Wining the Experience

Three girlfriends and I have met over the past few months for afternoons of crafting. We all have a different talent that we've learned to express in lovely, artistic ways. One of these afternoons, April told us about her affinity for making her own wine-- not her own craft, but when a delicious red is involved, sign me up! There's a really neat little place in Honolulu in the middle of the triangle that is made by the University, Waikiki, and Downtown, called Wine The Experience. So, in November, the four of us met up there and tasted eight different bottles of red wine, agreeing on what Heather deemed a "drinkable"--not to be confused with a sip-able-- Brunello.

The guys at WTX put all the ingredients in your barrel and give you an estimate on when you can come back for bottling. We let ours ferment for about 7 weeks, and then we went back. We all took turns at actually putting the wine into the bottle, putting the cork in, sealing the cork, and putting the labels on (Sarah came up with those really cute labels!) One barrel made 29 bottles of wine! At the party Sam and I will have this summer, we need favors for our guests. I thought it would be neat to have different items representing the different places we're from and have been together. Ten lucky people will take home one of these lovely bottles as a token from Hawaii! And it was all created as we drank, ate, and were merry.

Copyright 2009 Olivia R. King