‘20 Spring wines (w/ crush pics)

[Mario Dinis]

@Ajmassa Perhaps this will give you some hope about your rose. I kept forgetting to take a picture. Firs is of the for carboys of rose. On the right St. Vincent on the left Chambourcin. And the two glasses. They look really dark in the carboys, but in the glass, such a pretty pale redish pink.View attachment 61390View attachment 61391

That looks beautiful.

 

[Ajmassa]

@cmason1957 @CDrew yeah you can get a nice idea of the color in the hydrometer pic. Now mind you this was with absolutely zero skins time. Literally was just the time it took to run thru the crusher and then to load and press. So I’m glad I made that accidental decision lol.
I did one rosé kit before and that also looked more orange. This Malbec one I’ve definitely done a 180°. Thought I had to scrap plans to now feeling quite lucky w/ how it’s looking. Really curious to see how it ends up clearing.

couple questions - Craig- They are much darker than I realized. were yours still light enough in a clear bottle on par with some darker rose’s?
And did you guys have any extra steps done to the wine after AF? I just planned to rack and sulphite, nothing special.

 

[cmason1957]

Can't tell you about in the bottles. I hope to convince the SWMBO that we should bottle them. They are crystal clear, been backsweetened every so slightly. We added about half a pound of sugar to the St. Vincent and a bit less to the Chambourcin. Just enough to balance it out nicely. I haven't measured, but I believe both would still be considered dry. Nothing special done after AF. Rack, sulphite, filter. Don't think I added any clearing agents, even.

 

[CDrew]

And did you guys have any extra steps done to the wine after AF? I just planned to rack and sulphite, nothing special.

No. That's what I did. Sulfited early.

Good luck.

 

[Chuck E]

@Ajmassa
AJ, what is the steel U-bolt in the pressing block for?

 

[Ajmassa]

@Ajmassa
AJ, what is the steel U-bolt in the pressing block for?

I bought my press used from a local listing online. The surface blocks that came with it had heavy duty metal handles lagged into it. Otherwise it’s a bear to remove. So when I had to replace the blocks I used some metal cabinet handles I had saved from a job to mimic it. (I’m a total packrat. Actually packratting as I write this). And they’re placed in a way for the first set of square blocks to go in parallel without hitting the handles.
Can see it more clearly in these couple pics
* packratting a few sections of rock solid butcher block here up for grabs. One is a solid 2-1/4” x 24”deep and another 1-3/4” x 30”depth. No clue what I’ll use em for but I know I’ll use them.

 

[Ajmassa]

Update on this fun Chilean season

Rosé was down to about 1.000SG after 11days since pitching D47. I stirred the lees daily and added one shot of fermaid-O early on. Racked into my ‘6.5gal’ carboy (actual vol 6.9gal) and a 1/2gal jug. Now w/ 7.5gal of some very nice looking rosé. Still in AF so no plans for kmeta any time soon.


The Malbec finished at .993 and CF & CS both at .994. All now off the gross lees.
Malbec- 24gal
CS/CF blend - 14.26gal (x1 demi)
unblended- 3gal ea.
Before racking I was seeing visible ML activity on everything, press wine carboys being the most vigorous of them. I like to do a baseline chroma test right away to compare progress later. With co-innoc my baseline test sometimes already looks close to complete.


Sadly all the fun of a new wine season is almost over for a while. ———But there IS one more thing left once mlf is done....breaking in the new 50L Hungarian barrel!

Gonna be like removing a woman’s pantyhose (or yoga pants). You can kinda see what’s goin on underneath. But then again....ya kinda can’t. And I’m anxious to remove it so I can offer some TLC to what lies underneath

 

[Boatboy24]

Tighten those hoops. Since that barrel's been sitting a bit, you may have some shrinkage.

 

[Johnd]

Gonna be like removing a woman’s pantyhose (or yoga pants). You can kinda see what’s goin on underneath. But then again....ya kinda can’t. And I’m anxious to remove it so I can offer some TLC to what lies underneath

Yeah. Well. So. I’ve started typing too many things that were just not appropriate, but you have fun my friend!!!

 

[Ajmassa]

MLF looking good. The way I was instructed was using VP-41 bacteria (or another proven winner) hydrated with 50g ActiML added at 1st punchdown w/ some opti-malo nutrient. 100% success rate. And if it ain’t broke....
The knowledge I’ve gained from wmt members has been invaluable.
I tested the rosè to have a non-mlf sample for comparison. The malic spots aren’t all definitive but the rosé’s faint lactic spot I think shows the others have made great progress so far. Going to let all the reds go another month before testing again

In the meantime will prep the barrel & build a stand. The CF/CS blend is 1st in line so the Malbec can get a nice lengthy barrel run.

 

[Boatboy24]

View attachment 61520
MLF looking good. The way I was instructed was using VP-41 bacteria (or another proven winner) hydrated with 50g ActiML added at 1st punchdown w/ some opti-malo nutrient. 100% success rate. And if it ain’t broke....
The knowledge I’ve gained from wmt members has been invaluable.
I tested the rosè to have a non-mlf sample for comparison. The malic spots aren’t all definitive but the rosé’s faint lactic spot I think shows the others have made great progress so far. Going to let all the reds go another month before testing again

In the meantime will prep the barrel & build a stand. The CF/CS blend is 1st in line so the Malbec can get a nice lengthy barrel run.

Don't forget Lysozyme for that Rose. You don't want a spontaneous MLF.

 

[Ajmassa]

Don't forget Lysozyme for that Rose. You don't want a spontaneous MLF.

Didn’t forget. Wasn’t aware at all. I planned to wait until SG was completely finished dropping and hit with sulphite. Figured that would offer protection. Will need to do some reading and familiarize myself.
Do you use lysosome on all your whites & rosé’s?

 

[Boatboy24]

Do you use lysosome on all your whites & rosé’s?

Any grape wine where you don't want MLF to occur.

 

[cmason1957]

couple questions - Craig- They are much darker than I realized. were yours still light enough in a clear bottle on par with some darker rose’s?
And did you guys have any extra steps done to the wine after AF? I just planned to rack and sulphite, nothing special.

I can now answer your question about in the bottle. These are the last two left over bottles from the rose I did. I can't tell you for certain which is which.

 

[Ajmassa]

I can now answer your question about in the bottle. These are the last two left over bottles from the rose I did. I can't tell you for certain which is which.

View attachment 61613

they look fantastic. I think after my rosé clears it will have a very similar color to what I’m seeing in your picture here. And I would consider that a ‘win’.
Now I’m just keeping fingers crossed the taste falls into place for a crisp summer wine. (2021)

 

[Ajmassa]

Summer is flying by! July certainly snuck up on me & got here quick! Which means it’s just about that time to get back to work on these spring wines. Been about 5 weeks now. I wanted to make sure I gave em all another good month for the malo to fully do its thing. Just performed the final chroma test yesterday. Looks good across the board. Time to rack, sulphite, test levels for the 1st time since before AF and give em a little taste.

Also finally got around to building a stand for the new 50L barrel. Not exactly fancy. I just repurposed some old shelving I had laying around collecting dust. Had to make due without a jigsaw which I forgot to bring home from work. Mimic’ed the 8gal stand @mainshipfred built, slapped on some new casters and fiń. Made myself a better barrel-ring chisel too. Thicker flat end and bent to an offset. Worked great and now I’m all ready to swell it up and fill.
1st run with the Cab Franc/Cab Sauv/Petit Verdot blend. (Saved 3gal ea. Franc & Sauv for single varietals). Then Malbec to follow for a lengthy stay. I also have a neutral 8gal barrel I could use for the Malbec while waiting. (I will have 10gal Malbec leftover anyway once in the barrel)
The 8gal is currently filled with a Tuscan from ‘17 that needs some TLC. Still no clue what I’m gonna do to it tho. Been meaning to get some tasters bottled for second opinions. Same with a ‘18 Sauv Blanc. But these are discussions for another day. In the meantime they remain at the bottom of the priority list.
Rosé color looks great imo. I was also happy to see the lactic/malic spots remain unchanged from previous chroma 5/29 since I haven’t stabilized at all yet and it’s still bubbling away. Even now 2 months post AF it’s still consistently showing co2 bubbles rising and sitting at surface. Glad to confirm its not caused from mlf.

Fingers crossed my acid levels fell into place! been super busy lately but hoping to make some time over the next few days to get all these wines safely tucked in till fall.

 

[Mario Dinis]

Summer is flying by! July certainly snuck up on me & got here quick! Which means it’s just about that time to get back to work on these spring wines. Been about 5 weeks now. I wanted to make sure I gave em all another good month for the malo to fully do its thing. Just performed the final chroma test yesterday. Looks good across the board. Time to rack, sulphite, test levels for the 1st time since before AF and give em a little taste.

Also finally got around to building a stand for the new 50L barrel. Not exactly fancy. I just repurposed some old shelving I had laying around collecting dust. Had to make due without a jigsaw which I forgot to bring home from work. Mimic’ed the 8gal stand @mainshipfred built, slapped on some new casters and fiń. Made myself a better barrel-ring chisel too. Thicker flat end and bent to an offset. Worked great and now I’m all ready to swell it up and fill.
1st run with the Cab Franc/Cab Sauv/Petit Verdot blend. (Saved 3gal ea. Franc & Sauv for single varietals). Then Malbec to follow for a lengthy stay. I also have a neutral 8gal barrel I could use for the Malbec while waiting. (I will have 10gal Malbec leftover anyway once in the barrel)
The 8gal is currently filled with a Tuscan from ‘17 that needs some TLC. Still no clue what I’m gonna do to it tho. Been meaning to get some tasters bottled for second opinions. Same with a ‘18 Sauv Blanc. But these are discussions for another day. In the meantime they remain at the bottom of the priority list.
Rosé color looks great imo. I was also happy to see the lactic/malic spots remain unchanged from previous chroma 5/29 since I haven’t stabilized at all yet and it’s still bubbling away. Even now 2 months post AF it’s still consistently showing co2 bubbles rising and sitting at surface. Glad to confirm its not caused from mlf.

Fingers crossed my acid levels fell into place! been super busy lately but hoping to make some time over the next few days to get all these wines safely tucked in till fall.
View attachment 63309
View attachment 63307View attachment 63308

Nice barrels

 

[Mario Dinis]

Summer is flying by! July certainly snuck up on me & got here quick! Which means it’s just about that time to get back to work on these spring wines. Been about 5 weeks now. I wanted to make sure I gave em all another good month for the malo to fully do its thing. Just performed the final chroma test yesterday. Looks good across the board. Time to rack, sulphite, test levels for the 1st time since before AF and give em a little taste.

Also finally got around to building a stand for the new 50L barrel. Not exactly fancy. I just repurposed some old shelving I had laying around collecting dust. Had to make due without a jigsaw which I forgot to bring home from work. Mimic’ed the 8gal stand @mainshipfred built, slapped on some new casters and fiń. Made myself a better barrel-ring chisel too. Thicker flat end and bent to an offset. Worked great and now I’m all ready to swell it up and fill.
1st run with the Cab Franc/Cab Sauv/Petit Verdot blend. (Saved 3gal ea. Franc & Sauv for single varietals). Then Malbec to follow for a lengthy stay. I also have a neutral 8gal barrel I could use for the Malbec while waiting. (I will have 10gal Malbec leftover anyway once in the barrel)
The 8gal is currently filled with a Tuscan from ‘17 that needs some TLC. Still no clue what I’m gonna do to it tho. Been meaning to get some tasters bottled for second opinions. Same with a ‘18 Sauv Blanc. But these are discussions for another day. In the meantime they remain at the bottom of the priority list.
Rosé color looks great imo. I was also happy to see the lactic/malic spots remain unchanged from previous chroma 5/29 since I haven’t stabilized at all yet and it’s still bubbling away. Even now 2 months post AF it’s still consistently showing co2 bubbles rising and sitting at surface. Glad to confirm its not caused from mlf.

Fingers crossed my acid levels fell into place! been super busy lately but hoping to make some time over the next few days to get all these wines safely tucked in till fall.
View attachment 63309
View attachment 63307View attachment 63308

My Chilean Malbec successfuly finished MLF with VP41. Under oak now until September.

 

[Ajmassa]

My Chilean Malbec successfuly finished MLF with VP41. Under oak now until September.

Must be the suit