# Crushing 10 Tons of Cabernet!



## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

Helped my friends out at Black Mesa Winery about 30 miles North of me yesterday. They had just gotten in 10 Tons of Cabernet Sauvignon that morning from down South in Deming. Grapes were brought up in a refrigerated truck and were still very cold. Hard work for sure but I loved every minute of it. I learned a lot about how a commercial operation works and the owner was very open about what was being added to the must and why. I was up top pulling leaves out and pushing grapes into the crusher. I was pretty covered in sticky grape juice by the end of the day but it washes off pretty easily. It was a nice cool crisp Fall like day with a gentle breeze and the crush pad has a brand new cover to keep us (and the grapes) out of the sun. 

In return a hearty lunch spread was supplied for all as well as my choice of a bottle of wine from the tasting room and..........an invite to come back in a couple of weeks to help harvest/crush their estate grown Merlot and take home enough grapes to fill a 20G Brute! 

These grapes have much better chemistry since they are grown further North at altitude with much cooler weather than down South (only 85-90's high temps vs 100+ temps).


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## tonyt (Sep 18, 2011)

Must have been a really fun day!


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## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

I slept pretty heavy! Little stiff this morning, not in a good way either!


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## Bartman (Sep 18, 2011)

So what did they add to the must? When you say "much better chemistry", what is that compared to - the Black Mesa estate Merlot?

But, most importantly, 

did you get to drive the forklift?


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## rhoffart (Sep 18, 2011)

Very nice, man I jealous ... did you learn anything you can use in your own process?


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## tonyt (Sep 18, 2011)

I think what Rick means is did you learn anything WE can use in OUR process.
And isn't that you on the forklift?


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## rhoffart (Sep 18, 2011)

ttortorice said:


> I think what Rick means is did you learn anything WE can use in OUR process.And isn't that you on the forklift?



Well, it will be a while before I use fresh grapes ... I was going to wait till then to ask


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## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

They were adding sulfite, booster rouge, tartaric, macerating enzymes, dry tannin, oak sawdust.......

Due to the hot weather (lots of 100 degree days) where these grapes are grown they are high in pH and low in acid. Tartaric acid brings both levels right in range. The estate grown grapes are grown 350 miles to the North at higher altitude. Summer time high temps rarely reach much above 90 and the grapes have a lot longer hang time with much cooler night time lows as well making for a all around better balanced grape. 

That said I don't quite understand how they get these vines to survive each Winter as the lows are constantly in the 0-10 degree range for Dec, Jan, Feb time frame. Something I will have to enquire for next time for sure. Could be a heartier rootstock or they could protect the vines with some type of insulation during the Winter.

I did not drive the forklift. It looks like fun but it was tight quarters and I for sure did not want the responsibility should I somehow screw up and drop a full load of grapes. Each one of those Macro bins holds ~$700 worth of grapes!



BartReeder said:


> So what did they add to the must?  When you say "much better chemistry", what is that compared to - the Black Mesa estate Merlot?But, most importantly, did you get to drive the forklift?


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## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

I got confirmation on a lot of things I was very interested in regarding making wine from fresh grapes, especially these grapes since this is what I will have to work with from year to year. I was able to pick up some good yeast pairing ideas, chemistry adjusting ideas, blending ideas. I was asking a lot of questions and taking a lot of mental notes for sure!



rhoffart said:


> Very nice, man I jealous ... did you learn anything you can use in your own process?


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## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

That's the owner of the winery.



ttortorice said:


> And isn't that you on the forklift?


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## grapeman (Sep 18, 2011)

Sounds like a fun day Mike for sure. When you get done over there, come on over here. We crushed the first picking of about 700 pounds last evening. After getting back from the market this afternoon late, we pressed them out (being whites) and I just got in. 


I will need to begin picking a bit heavier this week and hopefully be in full action soon.


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## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

Rich you are a one man pickin' crushin' pressin' mean lean fightin' machine!

Don't know how you do it all but kudos to you!


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## Goodfella (Sep 18, 2011)

Very cool!!!


It is really cool to see the "behind the scenes" of a commercial winery.


MIKE IT IS YOUR DESTINY!!! (Star wars reference) haha


Joel


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## ibglowin (Sep 18, 2011)

Or "Back to the Future".....

"You are my density"..........


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## Waldo (Sep 19, 2011)

Thanks for sharing the experience Mike. Great pictures


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## grapeman (Sep 19, 2011)

ibglowin said:


> Rich you are a one man pickin' crushin' pressin' mean lean fightin' machine!
> 
> Don't know how you do it all but kudos to you!





Mike I am anything but lean............






I got to cheat with that batch. Two of the boys picked them on Saturday while I was at the Saturday Farmer's Market. That's why I only had 700 pounds.






Not trying to steal from your fun at all, just relating to a chronologically challenged man such as yourself, I get stiff much easier these days, and as you state it, not in a good way.


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## Scott B (Sep 19, 2011)

Mike, That is 10 tons of fun! Thanks for the photos.


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## rrawhide (Oct 5, 2011)

Hey Mike


Glad that you had a wonderful winey day. Lots of rewarding work and fun too!!!!


We only processed about 800# this year. Were going to buy some grapes but decided to work on what we have (about 25 carboys and 2 barrels full) at this time. Then next year buy a ton or ?. My vines along the driveway produced 200# and will make a nice blend. There is 8 gallons of 'estate' wine in the cool room.


More later


Rick


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## ibglowin (Oct 5, 2011)

Wow, I thought you just planted those vines, how did you coax 200lbs off of them!


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## rrawhide (Oct 5, 2011)

Hi again Mike


This is the 3rd year for the merlot and syrah. Also, the week that I was laid up the birds had a field-day and we picked what was left. I figured that there would have been about 400# the week before. I watered about 24 hours (8 hours at night 3 times) a week during the season and fertilized 4 times through the drip system. So, they did well. Next year should be more and the cabs will be 2 years old. So we will see. All together should be about 110 vines. Enough for me!!!!


Just received a card from Delicato Vineyards in Manteca, Ca that their 'juice' is ready. For 9 days a year they sell the juice (blend) for $3.10 per gallon to home winemakers. Buy as much as you want. It's a 150 mile trip for me so will probably pass this year (each way). But it's an options for those here in California. Just bring your own containers and ferment when you get home. A barrel would be $3.10 x 60 gallons = $186 or .62 cents a bottle (300 bottles). Not bad, huh?


It's fun doing this when you cannot lift much weight these days so you have to work smarter - with pumps and hoses and roll-around carts. Wish I would have thought about this earlier!!!!!


Hope you are well and having fun!!!


LAter


Rick


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## ibglowin (Oct 5, 2011)

Heck we drive that far almost just to get to Costco!






Got shut out out from fruit from down south this year so buying some fruit from your neck of the woods through George.... 650 mile one way trip!

But we will combine it with a visit to San Antonio and Austin to visit family and friends then head up north to pick up the grapes and head home.

George still has not given us a date to come pick up and and he charged my card already. Anybody seen or heard from George lately!


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## robie (Oct 5, 2011)

I thought I saw him getting on a private airplane. He was saying something about retiring in Brazil.


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## ibglowin (Oct 5, 2011)

Or on an island somewhere in the caribbean !


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## AlFulchino (Oct 5, 2011)

nice that you got to work w Black Mesa Mike, must have been fun!


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## andy123 (Oct 6, 2011)

Excellent report and pics.Thank You


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## rrawhide (Oct 9, 2011)

Ok Ok Mike


Decided to go ahead and drive - to Delicato in Manteca, CA. It was a 403 mile round trip. Left at 0500 and got home at 1400. Brought back 65 gallons of unfermented juice. The blend is 56% Allicante, 29% Syrah and 15% Rubired. The numbers are Brix 20.3, Ph 3.5 and the TA 0.74. Except for a little light on the brix everything is ok and it taste wonderful. SO, more wine wine wine wine iwne ewin eniw etc.............etc..........etc...........
This is juice and was quite cold so will have to warm it up a little bit. I will split the barrel into 2 open-top fermenters and start fermentation today or tomarrow. Then when finished will pump into a neutral oak barrel and add oak and let 'er sit for 3 months. Then rack into plastic - clean barrel and rack back into barrel for long term. Maybe!!!!


Here we are at Delicato filling our containers. There was a line about 30 cars/trucks long and I guess it never stops for the entire 9 'juice' days. They sell about 50,000 gallons in that week to homewinemakers. WOW! They also had a white blend that I tasted but did not have any containers for that. This blend was odd - 91.5% Thompson and 8.5% Symphony grapes. Was very good but did not get any.








line waiting to get in








security lets in 3 vehicles at a time




our 60 gallon barrel and a 12








just back up to the fill station hoses




brother-in-law David starting to fill








happy camper - fill fill fill


Unloaded with a tractor loader and set on a metal roller platform so we could move around on the concrete floor. Let sit overnight and checked temp today - juice temp 68 degrees. Decided to use the RC-212 yeast since it works with cooler must. Split into 2 equal containers and rehydrated the yeast and gently stirred into the juice. Covered with a towel and waiting for the 'magic' to start!!!


Some of the home winemakers getting juice were fermenting directly into wood barrels. They were old time 'makers and do not add any yeast at all. Just warm up the juice to 70 degrees ish and let the natural fermentation start on its own. SO, we decided to try this method in a 5 gallon plastic carboy with a brew belt to warm it up. SO, we will see if there is a difference. And, these ol boys do not bottle - they just pour, siphon, or chug right out of the container. Should be interesting. Let you know more later.


rrawhide


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## grapeman (Oct 9, 2011)

Man you just can't slow you down! Keep having fun and good luck with the wine being fine.


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## Goodfella (Oct 9, 2011)

Very good Rick. Keep us posted, and good luck.


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## ibglowin (Oct 10, 2011)

Hey Rick! Great job on your "little" road trip in the name of Bacchus! Good thing they had security on hand to keep the crowd in control by only letting 3 winos in at a time!





Keep us posted on how it turns out buddy!


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