Now, it is 2011 and this weekend, I had my first bottling session in Monroe, Maine. Over the years, every time that I have not been able to finish a bottle of red wine (yes, that is possible) I have poured the remnants into the barrel and slowly, it has developed into a nice red wine vinegar. A few times while I was at JPH & S's house, I would tap the barrel and fill their red wine vinegar bottle and we used it in cooking.
Since I am home in Maine for Labor Day weekend and I have my vinegar
barrel with me, I decided to buy some bottles and bottle up the majority
of the little 5 liter barrel. Earlier that day, we had been in Belfast and I stopped by The Good Table and bought some bottles. Then we went back to Mum's little "Granny Flat" and I started cooking/bottling.
I brought the barrel in from the car and set it up in Mum's kitchen. Here she is in the picture on the right, working at her desk. At 81, she still works/volunteers. I think that it is her quiet strength and no nonsense work ethic that keeps me strong. She raised me after my mother died when I was 13, and has been an amazing influence. It was fun to share this bottling session with her. She supervised.
First, I sterilized the bottles with boiling water. Then I poured off just over a two liters of vinegar from the barrel, boiled it for a few minutes, then filled the 200ml bottles to give away.
Maybe by Christmas time, I will have created some labels. But I doubt that I will be bottling more vinegar for a while.
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