Busy week

Such a busy week. Essays, Pracs, Work, Studies etc...

well, I've been rushing this essay for Vineyard (studying on grapes, wines etc)
you know, it sounds cool and stuff, tasting wine, learning about wine, grapes and stuff. But don be deceived, its really really difficult and not a fun subject since its all self-study with no lectures/tuts. We have a file (a thick one) to study from, not much information in it as well. simply amazing.
anyways, i was talking to Joel on Msn and he said to blog the essay (its too long so i'm cutting it to the shortest answer of the essay).

Here it goes:

Question: 3

Cabernet Sauvignon and sparkling wine have extended maturation periods for different reasons. Cabernet Sauvignon, known to be the premier red wine grape in the world produces distinctive wines (Cellarnotes.net, 2007) that has high proportions of tannins and acid, form the basis for its structure (Cabernet Sauvignon Advice, 2007) and giving the wine remarkable longevity (Fleshandbones, 2007). Cabernet Sauvignon have some of the darkest and relatively thick skins thus causing the wine to be highly tannic as grapes skins contain masses of tannin (The Everything Development Company, 2007). This high proportions of tannins causes the Cabernet Sauvignon to be virtually undrinkable (Fleshandbones, 2007) thus by allowing the wine to age, it allows their flavours to mellow (About.com, 2007) as prolonged storage allows various complex chemical reactions to take place and the harsh tannins are broken down into softer substances with a wide range of exceptional flavours and great length (Fleshandbones, 2007). What really allows Cabernet Sauvignon to age well is the structure and balance (The Everything Development Company, 2007). The structure refers to the abundance of flavour characteristics in wine (e.g. tannin and acid). Over time, oxygen would react with the structure/flavour characteristics of the wine and soften these elements over time, the structure that was in balance as a young wine would balance only after aging years later thus giving “a great bottle of wine” (The Everything Development Company, 2007). Méthode Champenoise is the secondary fermentation in bottle (Wikipedia, 2007) where the process of winemaking diverts from the normal one after fermenting for 2-3 weeks and sitting for up to five months (Wine intro, 2007). This is when wine is bottled with extra sugar and yeast then capped with a soda-cap; this process may go on for a few years or more (Wine intro, 2007). Méthode Champenoise is said to have a requirement of minimum 1.5 years of maturation period (Wikipedia, 2007). The importance of this long aging is to develop roundness in body, general flavour and complexity (Bruce Zoecklein, 2002). Also there would be a toasty, yeasty characteristic as the yeast cells spilt open imparting its complex, yeasty flavours (The alchemist’s wine perspective, 2007) to the champagne. Another importance of for aging is making of a good “sparkler” (Bruce Zoecklein, 2002). It is said that if maturation is not carried out during the aging in contact with the yeast, it will not be attained later (Bruce Zoecklein, 2002).

There are various aging factors that affect wine aging. Namely: oxidation/oxygen (Midwest grape and Wine industry Institute, 2007), light (Midwest grape and Wine industry Institute, 2007), temperature (DiWineTaste, 2007), humidity (DiWineTaste, 2007) and stable, vibration-free environment (Vino-Cellars.com, 2006).

Yes. Cabernet Sauvignon goes by the normal wine making procedures with the exceptional long maturation period. Méthode Champenoise on the other hand goes through second fermentation then after the resting periods are over, the yeast and sediments are removed from the bottle by putting it on a riddling rack (Wine intro, 2007). It also has disgorgement, a removal process where the neck of the bottle is stuck in a machine and freezes it. Then the cap is removed and a frozen plus of sludge is kicked out and dosage is champagne is added in to fill the space in the bottle and finally corked with the standard large champagne cork (Wine intro, 2007).

Learnt something new today?
*ignore the blue words, i somehow can't change it* (they are references)

last week Friday was my last Bio prac woohoo! there may be some people out there going: what are u talking about? pracs are fun! and its easy to score!

seriously, its not fun nor is it easy to score (with exception of chem). physics i'm not really sure but based on secondary school experience, its really dry.
I remember the time when i was young, i used to think experiments (practicals) were the coolest things ever. you know... pour some chemicals and it gives off a small explosion and stuff like that (i don even get to do it). Cutting up/dissecting animals for bio (non-bloody, not smelly, evil/bad creatures tt deserved to die) as well as playing with little creatures since ur learning biology...
*definition of bad creatures is basically not cute animals like hamsters,rats,cats, my sister (nah... just joking).

anyways,
Its ALL BULLSHIT!
i have to dissect earthworms (yuck the smell), cute little rats (white coloured ones), cockroaches, handle dead starfishes (actually tts cool, u can break them into half) etc...


earth worm split into half (it was soaked in some liquid but either way it stinks)








dead cockroaches...









don u just love bio~?

well, busy busy busy, exams coming and stuff.
thank God i don have bio next year (i have to deal with bacteria and stuff actually whic is even worse).

well, gtg and study and stuff.

btw, i'm coming back to Singapore on the 23rd of November.
(singapore is a small dot on the world map in case any of u didn't noe)