|
"Here's to the corkscrew - A useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit, the treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship, & the gate of pleasant folly."
~ W.E.P. French |
New Releases DeChaunac, 2009 Soren's Favorite, 2008 101 Lakes White, 2009 Almost Gone Kreibaum Bay Port, 2007 Sold Out Kreibaum Bay Sangiovese, 2006 Dry Reisling, 2007 101 Lakes White, 2008 |
Fort Wayne Casa Restaurants feature Satek Wines In the month of September, the four locations of Casa Ristorante Italiano restaurants in Fort Wayne will highlight our very own 101 Lakes Red and 101 Lakes White wines on their Chef Features menu. Now you can enjoy your favorite wine while you dine on authentic Italian cuisine in these locally-owned and operated restaurants. Click the picture above to go to their website to see their locations, hours, and menus. |
| Harvest Times
This is always the most exciting time of the year for a winery. It is Harvest - or as we like to put it, " It's Crush Time". It is the time that grapes ripen to their optimum flavors, and that the wine making process starts. So what actually happens? It is far more complex than simply grapes turning red or translucent. Grapes have many parameters that are important in determining the best time to pick, but most vineyards and wineries use four main parameters.
Brix - or sugar content - of a grape is often cited as the main characteristic of ripening, but is overstated in importance. A ripe white grape will often have about 22 Brix, or approximately 22% sugar. A red grape will often have about 25 Brix, or 25% sugar.
Total Acidity is a measure of the (mostly) tartaric acid and malic acid content of a grape. As the grapes get ripe, the acid content goes down. Properly ripe grapes will have a Total Acidity of approximately 5-7 grams of acid per liter of juice for red wines to about 7-9 grams of acid per liter of juice for white wines.
pH of the grape is, in my opinion, the best and most important harvest parameter. It is also the hardest to understand, and to measure. Let's just say that all acids are not created equal, and pH is a measure of how strong the acids are in the grapes. We like to see pH's of 3.1 to 3.4 for white grapes, and 3.3 to 3.6 for red grapes. High or low pH's cause us great problems in the wine cellar.
And finally, taste. Some years, some grapes will have a very unripe "green" character, even if the other harvest parameters seem near or within proper range. Ultimately, the grapes should taste good to make a good wine.
So this is then the challenge: to take what Mother Nature gives us this year - which is never a perfect grape - and to make the very best wine we can. Stop by the winery almost any day during September and October and we will most likely doing something to take the grapes and turn them into wine. Feel free to ask what we are doing, and although we may not be able to give a normal tour, you will certainly see, firsthand, winemaking in action.
~contributed by Larry Satek, owner and chief winemaker |
|
|
|
Larry Satek and "Johnny Appleseed" at the Fort Wayne Tincaps baseball game
|
Greetings! ,
Friends are one of the greatest treasures in life; keeping in touch with all of them, one of the greatest challenges-- especially with friends you don't see often. Technology has replaced quill and parchment with cell phones, webcams, and social networking internet sites. Even at Satek Winery,we've traded in snail mail for this email newsletter.
But we also want to make it easy for you to keep in touch with us, at whatever moment you get a break in your busy schedule, and share your thoughts with us as readily as you'd pick up the phone to chat with an old friend.
By popular request, we've created a Facebook page for our friends to be able to follow us. On it, we'll be posting lots of pictures- of the vineyards, our upcoming harvest & crush, our events, and more. Of course we'll post the latest happenings and wine releases, but you'll also get to see the fun side of our winery and of our staff (pics like the above one at a recent staff outing). And we hope that you, our friends, will post your comments on our wall as well! Follow this link to find us on Facebook, and click "like" to add us to your friends!
Satek Winery on Facebook
Sláinte! (Irish toast, "To your health!")
-Chrissie |
|
Mango Mania Mixology
One of our most unique wines is also one of our most popular. Mango Mania, first introduced in summer of 2008, can be described as a "tropical escape in a glass". Its creation was inspired by Pam and Larry Satek's favorite vacation spot, Key West. It's made exclusively from fermented mango juice, so this sweet fruit wine appeals to both your sense of smell as well as taste. In 2009 it was awarded a Gold Medal at the INDY International Wine Competition. If you are planning a Labor Day get-together (or if you've been invited to one), consider creating some of these crowd-pleasing and easy-to-make mixed drinks using our Mango Mania wine.
Mangosa (Mango Mimosa)
Ingredients: ˇ 1 part Satek Mango Mania wine
ˇ 1 part orange juice Directions: combine ingredients in a large pitcher. Serve over ice and garnish with orange slices or sweet cherries.
Mango Margarita Ingredients:
ˇ 1 cup Satek Mango Mania wine
ˇ 1 1/2 ounces (one jigger) silver tequila
ˇ 1 ounce triple sec ˇ 1 cup ice Directions: Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into a hurricane-style glass.
Mango Sangria
Ingredients:
ˇ 1 bottle Satek Mango Mania wine
ˇ 1 bottle Pam's Perfect Little Red Wine
ˇ 1 cup orange juice
ˇ 1 cup mango chunks
ˇ 1 cup peach slices
ˇ 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and stir. Refrigerate for several hours for flavors to blend. Serve chilled in wine glasses. (note: substitute any of the fruits above with what's in season or whatever are your favorites).
Mango Martini
Ingredients:
ˇ 4 parts Satek Mango Mania wine ˇ Ice ˇ 2 parts citrus vodka ˇ 1 part Cointreau Directions: Combine all ingredients in a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with star fruit or orange slice.
|
 September 17th marks Von Steuben Day
As summer slides into fall, and the transition from the dog days of August evolves into the grape harvest and crush of September; between the observance of Labor Day and the preparation for Halloween, there is a holiday- little observed, recognized or celebrated- that deserves a better fate. Why? Well, because I'm writing this for one thing; but the real reason is it's an occasion named for someone that permeates our winery, and yet could almost go unnoticed: Von Steuben Day.
Freidrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben was born on Sept. 17th, 1730 (in what is now modern Germany), into an aristocratic but not wealthy nor landholding family, Steuben's fate was largely sealed by his family's role in the Prussian (pre-united Germany) military. Training academies, a military commission, and early exposure to combat cemented his persona, providing the discipline and excitement he discovered he enjoyed.
A professional solider for more than 30 years, Steuben found himself in the right place (Paris) at the right time (1777); America had declared independence from England in 1776, and found itself high in spirit but low on trained commanders. Confident in his abilities and desiring the chance to start anew, Steuben knew he was the real deal and took a leap of faith; paying his own way to America and with no promise of commission in the Continental Army, he travelled across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in New Hampshire just after his 47th birthday. Speaking little English, Steuben and his translators presented themselves to General George Washington and volunteered for the construction of a training program for the enlisted men. Washington quickly realized he had a great asset and put Steuben to work.
Steuben taught basic drill with bluster real and staged, re-organized and standardized unit structure, and instructed on camp sanitation and bayonet usage. He eventually served as Inspector General of the army, preparing the regulatory "Blue Book" training manual that would be used for many years after his death. America- no longer a mob but a fighting force, capable of tactics and orderly retreat- finally had a true military.
After the successful conclusion to the Revolution, Steuben relocated to a tract of wilderness land given him by a grateful state of New York, (near the modern city of Utica, NY) where he lived out his final years in a stubborn willfulness of his surroundings, dying in November of 1794.
All of this would make Baron von Steuben simply just an interesting historical footnote for war buffs, were it not for the perpetuation of his legacy by later German contemporaries, immigrants and descendents. A county in his adopted New York and a town in Ohio (on the site of Ft. Steuben) bear his name as tribute to Steuben's wartime efforts. The celebration of his birthday began to be tied into the holiday known as German-American Day and the resulting parade is named for him.
Yes, yes, you might be saying, but what does Von Steuben Day have to do with WINE? A look at our tasting list would give you that answer. A grape hybrid variety- Wayne crossed with Sheridan- developed at Cornell's Geneva experiment station and released in 1947, was named for the famous general who had resided about 100 miles away (the lore of it being an accidental naturally occurring hybrid is, apparently, a myth; a great personal disappointment). Large, cold hardy and vigorous, like its namesake, Steuben was selected by my father (perhaps with some whimsy) as a staple grape because it's versatile, blendable, and likely to survive the northern Indiana winter. As time has gone on, Satek Winery has made more than 5 separate entity wines with Steuben grapes, and others may someday follow. Many of the local area grape growers have cut their teeth on Steuben, as it remains a crop likely to carry on through the winter and be ready to begin again in spring. How military.
We at Satek Winery are very aware, being Steuben County's first winery, that we are, in some small sense, writing history. Yet we are fortunate to have ready material all about us, provided by persons long gone: the aforementioned Baron von Steuben, the towns of Fremont (originally called Willow Prairie, then Brockville, but renamed after the military officer, explorer, and presidential candidate John C. Frémont) and Angola (named such by settler's from Angola, New York, named such in support of a Quaker mission to the African county of the same name). Drawing from disparate elements, combining and melding, to produce something new and notable- doesn't that sound like winemaking? I thought so too.
~contributed by Jason Satek, history aficiando and likely to be Von Steuben's biggest fan |
|
|
