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Any yeast recommendations for dry rose from saignee? Planning to do cool fermentation to boost the esters and phenols to around 12% abv.

Any yeast recommendations for dry rose from saignee? Planning to do cool fermentation to boost the esters and phenols to around 12% abv.

Many hoops to jump through when one goes commercial. Lot's of fun experimenting with the small batches. I have had some good results with elderberry wines. The key there seems to be a minimal aging period before it smooths out and really shines, almost like alchemy. Between 3 and 5 years seems...

Adrian, love your labels. For your peach chardonnay, did you make it with peaches or grapes flavored with peaches? Reason I ask is that this past year I made an oaked peach wine that I describe as a peach version of a french style chardonnay. Wasn't really aiming for that at the outset, but the...

Perhaps Petite Verdot. Can add depth, complexity with limited acreage, mixing ratios.

Recently sampled my bulk aging reds and I can say without doubt there has been a huge transformation within the past few months, rounding the bend so to speak. Currently at about 9 months. The wines are much better integrated and that 'hot' (these are 15% abv) sensation and young fruit profiles...

Very interesting approach, looking like your batch will have plenty of flavor, color, and character. Just bottled a batch of wild blueberry and it sampled quite well from bulk aging.

Received my second batch from Sheetlabels.com. This set looked a little bleached out compared to the first set. They reprinted the batch for free although their policy says this variation can happen. They offer color matching as a safeguard, but that may be an add-on service. Either way, I plan...

Yup, Napa Fermentation is good people, will also be getting my glass there starting this year. I'm with you CDrew on the whole removing labels business. Less pealing, more pouring.

Welcome, BarrelMonkey, from a fellow norCal, hailing from Davis. Likewise having a lot of fun making wine and enjoying the proceeds.

Have this same unit arriving tomorrow and traveling next week. Agreed, cheap insurance with summer on the way and I only put so much faith in PG&E. Incidentally, we had solar installed recently, so this will add another safeguard and layer of continuity.

Btw, here's an image of my wine label, which is homage to the old world. Cheers!

Yup, by brave I was referring to the market driven commercial wine world which as we know is a significantly different approach than home wine making. In this case, I was talking with the wine maker about the relative stability of the yeast colonies and that it wouldn't likely change much from...

My previous wine cellar under the stairs had a low in the 65 range but could start pushing high 70's during heat waves when I had to refrain from running the AC during surcharge periods--not good. A combo of fruit, mead, and mostly reds. Most of those wines should be gone within 5 years and the...

Thanks, Mike Just visited a winery this past weekend that applies an 'old world' approach to making, which includes using the yeast present on the grapes and fermenting and aging the wines in synch with the seasonal temperature variations. The results are some interesting and unique wine...

2065? :D If it turns out good enough, it may follow you into the afterlife...

Great to hear your track record over a long period of time. One of my concerns with the lower temps in addition to all that run time and more likelihood of temp variations in summer is that the wine will mature too slowly for the typical 5-year window yet, as you've done, some longer agings that...

Yup, my cooling unit may be tapping out during heat waves and I may see an uptick in cellar temps at those times.

Thanks for your feedback. Those colder temps do make sense for the long haul, but for my horizons and as you've mentioned, I think I'll settle on 63F for now. Just feels like a sweet spot now that the cellar is acclimating and going steady state. I like how you are sentimental about your wine...

I'm curious. Just starting up a wine cellar that's insulated, got the cooling unit, all the essentials. It's taking some time to get the wine, walls, etc. down in temp. My target is 61 degrees F. It's currently at 65 degrees and it feels pretty darn cold tbh. This is both bulk storage and long...