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The angels' share.... And they're drinking more these days. I have nothing in carboys, but I have 2 barrels that do seem to need more topping than typical.

Happy birthday Keef!

You could try chilling the bottles to just above freezing then opening and letting them warm up.

At a minimum you probably want to use a yeast that metabolizes fructose well like Uvaferm UV43. Then follow directions for rehydrating it in water- Then when the temperature between the yeast and the wine is <10 degrees different start adding some of the wine (maybe 10%) to the rehydrated...

Sounds like your fermentation stuck, I would try to restart.

Hmm.. Are you making wine from frozen must?

Mannaggia!

After pressing, I settle my Pinots in stainless, then rack once into barrel. After that I age in barrel for 1 year without racking at all. That's been very successful for me with Pinot. Other varieties like Syrah would need racking along the way as they tend to have reductive...

I think UC Davis did a study a while back and found that just about all "wild" (i.e. uninoculated) yeast fermentations finished with a commercial strain (as checked by DNA analysis). However, I think those were all done in commercial wineries. If you've never made wine in this house maybe you...

I agree with this- If you add too much too late the yeast can't metabolize it and you're stuck with off flavors (not to mention stuff you may not want to drink) in your finished wine. So I wouldn't add the full amount.

Got word today that my grapes are a no-go this year, the vineyard is just on the edge of the glass fire. I only feel bad for all the folks up in wine country who have lost homes, wineries, vineyards, inventory, etc. I just feel lucky that we were unaffected by fires so far this year, though...

Wow, would be really interesting to see what CA planted Norton is like. I haven't tried much and what I have hasn't been impressive, but who knows what's possible? Another variety you don't see planted much here is Pinotage. I've tried it and the "burnt rubber" is something I can't get past...

Thanks for the info, good luck and keep us posted on how the wine evolves!

Definitely interesting- You're already pressing Merlot and Cab? When and where were they harvested? What was the Brix at harvest? I'm still waiting for my Sonoma Cab to ripen, and I'm also worried about smoke taint.

There's almost no doubt that they are safe, but you should look for rot or less than optimal fruit and remove those berries before crush. If fruit and stats look good there's no reason not to go ahead.

Oh no, sorry to hear that. I remember Jack from the old Usenet wine discussion groups, always ready to help anyone out. He has to have the record for making wine from the widest variety of things.

There's no "correct" answer. Some winemakers ferment for as long a 2 months at temperatures as low as 45 F. I think that a couple of weeks is probably a good starting point, but the danger of the long slow ferment is that CO2 production isn't high, and more oxygen can be absorbed at lower...

I wouldn't worry about the wild yeast, especially if you added some SO2. It's almost for sure that a commercial strain of Saccharomyces is doing your ferment. Even though you added nutrients, reds may have other nutrients due to the skins being present, so your yeast may like the environment...

Fermentation speed depends on the temperature, strain of yeast, amount of nutrients and sugar, SO2 level (if any) and probably several other things I'm not thinking of at the moment. It can easily get out of control (not sure about the kits, haven't used them) and cause excess temperatures in...

I use Chris Hansen CH16, but as someone mentioned any of the big name cultures should be fine.