The wine season, or as we refer to it at Home Make It, the "silly season" is here! The next few months will see our team run off their feet, analysing juice and wine samples, adjusting sugar and ph levels, correcting wine faults, assisting people to make great homemade wine and all the usual enthusiastic customer service :)
I wanted to share this You Tube video by Tony and Maria, on How to Make Homemade Wine. Maria and Tony are passionate about homemade wine and look like a beautiful family. Tony uses old fashioned winemaking equipment and is quick to point out that he makes wine using a traditional method that does not include the use of "chemicals" as he puts it. We don't tend to use the word "chemicals", in fact if you refer to "chemicals" at the Clayton store, you'll be fined! Instead, we use the word "additives" because they are all completely natural products that can correct faults in wines or improve them. There's nothing worse than having to politely sip your dad's, relative's or friend's really bad homemade wine or vinegar.
Whilst there can be resistance from older generations to embrace new ways of making homemade wine, we are discovering a real growth area in "the next generation" of homemade wine makers who are wanting to produce beautiful wines to share with their family and friends. At Home Make It, we still embrace the idea of preserving by traditional methods, however, we also encourage the use of new techniques mixed with the traditional methods for the optimum homemade wine results every season.
Italianicious Magazine , March/April 2013 edition featured a story about Home Make It, titled "Mixing The Old & New", interviewing Frank Bovezza who talks about the advantages of mixing old and new techniques for making homemade wine. It's a great read and includes a step by step process to making homemade wine.
“Some people are still against adding anything to their wine. They want to stick to tradition so aren’t interested in any new processes,” Frank explains. “But we are finding that more people are embracing these better ways of making wine. There are many that have stopped making wine at home as they have gotten older, now their sons are taking over and continuing the tradition, however they are embracing these modern ways of making it. We’re finding that the whole family enjoys drinking the better wine and that makes them more eager to keep getting better at it.” (Italianicious Magazine). To read the full article, get your hands on a copy of the March/April 2013 edition of Italianicious
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We are thrilled to announce the commencement of a new member of the Clayton team, Matt Drew. Matt is a member of the Frankston Amateur Winemakers Guild and will be assisting us with the wine analysis and customer service a few of days a week. Matt is passionate about making homemade wine and is also an enthusiastic foodie. He's an all round expert on homemade salumi and enjoys annual passata making.
Our stores provide a complimentary wine testing/analysis service to all our customers for all the stages of the winemaking process, including crushing, pressing, racking and bottling. So please feel free to bring in a small sample of your juice or wine for analysis.
If you haven't purchased your grapes yet, just ask someone in the team to guide you in the right direction for good quality grapes in your area.
~ Extended Trading Hours ~
We have also extended our trading hours to manage the busy wine season. Our Reservoir and Clayton Stores are currently open on Saturdays from 9.00am until 3.00pm (until end of July) and Sundays from 10.00am until 2.00pm (until end of April).
~ And the Winner is... ~
Congratulations to Phillip Collings, the winner of our Subscription Competition from the recent Melbourne Tomato Festival. Phillip is the proud new owner of a Sausage and Salami Equipment Kit valued at $125.00 and a Dolce Italian Sausage Recipe Kit, valued at $33.00.
~ Cade's Home Brew News ~
"Hi Brewers,
I went along to the Good Beer Week Gala Showcase & Program Launch not too long ago and had some wonderful beers and chatted to a few brewers. Saisons were everywhere and I had a really nice raspberry sour beer. I was inspired and went home and started a raspberry saison. Soon enough the combination of Wheat malt, Pilsener and White labs Saison mix 2 were bubbling away in my carboy. The raspberries went in today, pictures of this next week!
On the product front, the Reservoir and Clayton stores are well stocked with tins, grain, hops and all the hardware you will need to make great home brew. We will also be seeing Swap & Go CO2 bottles hitting the stores by the weekend. And get ready for some nice shiny stainless steel brew hardware landing in stores in the coming weeks too :)
Happy Brewing"
~ Food & Beverage Courses ~
Pizza Making Course - We are very privileged to have Michele Circhirillo join us for a unique and hands on homemade pizza making workshop at our Clayton store on 7th May, 2015. Michele is Italy born and currently Brunetti's Executive Savoury Chef. He'll teach you all the tricks of the trade and share at the end of the evening, a feast of delicious homemade pizza. Places are limited, so book your ticket ONLINE now.
Salami and Cured Meats Courses in May, June and July, 2015. Learn the ancient art of meat processing and curing with this informative and interactive course, led by the cured meats and butchery expert James Mele. Book ONLINE.
Sausage Making Courses in August and October, 2015. Learn how to make delicious homemade sausages with our hands on workshops.
~ Weekly Specials ~
Click on the banner below to discover our weekly specials.
~ Facebook and Twitter ~
You can keep up to date with daily news from the team, recipes and events by following us on Twitter or Facebook.
~ Tomato Season ~
With the tomato season coming to an end for another year, I thought it may be nice to end the season with a lovely little Youtube clip of Melbourne's most popular internet sensation, Nonna Poala. Nonna Poala is doing a happy dance because it's her annual passata day and she's feeling happy. Enjoy! Have a great week!
