# Barrel fermented Chardonnay in 2022!



## NorCal (Sep 30, 2021)

How could I possibly be thinking about next year in September Of 2022? The Mrs. was not happy I didn’t do a white this year. I didn’t because we have enough 2019 Chenin Blanc and 2020 Viognier to get us through the 2022. That and the last 4 months have been more than busy.
The logistics of making a 60 gallon barrels of white suggests I get others involved, as the logistic, crush, press of 1000+ pounds of grapes is a laborious task and gets easier with more people and volume.
Major tasks:
1. Finding, buying, obtaining used but good white wine barrel
2. Finding, reserving grapes, getting macrobins in place, transport grapes to crush
3. Hosting and executing crush/press, settle

I have not done a barrel ferment, but the benefits I’m seeking are a rounder, creamier buttery, vanilla flavor. I will see if I can get 3 other winemakers interested in making 300 bottles of Chardonnay next year.


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## Booty Juice (Sep 30, 2021)

There’s more than one way to skin a cat.

For the barrel, there are companies here that sell neutral white barrels certified for re-fill for around $150, and recoopered for around $250 last time I looked. I’d bet there are similar options closer to you (Napa / Sonoma / Bay Area).

For the juice, there are some very respectable vineyards / wineries here that sell harvested, crushed, chilled, racked, settled, ready-to-ferment white juice (typically Chard and Viognier), somewhere in the $1.50/lb range. They do all the processing, you just show up with your vessel. Beer kegs (15.5 gallons) are common – either as a permanent or intermediary container. Usually, but not always, there’s no charge for processing.

Conversion rate is around 18lbs per gallon, so about 280 per keg, or 1,100 ish per barrel.

Theoretically, you could drive down here, pick up your barrel, get it filled, and drive home. I’m guessing there are other wineries closer to you that offer a similar service.






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## Nebbiolo020 (Sep 30, 2021)

NorCal said:


> How could I possibly be thinking about next year in September Of 2022? The Mrs. was not happy I didn’t do a white this year. I didn’t because we have enough 2019 Chenin Blanc and 2020 Viognier to get us through the 2022. That and the last 4 months have been more than busy.
> The logistics of making a 60 gallon barrels of white suggests I get others involved, as the logistic, crush, press of 1000+ pounds of grapes is a laborious task and gets easier with more people and volume.
> Major tasks:
> 1. Finding, buying, obtaining used but good white wine barrel
> ...


Sounds like fun, the winery I work at exclusively barrel ferments white wines If you need any help I would be happy to give advice. I will add that choice in yeast matters as much as the barrel does, if it were possible I would get 2 smaller barrels and split and ferment with 2 different strains and blend together you can really improve a wine by picking one yeast for body and mouthfeel and another to enhance particular flavor and acidity characteristics you want etc.


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## NorCal (Sep 30, 2021)

Booty Juice said:


> There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
> 
> For the barrel, there are companies here that sell neutral white barrels certified for re-fill for around $150, and recoopered for around $250 last time I looked. I’d bet there are similar options closer to you (Napa / Sonoma / Bay Area).
> 
> ...


Thank you. If you could PM me some vineyards that offer this, I would appreciate it.


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## NorCal (Sep 30, 2021)

Nebbiolo020 said:


> Sounds like fun, the winery I work at exclusively barrel ferments white wines If you need any help I would be happy to give advice. I will add that choice in yeast matters as much as the barrel does, if it were possible I would get 2 smaller barrels and split and ferment with 2 different strains and blend together you can really improve a wine by picking one yeast for body and mouthfeel and another to enhance particular flavor and acidity characteristics you want etc.


I'd appreciate all the help I can get, starting with how many gallons to fill the barrel, giving it ample head space. Also stirring advice. I think I'll have 3 or 4 others going in on the venture, so maybe I could convince one to use a different strain than me and we could swap wine, post fermentation. Yeast recommendations welcomed as well.


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## Nebbiolo020 (Sep 30, 2021)

NorCal said:


> I'd appreciate all the help I can get, starting with how many gallons to fill the barrel, giving it ample head space. Also stirring advice. I think I'll have 3 or 4 others going in on the venture, so maybe I could convince one to use a different strain than me and we could swap wine, post fermentation. Yeast recommendations welcomed as well.


What yeast you choose depends on what you are trying to accomplish, we make Viognier,Grenache blanc, Marsanne and Roussane at the winery I’m at, and we use multiple strains and blend. I can give advice but at the end of the day you need to decide what kind of wine you want taste the juice or fruit before you add anything and ferment it and decide what will complement it. 

Headspace is important so you don’t have wine gushing out or potentially cause a barrel to explode which can happen.


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## stickman (Oct 1, 2021)

The filling volume I've heard is around 50gal in the typical 225L barrel, roughly corresponding to using 5 barrels to produce 4 barrels of wine once topped after AF.
The winemaker at KJ indicated Chardonnay lees stirring 1/month for Vintners Reserve and 2/month for their Grand Reserve.


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## Nebbiolo020 (Oct 1, 2021)

stickman said:


> The filling volume I've heard is around 50gal in the typical 225L barrel, roughly corresponding to using 5 barrels to produce 4 barrels of wine once topped after AF.
> The winemaker at KJ indicated Chardonnay lees stirring 1/month for Vintners Reserve and 2/month for their Grand Reserve.


What we do is ferment in the barrel, and we leave it in the barrel during aging and malolactic and afterwards and stir the lees that way and you get big fat wines but it doesn’t negatively impact the wines. And your full volume is pretty good.


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## NorCal (Dec 5, 2021)

A little update. It looks like this is a go, in a big way. We have 3 local winemakers wanting to do a barrel and 45 gallons total of others. This little coop should reduce any one persons effort. I also found a vineyard that will sell fresh Chardonnay pressed juice by the gallon. With over 200 gallons of finished Chardonnay, this may be the best path.


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## Kitchen (Dec 28, 2021)

I did three barrel fermentations of three different meads this past year and would certainly do it again with either mead or white wine, albeit in larger barrels. (Red wine seems way too much work for me, but that can be done as well.) I did find an increase in rounder mouth feel compared to a non-barrel fermented mead, but had to do more to ensure it worked out. Below is what I read from a few different sources on the subject, and I had no reason not to follow this advice. 

First, you really need to make sure you use a yeast that is good for barrel fermentation. I have no idea why, but this was stressed by professionals in articles I read and best to defer to them. I specifically used D47 and D254. 

Second, you need to make sure you have a perfect fermentation. Remember, the wine will be sitting on the lees for months, and if you have any sulfur issues due to stress, you will ruin the wine. So, you need to make sure you have enough nutrients, you dissolved enough oxygen into the must prior to fermentation, and you keep a check on temperature. If you notice any sulfur smells from the wine after fermentation, you will need to rack off the lees altogether. 

Third, you will also need to sur lee age, especially in the first couple of months, to continue to stave off sulfur issues and achieve that rounder mouth feel. Lees need oxygen in order to prevent sulfur from being produced and if they settle at the bottom they will not get enough. So, during fermentation, you will need to stir the wine everyday. After fermentation and for two to three months, you will need to stir up the lees every other day (with this being the most crucial time period), and then every three or four days up until you feel you have achieved the desired effects. 

Now, after the first three or four months, so long as you babied the lees in the beginning, letting them settle for a few days will not be too much of an issue, and, when you have the desired characteristics, you can just stop the sur lee precess and let them settle without fear of any bad effects. Also, lees, in the first couple months, consume roughly the same amount of oxygen that a wine can absorb naturally, so sur lee aging helps prevent oxygenation but you can also see why it is so important to stir every two days during this period to keep sulfur issues at bay. 

Last, from what I read, sur lee aging really shines when performing it in new barrels. According to a few different sources on this, lees also absorb oak flavors at a much greater rate then wine can in the first month or so. The strongest barrel flavors are drawn out in the first month, most of which are consumed by the lees and will fall out of the wine. The results (once again from what I read) are a more integrated less intense oak flavor. Now I have no idea what the most common blend of new vs old barrels at wineries that do this is.


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## ibglowin (Dec 28, 2021)

Sounds like a fun project. Just curious if Mrs. NorCal likes her Chard this way? LOL The big fat buttery oaked chards are kinda out of fashion and things are swinging back towards more pure Chard raised in all SS or sometimes concrete egg. With little to no MLF.


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## NorCal (Dec 28, 2021)

ibglowin said:


> Sounds like a fun project. Just curious if Mrs. NorCal likes her Chard this way? LOL The big fat buttery oaked chards are kinda out of fashion and things are swinging back towards more pure Chard raised in all SS or sometimes concrete egg. With little to no MLF.


The Mrs would choose a Rombauer Chardonnay as her first pick Chardonnay. Making wines the Mrs enjoys is the top influence on what I make.

Tasting notes: Pale yellow. Strong oak, white flowers, toasted almonds. Vanilla, butter, restrained citrus. Smooth. Big California Chardonnay.


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## NorCal (Dec 28, 2021)

Tha


Kitchen said:


> I did three barrel fermentations of three different meads this past year and would certainly do it again with either mead or white wine, albeit in larger barrels. (Red wine seems way too much work for me, but that can be done as well.) I did find an increase in rounder mouth feel compared to a non-barrel fermented mead, but had to do more to ensure it worked out. Below is what I read from a few different sources on the subject, and I had no reason not to follow this advice.
> 
> First, you really need to make sure you use a yeast that is good for barrel fermentation. I have no idea why, but this was stressed by professionals in articles I read and best to defer to them. I specifically used D47 and D254.
> 
> ...


Thank you. Very helpful. I copied this to my Chard Barrel WhattsAp group, to share with others.


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## Cap Puncher (Dec 28, 2021)

On stirring the lees, if you construct a roller system for your barrel to rest on, you can roll the barrel to stir mix up the lees. I know some high end wineries in Paso that do this. It keeps you from having to open the barrel each time. Easy to do without rollers if you use 15 gallon barrel or less.

Also to reduce sulfur issues, Allegro from Renaissance seems to be their Chard yeast for battonage. Per their website,"Because Allegro is H2S–preventing, it is the perfect ally for barrel aging on the lees.".


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## Nebbiolo020 (Dec 31, 2021)

Kitchen said:


> I did three barrel fermentations of three different meads this past year and would certainly do it again with either mead or white wine, albeit in larger barrels. (Red wine seems way too much work for me, but that can be done as well.) I did find an increase in rounder mouth feel compared to a non-barrel fermented mead, but had to do more to ensure it worked out. Below is what I read from a few different sources on the subject, and I had no reason not to follow this advice.
> 
> First, you really need to make sure you use a yeast that is good for barrel fermentation. I have no idea why, but this was stressed by professionals in articles I read and best to defer to them. I specifically used D47 and D254.
> 
> ...


In response to your comment about red wine being work, I actually find white wine to be more work both commercially and home winemaking wise. One of the wineries I worked at had a press that would take about 8 hours to press 3.5 tons of grapes and it would take 3-5 days to press out all the white grapes and you would have to sit and manually program cycles into the press and watch it and it’s really boring and time consuming and a lot of work to clean the press between cycles and just a absolute nightmare.


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## Kitchen (Jan 3, 2022)

Nebbiolo020 said:


> In response to your comment about red wine being work, I actually find white wine to be more work both commercially and home winemaking wise. One of the wineries I worked at had a press that would take about 8 hours to press 3.5 tons of grapes and it would take 3-5 days to press out all the white grapes and you would have to sit and manually program cycles into the press and watch it and it’s really boring and time consuming and a lot of work to clean the press between cycles and just a absolute nightmare.



I was referring to barrel fermenting red wine in which you will need to remove one head (in order to pump in the must) and then put that head back on after the barrel is filled. Then after filling, you need to now move a now 500+lb barrel onto a rack that will allow you to spin the barrel multiple times a day with a locking bung to prevent spillage. 

I dont see how you would be able to do this without serious equipment.

Barrel fermenting a white wine at home is very doable since you can just pump the juice in through the bunghole after positioning your barrel where you want it.


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## mainshipfred (Jan 3, 2022)

Nebbiolo020 said:


> In response to your comment about red wine being work, I actually find white wine to be more work both commercially and home winemaking wise. One of the wineries I worked at had a press that would take about 8 hours to press 3.5 tons of grapes and it would take 3-5 days to press out all the white grapes and you would have to sit and manually program cycles into the press and watch it and it’s really boring and time consuming and a lot of work to clean the press between cycles and just a absolute nightmare.



I'm curious what type and size of press you used. The wineries I help out at have different sizes. They are all horizontal bladders. I'm not sure how many ton they hold but I would guess 2 ton for the smaller ones. The press is programmed after they are full for 3 cycles and it takes less than 30 minutes per cycle. The drum is then rolled several times then the next cycle begins. The large ones could hold 3 ton easily. As long as it's only reds or white they only remove the skins to press the next wine. I have to say I spent too many times inside the press cleaning it.


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## Glenbudde (Jan 5, 2022)

Thank you very match for all this informations!


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## Nebbiolo020 (Jan 7, 2022)

mainshipfred said:


> I'm curious what type and size of press you used. The wineries I help out at have different sizes. They are all horizontal bladders. I'm not sure how many ton they hold but I would guess 2 ton for the smaller ones. The press is programmed after they are full for 3 cycles and it takes less than 30 minutes per cycle. The drum is then rolled several times then the next cycle begins. The large ones could hold 3 ton easily. As long as it's only reds or white they only remove the skins to press the next wine. I have to say I spent too many times inside the press cleaning it.


It was a 25 year old German press at a winery I worked at, press had a 3-3.5 ton capacity roughly. It was a bladder press. And while it was computerized it was all manual so you had to program each step in manually. Very slow cycles. It was very inefficient due to being a older model that the winery has had since it opened.

it took us about 10 hours to cycle one batch of grapes including cleaning the press I had to climb into it and clean it and I’m 6’4 and it was not a fun job.


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## NorCal (Feb 17, 2022)

I’ve been in the market for quantity three, 1 or 2 year old used white wine 60 gallon barrels for our Chardonnay collective. It has been a tough order to fill, but I’m still on the hunt. If I can’t find this by June, I’ll pursue neutral white barrels and plan on adding adjuncts. 

I confirmed with the vineyard the availability of 5 juice barrels (55 gallons each) of juice, so I’m pretty hopeful this will all come together.


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## sour_grapes (Feb 17, 2022)

NorCal said:


> I’ve been in the market for quantity three, 1 or 2 year old used white wine 60 gallon barrels for our Chardonnay collective. It has been a tough order to fill, but I’m still on the hunt. If I can’t find this by June, I’ll pursue neutral white barrels and plan on adding adjuncts.
> 
> I confirmed with the vineyard the availability of 5 juice barrels (55 gallons each) of juice, so I’m pretty hopeful this will all come together.



Long shot, but do any of these float your boat? Wine Barrels


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## NorCal (Feb 17, 2022)

sour_grapes said:


> Long shot, but do any of these float your boat? Wine Barrels


Logistics cost may be an issue. I’ve also thought of having one person in our little co-op buy a new barrel and then we blend back at the end.


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## NorCal (May 12, 2022)

The hunt for 1,2,3 year old used white wine barrels turned up a big goose egg. We settled on recently retired, power washed, ozoned and sulfured neutral barrels. We got 3 for the group. We are committed to a whole lot of Chardonnay this year!



I had to clean mine up a bit and make a roller for it.


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## ibglowin (May 12, 2022)

Good looking barrels IMHO. Did they have red (or white) wine in them in their previous life? 



NorCal said:


> The hunt for 1,2,3 year old used white wine barrels turned up a big goose egg. We settled on recently retired, power washed, ozoned and sulfured neutral barrels. We got 3 for the group. We are committed to a whole lot of Chardonnay this year!
> View attachment 88157
> 
> 
> ...


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## NorCal (May 12, 2022)

ibglowin said:


> Good looking barrels IMHO. Did they have red (or white) wine in them in their previous life?


They had white ( Chardonnay) in them previously. I didn’t realize how much more difficult it was going to be to find used white wine barrels In my area. These barrels came out of the Sonoma area, which borders Napa.


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## winemaker81 (May 12, 2022)

Given how few whites are barrel aged, I'm not as surprised. I can't recall seeing any advertisement for used white barrels. It's great that you got some!

Are you going to add oak adjuncts, since the barrels are neutral?


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## NorCal (May 12, 2022)

I have a feeling that the barrel aged whites in our area uses very little new oak each year and they continue to reuse old barrels and just blend the wine from the new barrels and the neutral barrels to get their "20% new oak" I'm not a big fan of oaky wines, so I'll be adding oak spirals slowly and carefully.

We also got them at a very reasonable $125 each.


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## Nebbiolo020 (May 13, 2022)

NorCal said:


> They had white ( Chardonnay) in them previously. I didn’t realize how much more difficult it was going to be to find used white wine barrels In my area. These barrels came out of the Sonoma area, which borders Napa.


It’s because wineries like to keep them and continue using them even when neutral, we had about 50% neutral 50% new barrels at work and fermented all the whites in barrel. Of course that’s a lot more popular for white wines here than Napa or Sonoma, typically barrel fermenting white wines is more common with Rhone varietals, Marsanne,Roussane, Viognier, Grenache Blanc etc.


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## NorCal (Jun 17, 2022)

Two of the three barrels filled with aciduated and sulfited water no problem. One however was a leaker. We thought it was a swelling issue, so we tried the cold and then the hot method without success. The leak was where the barrel head intersected with the staves. It ended up being a bored hole from some sort of beetle. I took a punch, made the hole a little bigger. I then found a wooden T, sanded the sides and hammered it in then chiseled off the end. Probably not the ideal material, but it’s held. Filled up the barrel to the top and found another one. I put another golf T in it and it’s been holding for a week or so.


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## mainshipfred (Jun 17, 2022)

I quick search say golf tees are usually red cedar. I can't see how that would hurt anything.


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## BarrelMonkey (Jun 17, 2022)

NorCal said:


> Two of the three barrels filled with aciduated and sulfited water no problem. One however was a leaker. We thought it was a swelling issue, so we tried the cold and then the hot method without success. The leak was where the barrel head intersected with the staves. It ended up being a bored hole from some sort of beetle. I took a punch, made the hole a little bigger. I then found a wooden T, sanded the sides and hammered it in then chiseled off the end. Probably not the ideal material, but it’s held. Filled up the barrel to the top and found another one. I put another golf T in it and it’s been holding for a week or so.



*Spiles* are your weapon of choice here... but a wooden golf tee sounds like an inventive and successful alternative!


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## NorCal (Jul 19, 2022)

We are getting close! There are 4 people in our little collective, 3 are fermenting in 60 gallon barrels, 1 in a 30 gallon spiedel.

My objective is a smooth, creamy, buttery (but not over the top), flavorful Chardonnay.

The plan, posted below for peer review, do you think the below is consistent with the objective?
0. Target of: 22-23 brix, 3.2-3.4 pH Chardonnay juice
1. Let fresh Chard juice barrel settle 12-24 hrs, then rack from solids.
2. Fill barrel with 40-45 gallons of juice, rest in Spiedels
3. Inoculate with TR-313 yeast. (I want to use a non-H2S yeast, due to extra H2S risk
4. Ferment/store in 65-69 degree wine box. stirring daily
5. Once complete fermentation, rack off gross lees (or leave the gross lees if no off smells?)
6. Fill barrel with wine from the spiedel, add Beta mlf, stirring every 2-3 days
7. Rack and add SO2 immediately following the completion of MLF
8. Taste and maybe add just a touch of oak
9. Plan on rolling the barrel out in the barn during cold Dec-Jan months
10. Rack, degass if needed, filter if needed, bottle in Jan/Feb


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## Nebbiolo020 (Jul 21, 2022)

NorCal said:


> We are getting close! There are 4 people in our little collective, 3 are fermenting in 60 gallon barrels, 1 in a 30 gallon spiedel.
> 
> My objective is a smooth, creamy, buttery (but not over the top), flavorful Chardonnay.
> 
> ...


Looks like a solid plan, you really want to let it settle and be careful you don’t get haze.


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## NorCal (Sep 6, 2022)

We booked our order today! Quantity of 5 fifty five gallon barrels of fresh picked, pressed and settled Chardonnay juice about one hour drive away. @4score and @Busabill and two other buddies are also partaking. 

The cost, $5.50 per gallon, which seems like a bargain. When I do white wine from grapes it takes around 20 pounds of grapes per gallon of finished wine. By comparison, the last time we made Viognier I paid $1.00 per pound. This juice by the barrel comes to the equivalent of $0.30 per pound or so (with racking allowance) and eliminates half a day of work!

We will see the quality of wine the grapes make, but it can’t be much worse than the quality of white grapes I’ve received in the past, which have all won silvers at the state fair.


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## NorCal (Sep 18, 2022)

I have to say, that couldn’t have been any easier. In total qty 5, 55 gallon drums of pretty clean, fresh juice.


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## NorCal (Sep 24, 2022)

Fermented dry in 5 days with TR-313 yeast. Racked and added beta mlb.


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## NorCal (Sep 24, 2022)

My take, 60 gallon barrel and a 5 gallon carboy that I’ll bottle post mlf to support the racking and topping of the barrel.


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## Maheesh (Sep 24, 2022)

Wow, what was ferment temp?


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## crushday (Sep 24, 2022)

NorCal said:


> My take, 60 gallon barrel and a 5 gallon carboy that I’ll bottle post mlf to support the racking and topping of the barrel.
> View attachment 93248
> View attachment 93249


Was the primary ferment in the wine box (wine room)? I suspect not...

Rose' of Cabernet Franc is still fermenting (started 8/28) at 70 degrees...


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## BarrelMonkey (Sep 24, 2022)

Maheesh said:


> Wow, what was ferment temp?


That was my question too! That's one fast ferment...


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## NorCal (Sep 24, 2022)

crushday said:


> Was the primary ferment in the wine box (wine room)? I suspect not...
> 
> Rose' of Cabernet Franc is still fermenting (started 8/28) at 70 degrees...


Yes, in the wine box/room. Fermented at 65-69 degree ambient. I never checked the juice temp. Crazy fast.


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## crushday (Sep 25, 2022)

NorCal said:


> Yes, in the wine box/room. Fermented at 65-69 degree ambient. I never checked the juice temp. Crazy fast.


I just researched that yeast. Didn't realize it was from Renaissance. Makes more sense but that is still incredibly fast given what I now are the temps inside your vault. The sealed barrel must have provided some insulating factor that trapped a fair amount of the generated heat. 

I'm equally surprised my Rose' is still chugging along. I haven't checked Brix but I can clearly see activity (checked again last night) in the glass carboy.


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## NorCal (Sep 25, 2022)

I kept 65 gallons and the remaining 45 gallons went to a buddy. It was “pick-up” day today. Couldn’t think of a faster way to get it in his pickup.


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## NorCal (Oct 13, 2022)

I did the first taste test of the Chardonnay barrel. I‘ve had this fear in my head on this project, as I’ve never made any grape wine from a kit or juice. My fear was confirmed as it tasted thin; like someone added 25% more water to the wine. Hopefully time in the barrel, completing mlf and a little French oak will change the taste profile to have more body and depth of flavor.


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## NorCal (Nov 4, 2022)

Right after I reported my "thin" comment to the two other chard barrel winemakers, they went and tasted theirs. Interesting enough, @4score had been stirring his barrel every day, but had a 15 gallon spiedel, which had not been stirred at all. He reported back that he got the same sense of thinness on the spiedel that did not get stirred, but the wine in the barrel was quite different. We all started stirring daily at that point in time. MLF has been completed, so I will be doing a racking / tasting this weekend.

My quickly made barrel stirring stick made out of a bucket top that I attach to the end my electric drill.


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## winemaker81 (Nov 4, 2022)

NorCal said:


> My quickly made barrel stirring stick made out of a bucket top that I attach to the end my electric drill.


Battonage is your friend! I hope it works out well.


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## NorCal (Nov 6, 2022)

Racked, SO2, added oak. The wine has definitely improved since the last tasting, but if I’m being honest, it still tastes thin to me. Nose good, flavor good, but just tastes watered down. I added 2nd year French oak equivalent spirals, mild toast to hopefully bring in some body.


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## NorCal (Dec 11, 2022)

It’s been around 5 weeks since the racking and time has been this wine’s friend! It has improved a lot. I cannot say it hit the butter level and depth of flavor I was shooting for, but it has the taste profile that will make it a pleasant, easy drinker. Notes of pineapple and pear come through to me. Others that made the wine from the same juice have gone in different directions with yeast, oak, acid adjustment, etc. It will be fun to do a tasting after the first of the year with 4 different wines from the same juice.

A winemaker barrel sample pour


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## Nebbiolo020 (Dec 11, 2022)

NorCal said:


> It’s been around 5 weeks since the racking and time has been this wine’s friend! It has improved a lot. I cannot say it hit the butter level and depth of flavor I was shooting for, but it has the taste profile that will make it a pleasant, easy drinker. Notes of pineapple and pear come through to me. Others that made the wine from the same juice have gone in different directions with yeast, oak, acid adjustment, etc. It will be fun to do a tasting after the first of the year with 4 different wines from the same juice.
> 
> A winemaker barrel sample pour
> View attachment 96264


I am glad that the wine turned around and is a decent wine. It could be hit or miss each vintage working with barrel fermented white wines at work. Would have liked to have more consistency but unfortunately you would get a great vintage then the fruit wasn’t as good the next year and it was tough because some years we wouldn’t have Roussane or etc cause it just sucked. 

Even to this day barrel fermented white wines which I have a lot of experience with are probably the style that I still feel is challenging.


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## NorCal (Tuesday at 5:43 PM)

3 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay blind tasting coming up on Thursday evening. 

@4score @Busabill - neutral barrel, French staves med+ toast, Prelude yeast 4 brix, TR313 yeast, Beta MLB daily stirring from the beginning.

NorCal - neutral barrel, French spiral, light toast, TR313 yeast, Beta MLB, 3 day/week stirring, going to 7 day a week stirring half way through.

NorCal's Friend - neutral barrel, French spiral, med+ toast, TR313 yeast, Beta MLB, 2 day/week stirring, going to 7 day a week stirring half way through.

We are also going to throw a Rombauer Chardonnay into the mix, to see how close we came. There will be six of us tasting. Samples will all be refrigerated, placed into similar bottles, bagged and then blindly numbered. The wine glasses will be numbered as well.


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## CDrew (Tuesday at 5:48 PM)

Medium+ is a brave move. Looking forward to the results.


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## crushday (Tuesday at 7:16 PM)

Looking forward to the results!


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## NorCal (Wednesday at 7:29 PM)

The score sheets have been prepared. Any other recommendations? Each of the 6 people tasting will have their own sheet.


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