Introduce Yourselves here

[chadspad]

Bonjour!!

Hi all,
Just stumbled across this site and boy, am I pleased Looking forward to asking hundreds of questions - Im new to wine-making, have 7 different gallons on the go and keep getting complete brain-fade as to what ot do next
I live in Vendee, France having moved here from Norfolk 2 years ago - the pace of life, the solitude, the weather and the safety for my son are fantastic. I am a Reiki practioner & dabble with crystal healing & herbs. I love fishing with my hubby and son and scouring the local beaches for ammonites and other fossils.

Cheers Wendy

[Axl]

Hello and welcome chadspad,

So whats in the 7 gallons?

[chadspad]

Hi Axl, I used to know an Axl - u havent been to Thetford have u?

Ive got ginger & lemon (which is lovely so far!), banana, elderberry (thats good too), elderberry & pear, pear, nectarine & pear and quince. Ive already bottled an elderflower but that tasted disgusting - still not to worry!

Have plans to make many more but running short on demi-johns at the moment

Are u a beginner or a hard-core wine-maker?

[Hippie]

Welcome Wendy!

[jojo]

Accueil !

[lockwood1956]

Hello and welcome aboard

Perhaps you can help us source some Syrah grapes to ship to the UK

I can get spanish and Italian but not French

[Seahawk]

welcome to you

i this is a good place to be i am new myself,everyone is ready to help

[Axl]

Hi Axl, I used to know an Axl - u havent been to Thetford have u?

Are u a beginner or a hard-core wine-maker?

Nope, never been near Thetford,


I'm a hard core beginner, i can't stop making the stuff. I've about 31 gallons bulk ageing at the moment, and another 9 gallons on the go. This is a great forum with lots of good advice. Don't worry about stupid questions, i'm full of them and there's lots of experts here to help.

[chadspad]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone I particularly love the smileys arent they pukka!!!

lockwood1956 - I dont have a clue to Syra grapes but im happy to look into it!

Axl - 31 gallons blimey! When can u start drinking all that? I really like my banana wine, it tastes lovely, but ive gotta let it sit for 2 months & bottle for another 6 before its ready!

[Axl]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone I particularly love the smileys arent they pukka!!!

lockwood1956 - I dont have a clue to Syra grapes but im happy to look into it!

Axl - 31 gallons blimey! When can u start drinking all that? I really like my banana wine, it tastes lovely, but ive gotta let it sit for 2 months & bottle for another 6 before its ready!

Hi chadspad,

I'll start drinking this lot when at least a year of bulk ageing has past, i figure its taken a long time to produce this wine, why spoil it by drinking too soon, ie - before its had time to mature. They were all started at different times of the year so will be ready all year round in 2007. Can't wait!

[WVMountaineerJack]

C.J. Berry Sent Me Here!

Well hello from the USA. I live on a small allotment of 2 acres, I am trying to turn most of it into a berry patch. So far I have Black and Red Currants, a row of black berries and about maybe 20-25 elderberries and a few gooseberries. Its hard to get the currants and elderberries here as fresh and I never know what the real fruit concentration is in the concentrates so we just decided to grow our own instead. I also have some cherry trees growing, mostly sour for winemaking, and did have 25 apple trees but the deer are killing them off, the bucks found them this week and only half have bark left. I followed some links to this site and was very happy to see you guys are making my favorite wines, Anything from a berry!

Crackedcork

[Hippie]

Welcome, Cracked. Good to have you here.

[jlsherman55]

Good to have you here.

have 25 apple trees but the deer are killing them off, the bucks found them this week and only half have bark left.

Crackedcork

HAve you thought of wrapping with metal chicken wire.

[WVMountaineerJack]

Good to have you here.
HAve you thought of wrapping with metal chicken wire.

I put horse fence around some cherry trees but didnt stake it, the deer put their feer up on the cage and pushed it until they grabbed the main leader and snapped if off! Number one priority for the orchard is going to be to better fence off the trees. Luckily they only nibble a little on the elders and dont bother the blackberries so we are going to grow more of them Crackedcork

[Hippie]

A high quality rifle of medium caliber with a good accurate scope and a big freezer will go a long way toward protecting your orchard. A couple big hounds will help also. Don't worry about any season being in or not, we all have the right to protect our property. Authorities will tell you the same.