Raspberry Wine (2019 Version) - Tasting Notes

This was my first attempt at a raspberry wine - made back in 2019.  I used 40lbs of raspberries and 10 lbs of sugar to make 5 gal of this raspberry wine.  It was fermented with wine yearst and got up to 13% ABV.  I then backsweetened this up to 1.022 prior to killing the yeast with Campden Tablets

This has been aging down in my cellar for almost 5 years now.  I had missed that I didn't a do a tasting of this version long ago - better late than never.  This version made me excited about making more of these - which I have done in the years since.  Time to capture some notes

Tasting Notes:

• Aroma:
• Strong, concentrated, raspberry character along with a boozy and yeasty note
• Appearance:
• Dark red pretty clear
• Flavor:
• Concentrated raspberry flavor up front.  It is slightly tart up front and then a bit of a sour bite.  There is a mild sweetness to it.  There is fairly firm alcohol presence in the finish along with some yeast ester character.
• Mouthfeel:
• Medium bodied with a slightly sticky character on the pallet.  It's got some astringency
• Overall:
• This has a strong flavor.  It is quite a bit different than the experience of easting a raspberry in that the flavor is quite a bit more intense.  I'd say it's of a similar level of fruit character to a grape-based wine.  It has a nice level of sweetness that counters the acidity and the alcohol character.  I think this works nicely as a desert wine

Chicken Salad From Scratch

This is a recipe that my mother has been making me since I was a kid (and was also made by her mother) for a Chicken Salad I very much enjoy.  I have trying to cut down on the sodium in my diet and so I'm converting this into a scratch recipe for better control.  I've tried a couple variations on this now and feel like I have something worth capturing for posterity.

We use the chicken salad for sandwiches typically.  It stays good for about a week so it make sense to make many sandwich's worth (continues to improve with a bit of aging as the flavors meld better).  I think this recipe I'm about to lay out is enough for a couple people to have a sandwiches several times over the week - I've tried making larger amounts which are tough to finish.  This was just about enough

As you'll see below the main actions being taken here to reduce the salt are cooking my own chicken breast (as canned chicken has quite a bit of salt for preservation) and making my own mayonnaise which is actually pretty easy.  Other than this, it is basically my mother's recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 Chicken Breasts (about 800g)
• 2 Celery stalks
• 6 Green Onion
• 1/2 Yellow Onion
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp Celery salt
• 1.5 Cups Mayonnaise
• 1 large egg
• 4 tsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1.5 cup vegetable oil

Process:

• Cooked the chicken breast with a Sous Vide water bath to 142 F.  This makes for a moist chicken breast.  Let this cool before chopping into one half to quarter inch squares
• Finely chopped the vegetable ingredients and mixed the meat and chicken well

• Mixed the mayonnaise in my blender.  Added all ingredients other than the oil.  Turned on the blender and slowly drizzled in all the oil.  The mayonnaise comes together very well.  Used the whole batch for this

• Mixed the mayonnaise and spices into the meat and vegetables