Spanish Macabeo wine: My first tasting

 In the Winter Wines Advent calendar that I had gotten at Lidl, and have been enjoying my way through during this time, today's wine is a Macabeo white wine from Spain! It is just wonderful! It is very smooth, and medium-bodied. I am truly glad I have made its acquaintance. 

In looking online about this grape that I hadn't heard of before, I learned that most Macabeo is produced in Spain, with France in the number two slot. Apparently the grapes are used primarily in white wine blends. 

A huge proportion of Macabeo comes from the Rioja region of Spain, where the locals call it Viura. The nearby Navarra region calls it this, as well. 

In France, most Macabeo is from the Languedoc region. 

I promise I will be looking for more Macabeo in my local area! A delightful find, courtesy of Lidl!

Homemade Spiced Pear Wine

 I started a small batch of homemade spiced pear wine tonight. I took two very ripe Seckel pears, added white sugar and water, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, and covered it with a cloth towel to ferment.

Homemade Muscadine Ice Wine with Lemon Balm

 

I am trying to make a lower sugar muscadine ice wine with dried lemon balm. I hadn't considered an ice wine out of muscadines until I left my fermenting muscadines in a location where they froze. Voila!

Homemade Muscadine Wine

Yesterday evening, I started a very small batch of muscadine wine with some extremely overripe muscadines. I crushed the grapes with my hands ina stainless bowl, added a small amount of sugar and water, and covered the bowl with a cotton towel. I am leaving it under my carport, as it will be cooler than if I kept it inside. I am hoping to achieve a drier muscadine wine this time. 

On November 11, I added some water, and some fresh lemon balm leaves, and squeezed the hulls of the muscadines. 

Prosecco cocktail

I made mine with La Marca Italian prosecco, a pinch of sugar, a lemon twist, a maraschino cherry, and a couple dashes of Angostura bitters! 

Inspiration

 In a departure from writing about wine-related items, I am pleased to share with you a new cocktail creation of my own design: Inspiration. It has an airplane bottle of orange vodka, an airplane bottle of mango liqueur, approximately a jigger of Bacardi light rum, a heavy-handed splash of Meyer's dark rum, and some lemon-lime essence sparkling water in it. Blended and poured over crushed ice. Enjoy!

Cardamom pear wine

 I bottled a very small amount of spiced pear wine this afternoon.

I started fermenting the pears and spices around the new year.

Now for the aging.....