Since it is not preserved, there are no harmful chemicals for the human body to encounter when enjoying the wine. However, it lasts only three or four months when kept at winter garage temperature in PA and for those not willing to go to the garage for a nice drink, it lasts about a week when brought inside and kept by the fireplace.
Once this happens, it makes a nice red wine vinegar for just a few more days before it is gone and starts to stink out the place. Despite these disadvantages, the vintners in Northeastern PA (NEPA) who make such delights legally, sell out each year. I discovered Dago Red or as I like to call it, DGR more than twenty years ago at my neighbor's table. It costs a lot to make and so it is tougher to get such gifts during the holiday season than it was in the past.
Section 491(2) of the [PA] Liquor Code provides that wine may be produced by any person without a license, as long as the products are not for sale, and the total production does not exceed two hundred (200) gallons per calendar year. [47 P.S. Â 4-491(2)]. While a person may not sell or offer for sale the wine he or she produces, he or she may use it at organized affairs, exhibitions, competitions, contests, tastings or judgings.
In April 2015, after three successive semi-annual checkups that included substantial weight loss, I was expecting another ten pound loss. Unfortunately, I lost nothing. I was dejected; I admit. But, since there was still Dago Red wine available from my local vintner, I drowned my sorrows that evening. In so doing, I reflected and quickly realized why I had failed to lose weight in the prior six-month period.
To net it out for my readers, it was very easy to conclude that my failure to achieve any weight loss had to do with the easy availability of Dago Red from mid-November through early May in 2015. When I was weighed in April by Dr. Kerrigan, I still had several gallons left of the precious nectar left in the garage. It had yet to become red wine vinegar.
As noted, Christmas 2014 was bountiful for sure. The supply of Dago Red was good from multiple sources, and it was plentiful. I got carried away. My favorite red wine, is called "Dago Red" by those Italians in Northeastern PA who make it and those Italians who drink it.
The politically correct refer to it as homemade Italian wine. Since my Italian friends and the vintners call it "Dago Red," so do I. I am never corrected by the Italians but sometimes real PC aficionados try to get their whacks in. I ignore them.
It is not just the high alcohol content of up to 20% in Dago Red that adds its share of extra red wine calories to the vintage. With some sugar in the form of simple syrup added to the mix, plus the inherent richness, sweetness, and fullness of the never fully strained crushed grapes, the calories simply mount up.
By the way, let me discuss the name a bit more. Dago Red is the moniker used for centuries in America for the wine that original Italian immigrants made from whatever grapes they could find in America. Italian grapes from the "Old Country" were way too expensive to import.
Zinfandel is a staple in fine NEPA Dago Red. Cabernet and Merlot grapes and concentrated dry wine juice packs are way too expensive for the vintners who crush-out about five to ten fifty gallon sized wooden barrels a year.
Personally, I know of no vintner in NEPA who makes DGR with Concord grapes. When my dad once brought DGR home as a gift from his friends at Stegmaier Brewery where he worked, it was always dirt cellar dry. Today it is much more pleasant but nothing like Concord sweet.
To be correct, for the most part, most commercially produced Concord wines are finished sweet. However, dry versions are possible if adequate fruit ripeness is achieved. My interest is piqued on Dago Red from Concord grapes so this will be explored in future articles on the WineDiets.Com Web Site.
Making wine at home is becoming a lostart. Decades ago the majority of Italian immigrants living in theLittle Italy sections of the city would skillfully create there ownwines based on recipes left behind by their ancestors. Today veryfew families still make there own wines. Unfortunately, a lot of theold timers are gone and their children didn't carry on the tradition.
Homemade wine making was economical inthe old days but the economy was not the most important reason formaking your own wine. It was the pride of making your family recipe.It was the pride of having your family and friends together helpingyou make the wine. It was the pride of giving bottles away tofriends for the holidays. This was far more important than the cost.
The best time for making wine wasalways the beginning of fall. At this time the grapes are purchasedby the crate and the process of making wine begins. Forty or fiftypounds of blue grapes or better known as concord grapes would produce5 to 6 gallons of wine. Depending on the family, anywhere from 20 to100 gallons would be made per year. The majority of thesewines were given away as gifts around Christmas and the rest was consumedthroughout the year,
Of course this all sounds simpler thanit really is. The process is monitored and adjusted on a daily basisbut thanks to modern technology the job is much easier than yearsago. Just be patient and realize that the many things can go wrong.The wine can have too much pectin or bacteria. Fermentation can failto start, the wine could be too sweet or full of sediment. Storingthe wine in a room that's too hot or too cold can also affect tooutcome of the flavor.
Thanks to the internet there are plentyof sites devoted to wine making that can guide you through theprocess of mastering this craft. Practice, practice, practiceand maybe you too can create that perfect batch of table wine. Eh Paisano! Pass the wine.
At Sparkling Ponds Winery, they believe that wine tasting should be more than just samplinga few wines. It should be a Sparkling Experience! When you come to Sparkling PondsWinery, you can expect your visit to be relaxing, pleasurable and above allFUN!
The love of wine is a long-standing Carrara Family Tradition. Richard Carraragrew up in an entirely Italian coal mining community where bragging rights werehard won when it came to good food and good wine, particularly one called DagoRed. Years later, as a business owner, Dick found himself making wine for funin his offices. He enthusiastically offered a glass of wine to everyone whowalked in the front door!
The soils in the vineyard are mostly sandy loam with a little bit of silt loam. The vineyard gets about seventeen inches of rain each year. The elevation at the top of the vineyard is about 650 feet, though it feels much higher when you are up there. Wright believes that one of the things that make the valley where the vineyard is located special is that Mt. Hood sits at the head of the valley and so it gets nice, cool breezes at night. On days when the temperature reaches 94-95, it will quite often go down to 60-62 at night.
The Pines 1852
After years of growing grapes and selling them to others, Wright decided it was time to keep some of that fruit for himself and start his own winery. In 2001, he founded The Pines 1852 Winery. Peter Rosback of Sineann is the winemaker. The Pines 1852 has a tasting room in downtown Hood River, Oregon. Their annual production is 3,500 to 4,000 cases.
Both the vineyard and the winery remain family-owned and operated. Unlike many working farms, the Wrights do offer vineyard tours of The Pines Vineyard. So if you are in the area, I highly encourage you to call ahead and make an appointment. Zinfandel vines, especially century-old vines, are not something you get to see very often in the Northwest.
"Dago Red," "Daigo Red," "Italian Red," and "Guinea Red" are all
generic slang terms for "red Italian wine." They don't really describe
anything except red wine. The Italian was the winemaker, not
necessarily the grapes. And if the grapes were Italian, from where in
Italy did they come? Were they Barbera, Marzemino, Sangiovese, or
Rosanella from Lombardy? Were they Trebbiano Toscano, Canaiolo Nero,
Malvasia del Chianti, or Vermentino from Tuscany? What about
Montepulciano or Ciliegiolo from Umbria, or Tocai Rosso, Corvina
Veronese, Rondinella, or Molinara from Veneto? Do you see the problem?My advice is to keep your ears attuned and the next time you hear of a
wine called "Guinea Red," act like a sleuth and track it down to some
little old man who makes a batch at home every year or so. Offer to
help him and learn what grapes he gets and from where and how he goes
about making his wine. Write it all down. Then come back here and
tell us what you learned. I'm serious. I, for one, would like to know.Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page,
A thousand years ago, when I was in high school down in Florida, one of
my buddies' dad made Dago Red. His best wine making trick, which I
didn't realize until much later, was convincing us youngsters that
drinking 'green' wine would give you hives. It did keep us from sampling
his product as it aged -or at least not sampling too much of it.
> Zeebyrd, about 2-3 times a year I get requests for "Dago Red,"
> "Daigo
> Red," "Italian Red," "Guinea Red," or some other such nom du vin
> italiano. In almost every case, the requestor cites some old,
> recently
> passed immigrant from Italy who brought his skills as a winemaker
> with
> him and made a batch of (pick your name) every year.
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