Best Wine

Select a cutting to propagate a new vine, taking one or two cuttings per plant. These include grapes that ripen early in the season, those that are early to mid-ripening, mid to late ripening and, of course, the late-ripening grapes.

(If you don't personally know a wine or whiskey maker, search for barrel retailers online, or get creative and repurpose another large container instead.) This project is as simple as it looks.

In the classic Arsenic and Old Lace, Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha poisoned lonely old bachelors with their concotion of spiked elderberry wine. (Bringing juice and pectin to boil, then adding sugar, boiling hard one minute, jarring up and processing in a...

Cake Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In addition to the wine, olive oil is this cake's other “secret” ingredient. Yield: 8-12 servings Ingredients Pears 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup water 1 cup red wine 2 bay leaves 2 cloves 1 small chunk of fresh ginger,...

( Dahlia imperialis is a spectacularly tall dahlia that grows from 15 to 30 feet and blooms in the fall.) He was Mario, and we sort of became friends. He had a bunch of grapevines growing around his yard and lots of bottles of different wines that he...

The leaves are high in Vitamin C, Vitamin A and iron and contain more iron and calcium than spinach. Put a few leaves on a grilled cheese sandwich. For the less health conscious, just pour the bacon fat over it all.

If you have planted flowers in a flower pot before, you can master arranging flowers in a wine barrel planter.Purchase a new or used wine half-barrel. If you plan to lay the half-barrel on its side, drill the holes on the side that will be laying on the...

(right) Basic straight-stiff-leaf formOnce it has groown to maturity, this palm is one of the more tolerant of being moved, as long as the trunk is not bent or damaged.Large old palms can be worth many thousands of dollars.Though not a quick turnaround...

The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance , a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization created by the Wine Institute and the California Association of Winegrape Growers, created the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing certification, which...

This is because there is a bacterium in American soils that is lethal to non-native grapes. Most of the modern varieties of table and wine grapes are derived from one or more species of wild grape., depending upon your climatic region.

They introduced the concept of distillation or adding fortified grape spirits to the wine. Purchasing a bottle of sherry will usually not cost over $9-15, although of course there are high-end sherries for much, much more.A splash of sherry will make...

Pumpkin Liz West/Flickr Yes, even pumpkin can be turned into a an intriguing melon-flavored wine or rich mead. As the pumpkin mash ferments, it will clarify, and eventually you rack off the liquid into a clean fermentation vessel and dispose of the pulp.

To make your house smell warm and welcoming, you can put some quartered citrus fruits, whole cranberries, mulling spices, and water in a saucepan. Slice open the vanilla bean and use the tip of a paring knife to scrape the seeds into the spice mixture.

You can easily identify wine and wild grapevine leaves, even in the absence of grapevine fruit, because they have a number of distinguishing characteristics.Grapevines are vigorous climbers and always grow upward, unlike other types of vines that grow...

Even with cold hardy grape varieties, the northern gardener will probably be leaving the grapes on the vine well into early fall, sometimes up to the first killing frost of the season.This puts the grower into a perilous area.

St. Paul, MN 55105 651-223-6114 1306 S. PO Box 7850 Independence, MO 64054 800-353-1906 Fall Bright, The Winemakers Shoppe 10110 Hyatt Hill Dundee, NY 14837 607-292-3995 Fermentation Trap 6420 Seminole Trail, #12 Seminole Place Plaza Barboursville, VA...

It is, essentially, growing plants for hobbies. It's the kind of garden that appeals to gardeners who don't just want to grow for the sake of growing – they want to do something interesting with their harvest.

For me, a relaxing and civilized alternative to the cocktail is the European tradition of aperitifs. The word comes from the Latin aperire , meaning to open, and a light aperitif opens both the appetite and the evening's conversation.

There's a garden terrace overhead, and apparently some of the tilework is cracked. Some of the planks have cement on them, but there are around 50 pieces, most about 4 meters long.

These shrubs are wonderful additions to the landscape, complimenting blue, purple and red flowers or contrasting with yellows, oranges and white. In part 2 of this 3 part series, I will discuss those hardy (zone 5 and colder) shrubs whose main claim-to-fame...

Some folks go on wine tasting tours of Napa Valley. Look for articles on chicory and biscotti. The aroma and flavor take us right back to those misty mornings, standing by a mountain roadside on the Big Island of Hawaii, drinking in the gorgeous scenery...

No, there is one absolutely spectacular reason for using a refractometer: speed. It's a bit like cooking without ever tasting as you go, following a recipe but never checking doneness, texture, flavor, seasoning, or aroma, and waiting until your guests...

Maybe because quince must be cooked and can't be eaten out of hand, these fragrant and ancient fruits are unfamiliar to most of us. I poached slices in white wine and lemon. The Hispanic jam is traditionally served in blocks along with cheese, so I scooped...

Perfect Potatoes Be careful not to overcook the potatoes when preparing this salad. So this past Sunday, a lunch I prepared for guests included potato salad. Still, it will taste great with red wine vinegar or even with balsamic.

Some even report that the fruit is pretty much tasteless. Another variety produces an off-white fruit. However, I have also read that the leaves and unripe berries may have slight hallucinogenic properties.

But now, artisanal distilleries are taking the next step forward to produce spirits so that your Derby mint julep, your summer martini and your Manhattan are all locally grown. Jhausman By Judith Hausman, Urban Farm Contributing Editor Wednesday, March...

In addition to any fancy (and they must be flourless) cakes for dessert, there are always coconut macaroons in both chocolate and vanilla. I'll also pass along the Sephardic version of charoset, from the Jewish cultures of Spain and the Mediterranean.