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I’m happy to hear they’ll be arriving next Monday. Definitely run your own numbers and adjust according to what you find and not what they have posted. If you look at some of the other 2022 Livermore Valley grapes from reputable vendors like winegrapesdirect you’ll see it was a warmer year than...

Welcome to the forum! I also live in Phoenix and can assure you LP, Midwest supplies, morewine, northern brewer, etc ship here. Orders usually take less than a week to arrive and I’ve never had a heat damaged product. As ibglowing stated, Peddler’s Son has a fresh grape program from Central CA...

I’ve made loads of kits. My experience has taught me that red wine kits don’t compare to quality commercial red wines. That said I’ve never made a FWK. However, most of the white wine kits out there are very good, and will compare to some great commercial options available. Unfortunately price =...

If the skins are floating it’s still going. If you check the brix you might find there’s still a percent or two left. My visual cue for when it’s done is when the cap falls just under the surface. Also, don’t be afraid to get those top skins wet for these last few days. Of course if the cap...

Just dropped off my petite sirah! Looking forward to the competition. Out of curiosity, are you able to share how many single varietals have been submitted?

I used to get anxious about letting wine sit on the fine lees too. After a while you realize there really isn’t a rush and it’s best to time things to minimize racking, even if that means wine sits on the fine lees for 6 months. The only caveat to that rule is when the fermentation had issues...

If it’s a kit, and assuming you didn’t add acid, the PH is what it’s supposed to be and shouldn’t need adjusting. Though how does it taste? I’d be surprised if it was really that acidic. Either way, with a PH between 3.2 to 3.45 or so your better off balancing by adding sorbate and...

You're welcome! I love the conversation this forum encourages. I almost always add FT Rouge to my red wine fermentations. So yes, I would add 56.3 grams to the Malbec drum, or 6.6 grams per 5 gallons must for the Malbec. Depending on the length of the cold soak and equipment to keep the...

Sounds like an awesome project you're starting! When I run the numbers, below is the water and acid additions I would likely make. These water additions will bring you to the upper end of what's acceptable for the posted varietals from an ABV perspective. The Cab, for example, would reduce brix...

Good call! What you’re mentioning is called Saignee, and yes it works. It’s typically done with Pinot Noir, and generally performed when water backing is done to decrease brix so the ratio of juice to skins remains the same. It seems like it would be a good option here as well.

As Nebbiolo020 pointed out, Grenache is known for being light in color, lower in tannin, and high in sugar. Color can be coaxed out of it, but it takes a cold soak or the use of enzymes and fermentation tannins. Any grape from Central Valley, CA will generally be lighter in color as the...

You can get the Daou Pessimist red blend from Paso Robles. $20 at total wine. While it’s a blend, and the blend changes slightly depending on the vintage, it’s always dominant petite sirah (70-80%). In my opinion it’s a very good example of Petite Sirah from a good AVA without the large price tag.

Yes, the frozen must pails come with skins. Those pails are simply crushed and destemmed grapes straight from the vineyard after their sorting process, and then frozen. They haven’t been altered in any meaningful way that’s different from how a commercial winery would produce their product...

The problem with wine kits is they don’t make very interesting wine, and I have yet to try a red kit wine that doesn’t produce some level of kit taste. So out of the gate they’re not comparable to mid-level or premium commercial wine. Maybe the problem is high quality vineyards don’t sell their...

Awesome! These profiles are right up my alley. I’m excited to give them a try! You might really like that Castellare Chianti I referenced.

You’re right in that an 8 gallon bucket should only be filled up to the 6 gallon mark. 6 gallons of must should weigh 60 lbs. The amount of wine you get from 6 gallons of must depends on the berry size, but varietals can generally be classified by size. So a very small berry like petite sirah...

I do have a total wine, but I find the employees’ recommendations are generally biased. I have a hard time trusting when they only recommend options that are “winery direct”, i.e. high margin. Perhaps that’s all the business let’s them taste? Also, my favorite wines that they do carry are never...

Jswordy this is exactly what I’m talking about. I’m going to pick these up!

Besides your own, do you have a particular bottle or two that you believe represents the best quality to price? Wines where you’d think would be 2 to 3 times their price if tasted blind and inevitably stock up when given the chance? Please provide purchase source. I’ll go first, Castellare...

Wild yeast fermentations tend to produce a more complex wine because there are several strains fermenting simultaneously. The final strain is inevitably a single strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that can tolerate a high alcohol and low nutrient environment, but there might be several...