues to be my hope that every time you visit our web site or retail store, you will find something of value. |
| MORE SPECIAL ORDER PORTS AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
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Back by popular demand is the Orange Chocolate Port and White Chocolate, White Port from RJ Spagnols! These are outstanding wine kits that consistently win medals and are two of the most requested wine kits available. It is now available for pre-order with delivery in early October. In addition, they have added a Mulled Wine. This is a wine where spices have been added. The cut-off date for pre-ordering the 3 Spagnols Limited Releases is August 31, 2009.
In addition, you still have until August 4th to reserve your Chocolate Raspberry Port.
I will order extras, but I also will run out. If you want to guarantee you will get one or more of these wines kits, I strongly suggest you pre-order before the deadline. As always, your credit card will not be charged until the kit(s) are shipped or you pick them up in the store. |
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MONTHLY GIVE-A-WAYS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We all know that we are not dealing with the most robust economy right now and we are all trying our best to stretch each and every dollar. We have recognized your plight and if you have looked at our prices lately, you should have noticed price decreases in wine kits, bottles and corks, among other items. We will continue to squeeze our prices as best we can, but we wanted to do more, SO......
Starting this month, we are going to give away two $50.00 gift certificates each month. These gift certificates will be redeemable for any product we carry, but can only be used for the cost of the product. Any sales tax and/or shipping cost will not be covered by the certificate. Anyone that places an order during the month will automatically be entered in the contest and we will announce the winners in the monthly newsletter and via email.
The winners for July 2009 were:
Edward Lunger from Tunkhannock, PA
and
Richard Key from Ozark, AR
Congratulations to both. Maybe next month you will be the winner. |
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LARGE WINE MAKING EQUIPMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are in the market for any of the larger wine making equipment like crushers, crusher/de-stemmers, presses and/or stainless steel tanks, don't procrastinate! These items are selling very quickly and the industry usually runs out of these items by September. For those of you interested in these items, here are the links to the online catalog pages:
Please note that the prices on all of these items have been significantly reduced and, as such, no longer qualify for any discounts. |
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PETER BREHM FROZEN GRAPES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We just found out that Brehm Vineyard will be increasing the prices of their frozen grapes and must, so we are starting a new order for his products. The price increase goes into effect on August 15th, so will will be placing our order on August 14th. If you are interested in any of his remaining pails, please place your order as quickly as possible as heis running out of the remaining pails very quickly. To see what is still available, use the following link:
In addition, Brehm's is now taking pre-orders for this year's harvest. Obviously, since the grapes have not been picked, we do not know the brix, T.A. or pH, but if the grapes do not meet winery standards, they will not be purchased and your money will be refunded. Brehm's is offering this program to assure you the grapes you want. In the past, several of his offerings have sold out, specifically, the Caldwell Cab and the Suscol Ranch Merlot. if you want any of these grapes, your best bet to pre-order them.
Before ordering any of the Brehm's Frozen Grapes or Must for the first time, please read all of the information regarding these products on our web site. These are not wine kits. | |
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FORTIFYING YOUR PORT
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In last month's "Pressing News" we covered the instructions for making the La Bodega port kit. This month we will cover the process of fortifying this kit.
The La Bodega kit will make three gallons of wine with about 15% alcohol by volume before adding the flavor bag. Fortification and flavor bag addition can be done any time after the wine has stabilized and before it has been filtered.
There are two methods that could be used. The first method is to remove wine from the 3-gallon carboy to make room for the flavor bag and spirits. Add the flavor bag and spirits to the wine - stir gently and top up. This results in three gallons of sweetened, fortified wine and some additional unsweetened and unfortified wine that can be used for future topping up or bottled as is. The second method is to rack the wine to a container larger than three gallons, add the flavor bag and spirits, stir gently and transfer to a 3-gallon carboy and a smaller jug with minimal headspace. This results in more than three gallons of sweetened and fortified wine. We will be using the second method in this article.
The amount of spirits used will depend on whether 190 proof or 80 proof spirits are used for fortification. In the past we have used Everclear and E&J XO Brandy with good results. We have also had reports of good results using E&J VSOP and vodka. If you are using a flavored brandy, make sure it is a flavor addition that you want in your port.
First we will need to determine the impact on the alcohol content from adding the flavor bag. The following formula can be used where two wines are blended when the volume and the alcohol content of both wines are known.
(A x D) + (B x E)
C = -----------------------
(D + E)
A = alcohol content of Wine #1
B = alcohol content of Wine #2
C = alcohol content of the blended wine
D = volume of Wine #1 used
E = volume of Wine #2 used
Our 3-gallon carboy holds 11.66 liters of wine when filled 2 inches from the bottom of the bung. The alcohol content of the port is 15%. The flavor bag contains one liter of juice with an alcohol content of zero. Since the flavor bag does not contain any alcohol, we need to determine the alcohol content of the port blended with the flavoring pack. Substituting this information into the formula results in:
(15 x 11.66) + (0 x 1)
C = --------------------------
(11.66 + 1)
= (174.9) + (0)
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12.66
The blended wine (#1 & #2) will have a volume of 12.66 liters and an alcohol content of 13.8%.
Next we need to determine the amount of spirits to be added to bring our blend to the desired alcohol content. The following is a variation of the above formula:
(A x D) - (C x D)
E = ----------------------
(C - B)
Wine #1 will be the 190 proof (95% alcohol) Everclear. Wine #2 will be the port that based upon our first calculation is now 12.66 liters at 13.8% alcohol. Our goal is to determine how much Everclear will be required to fortify the port to 20%. Substituting this information into the formula results in:
(13.8 x 12.66) - (20 x 12.66)
E = ----------------------------------
(20 - 95)
= (174.7) - (253.2)
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(- 75)
= 1.05
Based on this calculation about one liter of Everclear added to 12.66 liters of wine plus the flavor bag will result in a port fortified to approximately 20%.
If instead of Everclear, 80 proof (40% alcohol) was used, the calculation would look like this:
E = (13.8 x 12.66) - (20 x 12.66)
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(20 - 40)
= (174.7) - (253.2)
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(- 20)
= 3.92
You can see from this calculation that almost 4 liters of 80 proof spirits would need to be added to obtain a port fortified to 20%. This large addition will have a significant impact on the aroma and taste so be sure that if you are using flavored spirits that the flavor will add to the experience.
In our example we fortified the port to 20%. The port can be fortified to 18% and would require a smaller addition of spirits. Generally, the higher the alcohol content the more bottle aging required to smooth out the rough edges of aroma and taste.
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| WINES OF THE MONTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mosti Mondiale is celebrating its 20th anniversary and in the process is offering some excellent bargains on their products. For the month of August, all Vinifera Noble 10 liter kits and Village Vintner 7 liter kits are $5.00 off. In addition, the Original All Juice kits are $10.00 off.
To see the pricing on these outstanding products, click on the following clicks:
Remember with all of our "Wines of the Month", we try to anticipate demand, but may not be 100% successful. If we run out of a special, we will advise you of such and an expected ship date. We appreciate your understanding. |
| DFW AREA HOME WINE MAKING CLUB
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The next Cork's Crew, the Home Winemaker's Club meeting will be on Saturday, August 8, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. at Vinnie's Italian Restaurant.
We will be finalizing our discussion on membership in the American Wine Society.
If you would like to be added to the club mailings, please give me a call.
Hope to see you there. |
| Toys of the Month
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With the onset of fresh fruit season, who doesn't need another fermenting bucket or two. On the other hand, if your bucket has seen better days, now is a great time to replace it. During the month of August, all of our fermenting buckets are on sale for at least 10% off.
To see the pricing on these items, click here. |
| NEW PRODUCTS
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As you can see from the news above, we have been diligently adding more and more products to our web site. To see all of the products added during the last 60 days, visit our New Products Page whenever you visit the web site.
If you are looking for a product that I do not carry, my distributors are LD Carlson and Crosby & Baker, Ltd. You can see their complete product list at their public catalogs. If you find anything you would like me to add, please let me know. | |
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Now with over 110,000 posts!
When you have a question or just want to learn more about wine making, don't forget our forum! We have over 1,500 registered members with over 99,000 posts! We have some extremely knowledgeable wine makers with loads of valuable information willing to assist you in your wine making needs. Responses to most posts are made within minutes. We are also known to have an occasional contest available to forum member only with valuable gifts, savings and coupons!
Whether you are an expert or a novice, it is an excellent place to ask questions, exchange ideas and meet other home wine makers. If you haven't logged into the forum, try it sometime. I think you will find it most informative and enjoyable, as well as, a great place to meet fellow wine makers.
DISCOUNTS
The most common discounts are listed below:
CUSTOMER REFERRAL PROGRAM
We have a customer referral program that provides additional discounts to registered users. We will give you a coupon worth 10% of the first order placed by any person that you refer to our web site. The stipulations are as follows:
- You must be a registered user of finevinewines.com,
- The person placing the order must register and provide your full name in the appropriate field on the registration screen, and
- The discount is only good for future orders with finevinewines.com and is not redeemable for cash.
CUSTOMER APPRECIATION PROGRAM - FVW GROWERS CLUB
Please check out our FVW Growers Club. You can get all of the details on our web site, but the bottom line is we want to buy your loyalty! Once you spend $500 with us, you get a 10% discount on all non-Winery Related Items. Find out more on the web site.
REGISTRATION DISCOUNT (FIRST TIME ORDERS)
To receive this 5% off, all you have to do is register with us and place an order for $50.00, or more (excluding shipping and taxes). If your first order is for more than $140.00, we will give you 10% off. When you register, you will also be given the opportunity to sign up for our monthly newsletter, which is the only recurring email we send. We will not blast you with email after email touting our current specials. We encourage you to register to make the ordering process easier on you.
BIRTHDAY CLUB
If you are a registered user and have provided your birth day and month, every year you will receive a coupon good for $5.00 off any order over $25.00. This coupon is in addition to any other discounts in which you may be entitled. These coupons are emailed on the first of the month and are good for your birth month only. To join up, register, go to the My Account section and provide your birth day and month.
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
We appreciate all of your comments, whether good or bad. To demonstrate our commitment to outstanding customer service, I have created a web page with your feedback. As we receive emails that comment about our service, I will post them on this page:
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As a reminder, we continue to add products and content to the web site, therefore, if you have any special requests, please let us know. We like to hear what you have to say about our site, our products and/or our customer service, good or bad. Please send your comments and/or suggestions to [email protected].
Don't forget we like you to CALL!
If you have any questions about our products, our service and/or wine making, please call us. We are here to serve you and enjoying assisting you in any way we can. We have an international toll-free line so you WILL call us. Someone is usually at the store between 9 am and 7 pm, Monday through Saturday. We always try to answer the phone when you call; however, sometimes, we are unable to answer the phone as we are on the other lines or we have customers in the store. If you get the voice mail, please leave your name, number, brief message and a best time to call. We will return your call just as soon as we can. If you don't want to call, just send us an email. We usually answer our emails daily. Please remember, we are a resource and we are here to serve you.
We don't want to be the biggest store, just the BEST!
Cheers!
George Cornelius, President
Fine Vine Wines, LLC, The Wine Maker's Toy Store
Contact Information
phone: 1-866-417-1114 |
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