Jedi Wine Making – Chemistry can be fun?

OMG! Who knew?

Apparently … Lab tests on wine are fun. The test subject (wine aging in our barrels in the barn) matters. I have been a chemistry hater from way back, even changed my college major to avoid chem classes.

But … When you know the tests you are about to learn can keep your wine on track, you will do just about anything to chase the dream of making that elusive, perfect, full-bodied, balanced glass of vino, especially if you’ve slaved all season tending the vines.

So … Ted of Medeiros Family Winery, my Yoda mentor, hosted this morning’s foray into his lab to determine how much free SO2 was suspended in each barrel’s wine. SO2 is the substance that can protect the wine from oxidation, basically keeping the “bitter” under control.

During … There were test tubes hanging from a science-looking contraption, pipettes, rubber tubing, things bubbling, substances dripping one drop at a time into a wine-colored solution that suddenly turned green. Very cool!

All the precise measuring and scary looking equipment my free spirit hated in high school, became a welcome, fun endeavor getting me ever so slightly closer to that sigh of delight I want to feel and to see on family and friends’ faces when they take a sip of our wine. Someday, hopefully. Currently, we have progressed from an out and out frown and searching look for a spittoon to a neutral look of wonder and a “hey, this is not bad.”

All in all … Not a bad way to spend the morning.