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Honestly, I would look into doing a chargeback on your credit card if Bay Wine Brokers won't refund you your order (or at least partially). You were not sent what you ordered, and instead were sent a cheaper product. That's a valid reason IMO. I'm sure the frozen must will still turn out tasty...

I was much more fastidious about sanitization before I transitioned to winemaking from fresh grapes. Now, seeing how the grapes come in off the vineyard, often with tons of earwigs, spiders, being picked into non-sanitized buckets, etc. I pretty much only care about equipment being clean. With...

Once a wine is degassed, if I switch to a solid bung I always tape it down. Every time I've not taped it I've checked on the wine to find the bung has popped itself out one day. I've had no issues with airlock bungs but with solid, if you have little headspace (as you should) even a small...

Yep. I'm surprised how much tannin my 2023 PN has considering it's a "low tannin" varietal. It definitely needs another half year+ of bottle aging before it will start to come into balance but it has a great nose so I'm excited for it to mellow out some more

I should add I'm also not sure how much temperature helps with extraction, at least for color. I do use Lallzyme as well. I thought maybe I wasn't getting optimal extraction since my Pinot last year (first wine from fresh grapes) did turn out fairly light in color, but my cool-fermented...

My reds have all been fermented cool, in the low to mid 70s, mostly because I'm not fermenting large enough batches that the temperature gets more than a few degrees above ambient, and the house is usually upper 60s during fermentation season. Pinot is also the easiest red for me to get and cool...

This is only my second vintage transitioning from fruit wines to fresh grapes, so I still have the mindset of "I can't waste it for cooking wine" 🤣. But I will have so much now I think I'll lose that mindset pretty quick. And sauteeing with wine is a great way to add flavor to lots of dishes

I made 28 gallons this year - 7 of Tempranillo, 6 (expected) of Pinot currently fermenting, 5 each of Viognier and Riesling (the latter currently fermenting), 4 of Tempranillo rosé and 1 of Pinot rosé saignée. But I voted 11-25 since 28 gallons is way above my household consumption rate so...

Don't use bleach, use hydrogen peroxide, or Star San. Bleach could lead to potential cork taint problems later on

Copper sulfate solution can work too if your LHBS doesn't carry Reduless, and you're careful in measuring. I had bought some "just in case" and I used it for the first time on some Tempranillo rosé this year that had some H2S smell even after splash racking with the All In One. Just a half mL of...

There is potential danger. Many metals, including copper, can dissolve into acidic solutions like wine. With the copper being in the wine for a year there was ample time for an unknown and potentially elevated quantity of copper to accumulate. I would dump this batch, or distill it if you really...

Interesting point I hadn't thought of about the difference between high brix from overripe grapes vs from dry spells, and that makes total sense that you might want to saignée one and not the other.

I also added water to my Tempranillo this year. I only dropped the brix by 0.5 or so (from a bit over 25 to a bit under 25) so I just added acidulated water (with tartaric at about 5g/L). If I were dropping brix by much more I would probably do a saignee first to not dilute the skin to juice ratio.

I only have experience making wine at the home scale, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but: 1. Can't really advice on K-Carb, but with a TA of 10 g/L you have a wine that is tart but not *waay* out of line. I think your options to make a balanced wine with that acidity, if you don't want...

Your Viognier stats came in just about the same as mine. I also did not adjust anything and am not going to do MLF, but am going for sur lie aging for body/roundness instead of oaking. It'll be the first time I've done sur lie and battonage, so it will be interesting! My Tempranillo came in at...

I don't see anything that looks bad to me. The gray patches, assuming that's what you're concerned about, look like they're below the surface to me, and probably just pulp from the apples floating up. It's not mold unless it's on/above the surface and fuzzy

I currently have just about 4 gallons of Tempranillo rosé undergoing primary, from grapes harvested the same day as my tempranillo red that is also fermenting now, just from a slightly less ripe row on the vineyard. The red was a bit over 25 brix and the rosé not much under - I did do a...

You're in CA? I bet you can find a vineyard that will let you come in and harvest grapes a bit "early" when they still have some green tannins, if you want to make a more Bordeaux-style red. Maybe from a cooler microclimate as well so they can have longer flavor development time while still...

If you're wanting to make a "traditional" red wine, and not, say, pressing very early for a dark rosé or something stylistically between a rosé and a red, then I would recommend going through with the MLF. The high acid from no MLF *and* tannins together might make a wine that is a bit sharp and...

I am also making Tempranillo and Viognier this year, both from the same vineyard in southern Oregon picked this past weekend. Also making Pinot and Riesling from a different vineyard in the southern Willamette valley later in the season. Both are coming along nicely so far - the Viognier is...