Our wine club
THE SOUTH SIDE SOCIAL CLUB was established about 15 years ago in the basement of one of the founding fathers. At the time there were 4 members that started out making homemade wine. The process of making wine is a great deal of enjoyment but it also a lot of work. Obviously the cooking part came automatic; when you work you get hungry. As time went on the club moved from a basement to the rear of a construction company building owned by two of the founders. Today the club has a dozen of official wine making members and hundreds of guests. From when we start pressing the grape in September until the bottling process around Memorial Day we cook a luncheon every Saturday for about 25 to 30 guests. The lunch usually consists of 5-7 courses, some homemade wine, beer and soft drinks and ultimately about a 3 hour meal, although we start cooking at 8:00 AM. At our Christmas Party and Grand Finally dinner we seat over 100. It works out well because all the members and guests chip-in for the cost of each lunch. We have a small commercial kitchen and the cooking is done primarily by 2-3 members. All with previous or current restaurant ownership experience as well as a guest chef from time to time. Our meal nominally includes some antipasti, insulate, zuppa, pasta, some kind of meat or fish, veggies and potato or risotto. In addition, we occasionally donate our services for outside catering, game dinners and non-profit functions, etc. WHO SAYS THREE COOKS CAN’T GET ALONG IN ONE KITCHEN AH, the wine! Yes, this is how it all started. All our grapes come from small obscure vineyards in the Northern California wine region. We buy 5-6 different types of grape depending on the harvest reports, quality of the crop and yield potential. The grape is tested, tasted and visually scrutinized for freshness; only then do we buy. Our pressing of the grape usually begins within a day or so after we receive shipment to maintain quality and reduce degradation. Crushing of the grape is a long day but important day for us because when you start you have to finish. The grape is crushed with an automatic electric hopper and then stored in 55-gallon drums in our wine room. A hopper is a piece of equipment that crushes the grape and weeds out all the stems. Picture 10-12 guys crushing boxes and boxes of grape, 2-3 guys in the kitchen preparing food and cooking up a storm for them as well as an additional 15-20 quest. It’s a lot of work, but we love it. The crushed grapes are then watched very closely over the next week or two and constantly tested for sugar content. When it’s ready, it must be pressed at once. Sometimes it luckily lands on the weekend but quite often we run down to the club after a days work and do it in the evening. It’s too important; when it’s time to press, it’s time to press. The next procedure is to rack the wine several times during the fermenting process. This is when you pour off all the clearer wine off the top of the storage jugs and toss out all the sediment on the bottom. This process is done several times between the pressing and the bottling. Usually we can start drinking some of the wine around Christmas time even though it is not ready for bottling. We do make some top shelf wine; as a matter of fact, we must have 65 trophies from various homemade wine award dinners. Another thing we do at the club is make our own homemade dried salami and soppressata; about 600 pounds once a year. OH SxxT! IT’S THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT THEY WON’T BE SEEING HIM NO MORE THE SOUTH SIDE SOCIAL CLUB has earned the reputation for making some of the finest homemade wine in Southern New England as well as having food as good as you can get it anywhere. It’s a hidden jewel in the rear of an unidentified block building in an obscure part of town with guest admittance by invitation only. No offence ladies but this is a cigar smoke-in gun tote-in all men’s wine club just like in the old country. Look at the whole picture: you’re on a farm in Italy up in hills, there’s an old barn behind the farmhouse where you make your wine, you’re sitting at a old broken-down table under a tree next to the barn with your friends drinking wine and eating cheese, and, the only other thing you have to picture is that all of you have a rabbit shooting shotgun strapped over your shoulder. However, we did have a few ladies that tried to sneak in once dressed as guys; spotted’ em, shot’ em, threw them in the dumpster and never had another problem. Their disguise was pretty good and they never would have gotten nabbed but they both pee’d in the ladies room. THE FOLLOWING IS A VIDEO OF OUR WINE CLUB AND INCLUDES ADULT LANGUAGE |
