# Anyone order 2011 Chilean Syrah from Consumers Produce in Pittsburgh?



## jacksmith (May 27, 2011)

Hi. I'm new to this forum (and winemaking in general).

I'm wondering if anyone here has ordered Chilean Syrah from Consumers Produce in Pittsburgh this year. I'm having a hard time finding out if the grapes are available for pickup; Thought I'd check here to see if anyone else knows...

They were originally scheduled for early May, then got bumped to the 18th so they could hang on the vine a little longer. Last week I found out everything but the Syrah was in, so I'd have to wait until this week. The were supposed to come in yesterday, but I'm having trouble getting through to Ron to find out if they're actually in.


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## jacksmith (May 27, 2011)

And just as soon as I start this thread, I get a response from Ron. They're in. So if you've ordered these grapes, they're available for pickup.

Cheers!


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## Runningwolf (May 27, 2011)

Jack, first off welcome to the forum. There are a lot of us here from western PA. I looked at your blog and you have made some awesome beer labels. There are a lot of folks on here that also make beer. 

Take a look at this link; http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12050&highlight=consumers+produce

It is an entire thread about Consumers juice and grapes. If you and you wife are interested in meeting some of the folks from Pgh and the area send me a private Message. I am holding a wine party June 4th for Western PA. It is a good time to try each others wine and trade bottles.


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## jacksmith (May 27, 2011)

Thanks for the invite, Dan. I appreciate it and would come but we've got a party of our own planned for that day. I don't have any wine bottled yet, as last fall was the my first time making wine, but I'm getting closer... I'd love to meet some other Pgh-area winemakers at some point.

Thanks also for the compliments on the blog & labels. I'm very new to winemaking, but I want to learn to do it well. Same goes for making beer, I'm trying to really improve there.


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## Flem (May 27, 2011)

Hi Jack, Welcome to the forum. I'm one of the Western Pa'ers Dan is referring to. As you can see, I live pretty close to you. I, too, am new to winemaking having started at the beginning of the year. Like you, I have nothing bottled, but I am close on a mist kit. If you get a chance, try to come to one (or more) of the get-togethers. You get to taste a lot of different wines and meet some really great people. They'll probably even give you a bottle or two for an honest opinion. Good Luck!!


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## jacksmith (May 27, 2011)

Thanks, Mike. I'll keep an eye out for news of the get-togethers to try to make it. My 2010 Traminette will be going into the bottle sometime soon. It's done with cold stabilizing and it's pretty clear. I think it just needs more time to degas and then I'll bottle it up.


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## djrockinsteve (May 27, 2011)

Yes Jack you'll fit right in. I checked out your photos "When Yeast Attack". I can see the addiction has hit you already.

We have a great group of folks on here and several here in the Pgh. area. Hope to see you someday and meet. We always bring wine and swap. It's like a feeding frenzy, who wants a dry, a sweet, skeeter pee etc. Bottles are disappearing faster than lightning.

Welcome.


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## jacksmith (May 30, 2011)

So I picked the grapes up on Saturday. They were in pretty good shape. There was some mold, but it wasn't terrible. Six of the eight lugs I bought had mold. I probably had to throw out about 5lbs of grapes.

Here's one of the nicer clusters:







Here are my numbers:

Sugar: 21.5° Brix
pH: 3.92
TA: 3.75 g/L
SO2: just a trace

After running the tests, I could see why the grapes were allowed to hang on the vines for a few extra weeks. It’s clear that these grapes were struggling to get their sugar levels up. The High pH and low total acidity tell the tale. These grapes were physiologically ripe, the pips were brown, but the sugar level was low. By letting them hang to get the sugar higher, the acid dropped out of the grapes and the pH rose.

I chaptilized to get the brix up to 23.5. I also added tartaric acid to get the total acidity up to 6 g/L. I will test pH and TA again tomorrow night when I'm sure things are well mixed from fermentation. I'll probably be pressing tomorrow night, as I'm down to 3.2° Brix now.

To get my numbers, I took a cup of must and blended it for a bit, then strained the blended must through a coffee filter to get some good clear juice for testing. Check out how much this looks like a blueberry smoothie:






It smelled and tasted like blueberry, too. I'm hoping this wine has strong blueberry notes. That would be pleasant. I'll be sure to let everyone here know how this wine turns out... in two years.


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## Rock (Jun 1, 2011)

Hey Jack are you sure of your ta numbers this seems real low at 3.75


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## jacksmith (Jun 1, 2011)

Yeah, I ran the test twice, using the MoreWine Acid Test Kit. The low TA number jibes with the high pH reading I got, too.

Starting from these numbers, I calculated how much tartaric acid I needed to add to get it up to 6 g/L and added it prior to inoculating. After pressing, I tested again and got a pH of 3.48 and TA of 7.0 g/L. I'm pretty confident in the test results.


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## Julie (Jun 2, 2011)

Hi Jack,

Welcome to winemakingtalk, what part of Pittsburgh are you from? I am shooting to have a get together on July 9th, I live in Saxonburg and my husband makes beer and we have hops growing all over the place.


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## ibglowin (Jun 2, 2011)

Looking good there!


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## jacksmith (Jun 2, 2011)

Thanks Mike, thanks Julie.

Julie, I live in the airport area. I'm not sure if I'm free on the 9th, but please keep me in mind when you firm up your plans. How many local winemakers usually come to these events? I won't have any wine ready to bring, but I can certainly brings some homebrew.


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## Julie (Jun 2, 2011)

jacksmith said:


> Thanks Mike, thanks Julie.
> 
> Julie, I live in the airport area. I'm not sure if I'm free on the 9th, but please keep me in mind when you firm up your plans. How many local winemakers usually come to these events? I won't have any wine ready to bring, but I can certainly brings some homebrew.



You are not to far from me and Mike, my husband, I'll let you know.


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## jacksmith (Jun 2, 2011)

Thanks. I know where Saxonburg is; I lived up that way for a little while, in Tarentum. Unfortunately, though, I found out that I am not free on the 9th. Sorry.


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## jacksmith (Jun 2, 2011)

Rock said:


> Hey Jack are you sure of your ta numbers this seems real low at 3.75



I just saw a bloke over on winepress got very similar numbers from his Chilean syrah. He got a TA of about 4.


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## Rock (Jun 3, 2011)

jacksmith said:


> I just saw a bloke over on winepress got very similar numbers from his Chilean syrah. He got a TA of about 4.



I see that Jack i have been making wine from fresh grapes for years and never seen a ta this low on these kind of grapes,thats why i asked.Looks like you have all your numbers tweaked.Good luck.


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