The Romeo gang met this month on Wednesday, 7-17-12 at the Boston Winery at 11 AM for a
short tour and then at noon for lunch at
the Venezia Restaurant in South Boston on the waterfront. The Venezia is
located at 20 Ericsson St. (off Rte 93-Southeast Expressway). Go to http://www.venezia-onthewater.com/
for more information and directions. Go to http://www.bostonwinery.net/
for more information on the winery.
There were 8 Romeos in attendance: Jim Terlizzi, Joe Pignatiello, Paul Girard, Joe Lapiana, Mark Ryan, Mike Zapantis, Ed DeSchuytner and Bob Siggens. You can see some photos at the Picassa web site link below. There are several still photos and two video clips in the middle. When you get to the videos you have to keep hitting the right arrow to see the rest of the photos. ....................
https://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/RomeoLunch71712?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIjry83frZiGjgE&feat=directlink
I arrived a little earlier at 10:30 AM and walked along the waterfront
and took some photos. Driving to the winery is a little tricky if you don’t pay
attention to quick turns down winding side streets and construction detours.
Mike and Paul arrived next and we took a walk out on the wharf and gazebo.
A few other Romeos arrived and we met the winery owner Ralph, as he
unlocked the front door and introduced himself. He then brought us into the
winery and gave a tour of the facility. It was dark inside and cool and
resembled a warehouse with high ceilings. There were wine barrels piled along
several walls, stainless steel machinery to ferment the wines and let them
settle, and a bladder pump that separates out the seeds and stems.
The rest of the gang arrived shortly and when Joe P. arrived, Ralph gave
him a man hug like a member of the family. Joe has been a member of the winery
club for a few years and has made several barrels of wine which he has enjoyed
and given out to many of his family and friends. His last batch he named “Pa’s
Zinfandel” after his father.
Ralph explained that the type of wine depends on the variety of grapes
that you start with (zinfandel, merlot, chardonnay, etc.). Some of the grapes
he uses come from a grape vine that has been producing grapes for 75 years. All
the grapes used by the Boston Winery come from the great wine vineyards of
California and the Napa Valley.
Ralph has a buyer in California who tells him which grapes are available
and their sugar content. He then buys the grapes and sends them by freight
train to the Produce Market in Chelsea, MA. The grapes are then shipped by
truck to the Boston Winery. There are very few middle men along the way which
allows them to buy high quality grapes and keep the cost down. The cost is even
further lowered at the Winery since there are only three employees, Ralph, a
wine maker and secretary. The rest of the work to make the wines is done by all
the club members.
After crushing the grapes in the bladder press, the stems and seeds are
separated and the liquid containing natural grape sugar is poured into a vat.
Yeast is then added to start the fermentation process. The sugar content is
measured frequently with a hydrometer and when it drops to zero the
fermentation is stopped and the wine poured off into barrels. Each barrel can
make 24 cases of wine with 12 bottles each for a total of 288 bottles.
Ralph then explained that if you are interested in making wine at the
winery, it takes about one year to go through the whole process. The cost is
$3500 which allows you to attend all the classes, wine making activities and
take home 24 cases of wine. Mike Zapantis and a few others have shown an
interest in joining the club as a group and share the cost. See a separate
email.
After the tour several of the Romeos bought a few bottles of wine to
take home. We left them at the winery to stay cool while we ate at the
restaurant and return later to pick them up.
As an additional incentive, Ralph gave us a bottle of wine to share at the
restaurant to sample the taste. It was a Meritage, which is a blend of several
types of wine (zinfandel, merlot, etc.).
We then walked over to the restaurant and were seated at a corner table
looking out over the harbour. The waiter served some bread and oil which was
very good and poured the Meritage into our wine glasses. We then toasted a long
and good life. The wine was very good and had several subtle fruity flavours.
We then ordered from the lunch menu various selections of pasta, veal, and fish. The meal came quickly and was excellent.
The conversation was lively and bounced around the table. It was
difficult hearing everyone’s chatter but I caught a few pieces here and there.
I spent some time showing Mike how to get certain features on the iPod
which he has purchased for his son. He wanted to know more about the phone
APPS. I showed him how you can use Skype and TextNow for both free texting and
telephone calls with a Wi-Fi connection.
Latter, Joe L. wanted to borrow a Hav-A-Heart trap that I have to catch
some gophers in has garden. They have been eating all his veggies. At the car,
I showed him how to use it.
The weatherman predicted severe storms the afternoon and we could see
the sky getting black when we went out into the parking lot. You can see one of
the photos on my drive home how the sky was getting darker north of Boston.
The storm was concentrated mostly north of Boston with several down pours, micro bursts and lightning strikes. We lost electricity in Wilmington from 1 PM to after 9 PM. It was awful muggy and hot without AC during that time but we survived.
Before leaving we decided on a restaurant in Gloucester next month on
August 22nd. Jim will send you an email.
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