All The Lights That You Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

ALL THE LIGHTS THAT YOU CANNOT SEE
written by ANTHONY DOERR

Information about the book and author:

This book was written by the American author Anthony Doerr. Doerr grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and has a major in history at Bowdoin College.
The book was published on May 6, 2014, had great critics and won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 2015 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.

Plot:

This is the story of two children who grew up trying to survive the Second World War. 
Marie-Laure lives in Paris with his father, who works at the Museum of Natural History. She started to lose her sight when she was very young and her father helped her to discover a new world without light, but full of colors. 
When the Nazis occupied Paris, the mission of hiding “The Sea of Flames” (the museum most valuable jewel) was given to Marie-Laure`s father. They flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where her eccentric uncle lived in a big house by the sea.

Werner Pfenning, on the other hand, was a German orphan who lived in a mining town with his little sister. They had a very difficult life full of hunger, necessity, and injustice. 
Like every other orphan, his destiny is to work and die at the mines, despite Werner`s dreams of becoming an inventor. However, thanks to a crude radio he found the strength to keep dreaming. 
Werner will work hard to make his dream come true even though, the only way to do it is to follow the Nazi regimen. But, is it worth it? 

Personal opinion:

When we learn history, we only learn the facts and as the title of this book suggests in the same way, you cannot see the wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum or radio waves, you can`t see eighter the invisible stories of fight, strength and suffer hidden in the past. 

In contrast, this book is based on facts but it is all about the details. Anthony Doerr does a wonderful job setting the story additionally it is beautifully written which allows readers to imagine and understand the reality of those difficult times, that cannot be forgotten. 

This was the first historical fiction novel I read and I have to say that I fell in love with this genre because of this book. Therefore I would highly recommend it.

Make Your Own Craft Wine

Did you know you can make wine at home? Regarding this post, I will tell you all you need to know to make your own craft red wine. The process takes between three and four weeks, but it could take a little longer if you`re thinking on aging. So sure, it takes a while but it´s fun and you may learn a little more about wine during the process.

Grape Selection:

This is the first step and it is very important that you choose the right type of grape, trust me it makes all the difference. The species of grape you want are called, “Vitis vinífera” (or wine grape) and there are thousands of types such as; Merlot, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, etc.

What`s the difference between these fancy grapes and the regular table ones? Well wine grapes are smaller and that means they have less water and less water means the flavor is richer, and richer flavor means more sugar, and more sugar means more alcohol, and more alcohol means a better fermentation process. But if you can`t find any wine grapes don`t panic you can use regular ones instead, but make sure you get the smallest and richer flavor ones, or you can always add sugar.

What you will need:

Once you get your grapes there are certain steps you need to follow.

    

•      You will use approx. 2k of grapes (4.4 lbs.) per bottle I’m making 3 bottles so I`m using 6k (13.22 lbs.)
•      Use the smallest and sweetest grapes
•      Avoid using damaged grapes
•      Don´t wash your grapes (it helps in the fermentation process)
•      Keep your grapes in a temperature of 20ºC (68ºF) (if you are using regular table grapes you can dry them a little in the sun to get some extra flavor.
•       If you are making 3 bottles, like me, you will need two damajuana bottles and 4 regular wine bottles(750ml) (you can clean and reuse any glass bottle that you have).
•      You will need Sulfite (it helps the fermentation and conservation)
•      Make sure all of your equipment is clean and sterilized.      
• 
  
  
  

  De-stemmed

     Why is this important?

       The stems can release bitter and herbaceous flavors into the wine. Stems also release water and potassium and absorb color and alcohol, so to prevent all this you need to de-stemmed before crushing.

  

  
       

   

CRUSHING 

• •     When you crush the grapes, you need to be careful not to crush the seeds because it may release oils that can alter the flavor of the must that’s why I prefer to crush them by hand.
  •     Crush your grapes until you get a homogeneous puree, this puree is called must.
  •     Formerly the grapes used to be crush by foot.
  •     Nowadays pneumatic presses that doesn´t harm the seeds are used.
               Now that you have your must you need to weigh it so that you can add the right amount of sulfite. (2g/HL)

                                                           

  

   Bottling:

 

• •      With a funnel bring the must into the damajuana bottle.
  •      Fill in ¾ of the bottle. (it needs to be oxygen in the bottle so that the yeast can breathe)
  •      Use cotton or gauze as a wine stopper (don`t use cork or the bottle may explode)

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Fermentation: 

•      For a good color extraction, the wine skin must remain submerged. Flip the bottle upside down a minimum of two times per day to keep the wine skin wet (it also helps the fermentation)     
•      It lasts from 7 to 14 days (until all the sugar turns into alcohol)
•      The temperature required for the fermentation is from 23° to 30° C (73º - 86º F)

My experience:

      First week:

      •I warm up the bottles with scarfs and blankets and I also put the bottles hot water baths.

 •I even sleep with my bottle……

    This is how the must looks like the last days of the first week. You can barely see bubbles when you flip down the bottle.

The bubbles have started!

•This is how the must looks like the first days of the second week.

Pressing:

   • I decided to do the pressing before clarification and also before the fermentation processes were over.

    • After the pressing process, I mixed the “free-run” juice with the pressed one (The pressed juice has better color, body and aroma characteristics so it´s usually separated for barrel aging)

Clarification

   This is the process in which solids as dead yeast cells, tannins and proteins are removed.

   • When you do the first clarification there should be a  visible thick white line at the bottom of the bottle.

   • For the filtration process you will need a syphon tube pipe hose special for winemaking, the pipe will absorb all the liquid and leave the solids in the bottom (you can purchase it on eBay or Amazon).

   • If you can get a syphon tube pipe hose, it´s ok, you can empty the bottle slowly being really careful not to pass the solids or you can always use a coffee filter.

   •This is how the dead yeast and other solids look like, as you can see the color and thickness is very different to the wine and it also smells and tastes horrible.

   •If the fermentation isn´t over you need to put your filter wine in a damajuana bottle again leaving space for the air and using cotton or gauze to close the bottle. (you will know the fermentation is over if you no longer taste sugar in the wine)

• I did the second fermentation a week later and I use a coffee filter.

•In this second fermentation, the solids in the bottom of the bottle are quite less than the first time.

The fermentation is over now so you need to full completely regular wine bottles to avoid the oxygen because when the yeast is alive it prevents other microorganisms to get in but when the fermentation is over and the yeast is dead you need to avoid oxygen because oxygen will aloud microorganisms getting in and turning your wine in vinegar. You also need to put your bottles in the refrigerator for a week (that will help all the left solids in the bottle to settle in the bottle)

• In my third filtration there were almost no solids in the bottom of the bottle and when the process was finishing the wine was crystal clear so I knew there will be no need for a fourth filtration.

• The number of filtrations may vary.

• At the end, I got three and a half bottles of 750ml

Labeled

     Just for fun you can design your own personalized label or paint it by hand like me. 

CARBONIC MACERATION

If you are a Snob and you are reading this post, you may be asking yourself why would anyone bother to write about a winemaking process that gives only youthful wines? 
Most people relate carbonic maceration with Beaujolais Nouveau wine because of its popularity and Beaujolais Nouveau wine has gained fame of been an immature banana flavored wine over the last years. 
But Carbonic Maceration has much more to offer. For starters, because of the spontaneous nature of the CO2 fermentation, it is believed that it could be the first wine in history. In addition to that, there are well-known wineries in France and Spain that produce great wine made with this fermentation process.

History:

It was “rediscovered” in the 30 ts by accident, during the transportation of the grapes from the field to the winery for the crushing and pressing after the harvest. The winemakers wanted to take away the oxygen to avoid the degradation by insufflating CO2  of the grapes (CO2 is heavier than the air so it displaces it). In time they discovered that the grapes fermented spontaneously and the result of this CO2 fermentation was a fruity light wine.

Spain:

This winemaking technique has been used in Spain since ancient times before they learn how to use oak barrels from French winemakers, at the end of the 19^th century. However, some areas of Spain never stop using this technique. 
Nowadays, this vintage Spanish tradition of making wines is reviving and the best producers of these wines are located in Rioja Alta, Alavesa.

France;

Unlike Spain, that uses a traditional carbonic maceration method, France uses an artificial process that is mainly used to produce "vin de primeur", which is a fancy way to call a fast-made wine that is especially elaborated to celebrate the end of the harvest at the Beaujolais Nouveau Festival. (if you want to read more about this amazing festival you can click the hyperlink down below)

Because this wine was intended to be a fast-produced wine, the French producers didn`t pay much attention to the quality of the wine. That gave the Beaujolais Nouveau wine a bad reputation. 
Currently, the producers are fighting to change this perception and offer the followers of the festival not only a fast-produced wine but also a great quality one.

But even though the Beaujolais Nouveau wine has all the attention, it is not the only wine made with carbonic fermentation in this area of France. There are other Beaujolais wines that have better quality such as “Cru Beaujolais”, which is a production area that has the highest category of classification in Beaujolais. 
The winemakers of Cru Beaujolais decided not to use the name Beaujolais in their labels in an effort to separate themselves from mass-produced Nouveau. As a matter of fact, vineyards in the Cru villages (10 villages in total) aren`t allowed to produced Nouveau.

How does carbonic maceration work?

First, the cluster of grapes needs to be intact, because the grapes have to be alive in order to produce its own CO2. Which prevent any organism to penetrate the grapes (yeast for instance). Once we have our hole grapes they need to be fermented in a carbon dioxide rich environment to facilitate the anaerobic process. This means that the grapes are forced to evolve fastly because the CO2 being heavier than the air displaces it and the carbon dioxide gas permeates through the grape skins and begins to stimulate fermentation at an intracellular level. This process takes place inside every single intact grape and as a result, Ethanol is produced. In this method, unlike the yeast maceration, the grapes aren´t crushed and the fermentation only takes 7 to 8 days.

                                                                                 

3 types of carbonic maceration:

·        Rioja´s traditional carbonic maceration: It only uses the CO2 that is naturally produced by the grapes and the process is done in open tanks.

·        Artificial carbonic maceration: For this French method, the CO2 is injected in a closed tank where the process begins.

·        Partial/semi-carbonic maceration: This is a combination of carbonic maceration and yeast fermentation. It starts as a carbonic maceration (traditional or artificial), but once the ethanol is released, the grapes are crushed and the yeast fermentation starts. You can learn more about the yeast fermentation process in the link down below

Read more about:

yeast fermentation
https://booksarebetterwithwine.blogspot.com/2016/01/elaboracion-de-vino-casero.html

Beaujolais Nouveau
https://booksarebetterwithwine.blogspot.com/2016/01/le-beaujolais-nouveau-est-arrive.html

“LE BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU EST ARRIVÉ!”

Can you imagine live music, great food, a barrel race and lots of wine? 
For many of these reasons, the Beaujolais Nouveau  Festival is one of the most expected dates for the wine lovers of all over the world.
But... What is the Beaujolais Nouveau festival? Which is its origin? Why is this youthful wine so famous? When does the festival take place? How do they make the wine so fast? These are some of the questions that I`ll try to answer in this post. 

Beaujolais Nouveau is a red wine famous for been released soon after the harvest (on the first Tuesday of November). This wine is produced in a region of France with the same name, this area is protected with an AOC ("Appellation origin Contrôlée") This means that, if you want to make Beaujolais wine, you must follow certain rules. To produce Beaujolais nouveau, you need to use Gamay grapes that comes from the Beaujolais AOC and the whole process needs to be done in the area, or it cannot be named Beaujolais Nouveau

The Grape:

Gamay (Gamay noir à jus blanc) is the only grape that can be used for the Beaujolais Nouveau wine (“cru” Beaujolais grapes are excluded). This grape was first brought to France by the Romans and it´s a purple-colored grape that produces a light body and fruity red wines.

The Festival

In the region of Beaujolais, there´s a tradition of making vin de l'année (youthful wine) to celebrate the end of the harvest. This celebration takes place on the first Tuesday of November, which is also known as the “Beaujolais Nouveau day” internationally.
In France, the festival includes wine tasting, live music, great food, the annual bottle race and other activities that take place not only in the vineyards of Beaujolais, but also in the streets of the city and other nearby cities including Paris.
The annual race takes place in Lyon, at 12:01am on Thursday. The warehouses are unlocked and barrels of Beaujolais Nouveau wine are rolled through the center, before being opened.
Other counties that also celebrate the “Beaujolais Nouveau day” can acquire bottles of this wine the same day of the festival and celebrate in their own countries. For this reason, the producers of these wines compete to place their bottles on these different markets. Therefore, the bottles are shipped a few weeks before the end of the harvest, so that they can arrive on time. 

Nearly half the production of this wine is exported and drink all over the world. Mainly it`s exported to Germany and Japan, followed by the USA

 However, it is always recommended to avoid bottle shock and to let the bottles rest at least a few weeks after the shipping before being open.

Japan:

       It`s not only one of the countries that import more Beaujolais Nouveau wine, but they also love Beaujolais Nouveau day so much that they have their own festival. There`s a big pool full of wine, a French man hosting the event, music, wine tasting and at the end of the event they choose a “Miss Beaujolais”.

     

United States:

Beaujolais Nouveau day starts a week before Thanksgiving. For this reason the Beaujolais Nouveau wine is promoted as a Thanksgiving drink.  

They change their French traditional slogan “Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!” for “It`s Beaujolais Nouveau Time!  especially for the English speaker market.

Beaujolais Nouveau wine characteristics:

• •        Purple color
• •        youthful and light bodied.
• •        Low in tannins (because if its wine production technique)
• •        fresh, soft and fruity
• •        Alcohol 11%
• •        serving temperature: 55° F (13° C)
• •        The labels are always full colors and change every year.

*There is still one question to answer “how do they produce this wine so fast?” The secret of making this wine so fast that it can be ready at the end of the harvest is the carbonic maceration. This winemaking technique unlike the traditional yeast-fueled fermentation allows a faster production and also give the wine peculiar characteristics. 
I found carbonic maceration quite interesting so I decided to create a post to explain it in detail.

Also read:

CARBONIC MACERATION