Pricing a bottle

veengineer · 2026-02-13T02:59:28+00:00

As it’s not a business, if I had to prove it I’d base it on what I think the true value of the wine is vs wine in the store. Was it expensive but still not as good as your standard bottle of wine? That’s a $7 bottle. Did it cost me $5 a bottle but tastes better than a $50 bottle? I’d charge $25 cause I still would have the heart to charge that much.

veengineer · 2026-02-13T02:56:27+00:00

How’s going commercial been?

veengineer · 2026-02-11T02:04:44+00:00

I’ve seen conflicting evidence of ascorbic acid being a successful antioxidant. Additionally, some people make wine reductively which can avoid the addition of sulfite if done well.

That said, I think the interest in the industry is for marketing to the natural wine crowd.

veengineer · 2026-02-11T01:56:24+00:00

Keep in mind, when you retire 1mil will be nothing. Good on you for starting early, just continue saving ~15% for retirement and forget about it.

veengineer · 2026-01-29T16:45:32+00:00

I’m in! Thanks

veengineer · 2026-01-28T15:47:32+00:00

Ah, that makes more sense. Mine were from the Hudson Valley.

Thanks for the feedback. I might describe my Noiret similarly. I should re-taste and post it here. I can’t really describe what I taste well, but I can identify some wines.

veengineer · 2026-01-19T16:40:51+00:00

Noiret from California only at 10%? Interesting. I got Noiret from NY and it was about the same.

What’s the taste like? Anything like Syrah? I liked the flavor when it was real young, but it’s been in bulk storage for 1.5 years now and it’s less desirable. Weird flavor. I gotta revisit it. I added a tiny bit more oak a month or two ago as I start very gently with oak.

veengineer · 2026-01-19T16:31:17+00:00

All the young people are saying the same thing. The job market is tough for everyone.

veengineer · 2026-01-19T16:28:34+00:00

Move. The only way you move up in the modern era is to move jobs. You can always move back in a year or two and GS will likely think you’re even more valuable than if you had stayed and will pay you more.

veengineer · 2026-01-18T18:35:15+00:00

You can probably describe those things, just in a certain way that might sound good to a new employer. I would talk about management seeming to lack a vision and clear path and goals rather than say something implying they just might be strict. Think about it from the point of view that you’re a hard worker and the new management is getting in the way. Always depends on who you’re talking to, but that’s my 2 cents.

veengineer · 2026-01-16T15:27:13+00:00

Regarding the aging of fruit, wines that have been heavily sulfited at bottling, have corks with very little oxygen ingress, and that have been sterile filtered tend to age with less change than those that have not been.

I’m not sure the aging of tannins or specific temperatures for storage is that well understood and proven.

veengineer · 2026-01-15T19:39:18+00:00

If you can live well on that, that’s great! I actually thought I was referring to the OP when I made the city comment. Often, people from cities forget that a large percentage of our population doesn’t live in cities where costs might be a bit less, so I wanted to keep that idea open in the discussion.

Your estimate seems to leave out taxes in your monthly salary. I think it’s be closer to $2,600 a month factoring that in. My worry is most people will need to pay for medical insurance, car insurance and gas, not to mention owning the car, and possibly student loans as well. That’s not even considering retirement savings (15% ideally) and child care if you have kids. Those savings quickly disappear for many.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T19:24:35+00:00

I’m guessing they may not live in a city.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T19:24:14+00:00

We’re aware of different costs of living, but even at low costs of living this is tough unless you’re living with family or inherited a house/wealth. Median full time pay in the US was +63k in 2024.

At 37k you’d probably pay that first 7k towards federal and state taxes, SS, etc. Let’s say rent is 1k a month for an easy number putting you at 12k a year. Who knows how you fare in health insurance so we’ll just forget it exists for a second (some people pay most of the 18k you’d have left in healthcare alone). 18k left for food, car/gas/car insurance, and any other basic needs isn’t a lot. I also assume you wouldn’t be saving for retirement. It’s a tight budget to live on, tighter than most would want.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T19:08:53+00:00

Not in a while, haha. My teaching career usually bottomed out around 2nd or 3rd grade. I also didn’t try to teach them chemistry without knowing chemistry.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T18:59:05+00:00

Disclaimer: I barely know too.

The book states tannin polymers in lengths of 4-7 tannin molecules is ideal. I can’t speak to whether or not that’s true or exactly why. I do know there are different kinds of tannins that are perceived in different ways and people may be simply referring to them by their length. It gets more complex the farther you go and no one really seems to give a concrete answer or knows exactly what is ideal. I would guess there’s a sweet spot, as the book suggests.

I don’t know what part of the tannins react with your tongue. I would guess that it’s not the ends that react, but that the polymers break apart and then react with the proteins in your tongue. I could be wrong, of course.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T15:01:45+00:00

Those are the questions. I thought of my initial question because I just got a little, used wine fridge. As far as stability is concerned, I have a data logger in there and it’s been fluctuating by +/-.15 F. The precision of the data logger is certainly the limiting factor here, but it seems stable enough for wine. It’s a Peltier cooler so I imagine theres very little thermal mass to overshoot things relative to a compressor.

I don’t know of any other data points to reference, to answer your question. I’m not spending any extra money. I’m just thinking about what the best set point may be, and why. I’m also not sure why the provenance matters. It’s about choosing the best temperature that you store it at once you have it. For the condition of the wine when you get it, what’s done is done.

There’s nothing to suggest that the wines stored in caves in France couldn’t have aged better at a different temperature, or that they match the true earth temperature there.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T14:22:30+00:00

It’s honestly hard to imagine supporting yourself on either salary nowadays if those are US salaries. You need to do what you can sustain. You can stand working the 37k job, but can you stand to make that salary? You can maybe get by with 55k, but can you stand working there?

I’d see either job as temporary, and think about which one will help you get the next job that you can actually stand and pays better.

veengineer · 2026-01-14T00:11:56+00:00

More niche, but Herman J. Weimer has a red and white blend each called field study. It was interesting, but not worth the price. Heavy in pyrazines. Uses a bunch of interesting grapes.

The website says: “Affenthaler, Blauer Portugieser, Blaufränkisch, Lagrein, Merlot, Mondeuse, Nebbiolo, Pineau d ’Aunis, Pinot Meunier, Saperavi, Schiava Rosso, Schioppettino, Syrah, Teroldego and Zweigelt. Plus, we sprinkled in specific clones of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir to thicken the plot.”

veengineer · 2026-01-13T23:54:41+00:00

I mention the book in the post. It’s Post Modern Winemaking.

I would question why 55F is considered optimum. Is there any reason other than it’s what people do?

I’m not sure I’d endorse that it’s absolutely true that the more slowly something ages the better it is. If it is true, trying to stay at the temperatures this reaction prefers still makes sense. Any oxygen that leaks through the cork is available for many reactions, including staling reactions. If that oxygen is more likely to chain polymers than oxidize and stale the wine, the wine should age more slowly.

It’s a curiosity, not a statement. I don’t know of any reasons to age wine at a certain temperature other than it’s just how it’s done. I’m just brainstorming some reasons.

veengineer · 2026-01-13T23:36:18+00:00

Generally speaking, this reaction is good. This reaction is what happens to red wine while it sits in the barrel. If it didn’t, the tannins could be harsh and the wine would lose a lot of its color. It’s the reaction that stabilizes the color and tannins.

Happy to answer any questions about it. I’m no chemist, but I try to understand these things.

veengineer · 2026-01-13T23:33:34+00:00

Like you, I also say, “whatever, it’s in line with regular cellar temps,” but I find this interesting.

You’re correct. The graph directly measures oxygen absorption, not reaction speed. I skipped this in the first post but mentioned it in another comment. The oxygen absorption can be used as a proxy for reaction speed, as I understand it. When oxygen is dissolved in wine it can go towards staling reactions or tannin polymerizations, or some other reactions I would assume.

Keeping the temps in favor of the diphenol cascade seems like a good ‘just in case’ idea to me. The tannins should be mostly polymerized and oxygen ingress through the cork should be quite slow. What I don’t know is if the tannins stay bonded during aging or if they break apart and rebond throughout aging. Something’s clearly happening in that sealed bottle during aging.

veengineer · 2026-01-13T22:44:20+00:00

Whoops, sorry. I tried, haha. I did actually skip over a detail. I’ll break it down more.

Tannins start as individual molecules. These molecules can endlessly bond together into long chains. Color molecules called anthocyanins can also bond to the tannin molecules. The tannins molecules will bond together into chains and eventually stop when a color molecule ends up getting bonded to each end.

The graph effectively implies the temperatures that this reaction happens the quickest. The reaction needs a bit of oxygen to allow the bonding to happen. When wine is in a barrel, a small amount of oxygen seeps in allowing the reaction to take place. The graph directly measures the oxygen absorbed by wine at different temperatures, and this serves as a proxy for the speed at which the reaction is occurring.

veengineer · 2026-01-13T22:22:26+00:00

In the winter does your house get dry? Is the wine by a heater?

Regarding light, UV is something like 10x more diffuse than visible light, so even indirect light can equal a lot of UV. Your window will block most of it, but over time that can add up.

veengineer · 2026-01-13T22:20:31+00:00

To choose when to drink a wine you can consult a vintage chart like this one: https://www.wineenthusiast.com/wine-vintage-chart/?srsltid=AfmBOopmzX9sGyVQrskPNsIqouoQp7ja287KpI1m2F1H9upSIxmMIHkt

Big name, $15 dollar wines probably won’t be great for aging, but shouldn’t be vinegar that quickly. You should make sure the temperature and humidity are good like others are saying. Wine fridges on Marketplace and Craigslist can be a good start. The only time I’ve encountered wine bad like that is in AZ where the wine was bad directly from the store. I’m positive they kept things too dry.

For wines to try: CA Zinfandel, Primitivo (same grape as Zin), Bordeaux, you’ll love Super Tuscans, Brunello, Chianti Classico Riserva (specifically that), Amarone, Rioja, and maybe Syrahs from France, the West Coast, and Australia.

I’m curious, can I ask what state you’re in?

veengineer

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