2016 Season is upon us!

[ibglowin]

Resistance is futile.......

 

[homer]

Explain whats going on in the picture? do you take off the juice then press? I'm quit impressed with the volume. bk

 

[NorCal]

Explain whats going on in the picture? do you take off the juice then press? I'm quit impressed with the volume. bk

I'm assuming you are talking about the press picture. We scoop the completed must into the 55 gallon "press", where a vacuum is the applied to a carboy, which draws down a piston in the press. It actually does a pretty good job of pressing the juice out. It will be tested this season, as we are trying some Chardonnay.

With access to commercial quality grapes at $.65 per pound, it was difficult to resist doing barrels of wine at a time.

 

[NorCal]

First of three ferments. 900 lbs of Chardonnay with @4score and @busabill

 

[NorCal]

Looks like all the grapes are coming in all at once! 900lbs Chardonnay yesterday with @busabill, @4Score, 2,000 lb Grenache with @4Score on Monday, then 2,000 lbs of Syrah with @4Score on Tuesday! The bad news is two days off work and will be exhausted by Wed. The good news is two days off work and the hard work will be over in a very compacted season.
Wine box with fermenting Chardonnay.

Bins in line for tomorrow.

I realize how fortunate I am to get commercial quality grapes for $.65/pound

 

[geek]

Very fortunate..!!!

 

[NorCal]

We made short order of a ton of Grenache today....Syrah tomorrow.

Here is a 1 minute video of our crush set-up

https://youtu.be/mTMSZv7N7cg

 

[stickman]

Very nice, I have 500 lbs. of Sonoma Pinot Noir, and 500 lbs. of Sonoma Sangiovese on order, but I think I would make more if I had access to grapes like you.

 

[Boatboy24]

We made short order of a ton of Grenache today....Syrah tomorrow.

Here is a 1 minute video of our crush set-up

https://youtu.be/mTMSZv7N7cg

I don't know why, but I can't get more than 1 second of that video to play. Thought maybe the kids were hogging bandwidth, but I can play any other YouTube video just fine. Anyone else having the same issue?

 

[ceeaton]

I don't know why, but I can't get more than 1 second of that video to play. Thought maybe the kids were hogging bandwidth, but I can play any other YouTube video just fine. Anyone else having the same issue?

It ran fine for me, but it ended up being 34 seconds. (Kids can't hog my bandwidth during the week, since there is no internet during the school year, except days off and weekends. I'm loving it!)

 

[Johnd]

I don't know why, but I can't get more than 1 second of that video to play. Thought maybe the kids were hogging bandwidth, but I can play any other YouTube video just fine. Anyone else having the same issue?

I got 34 seconds worth.....

 

[ibglowin]

Won't play for me either and I have 30mb download speed and no kids left at home.

Anyone else having the same issue?

 

[Johny99]

34 seconds for me over wifi on an iPad.

Nice setup btw.

 

[Kraffty]

I had the same problem, changed resolution settings from HD to a lower number, 150 I think and it played fine. Looks like a pretty efficient set up.
Mike

 

[NorCal]

Sorry, not sure what's up. It's a 34 sec video, uploaded to YouTube from my phone. If you search 2016 Grenache on YouTube, it's the top hit.

 

[Johnd]

When I was looking at the video, I did a little YouTube surfing and found the following video. When I think of all we go through for cleanliness, sanitation, preventing O2 exposure, all the stuff we focus on, and then watch this, it just makes me wonder. It's pretty comical as well..............

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7LSfmFsJg[/ame]

 

[Boatboy24]

When I was looking at the video, I did a little YouTube surfing and found the following video. When I think of all we go through for cleanliness, sanitation, preventing O2 exposure, all the stuff we focus on, and then watch this, it just makes me wonder. It's pretty comical as well..............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7LSfmFsJg

Those guys are hilarious.

I imagine that's pretty much what @JohnT 's place is like at pressing.

 

[JohnT]

Those guys are hilarious.

I imagine that's pretty much what @JohnT 's place is like at pressing.

That disgusting press made me throw up in my a little..

I do cheer their intent. They seem to be having a good time and that is what is most important.

At this year's crush I am expecting around 60 - 80 people. For pressing, we normally have about 20. The video was far more intimate than what my experience is.

So far, the food list is shaping up. We will have ..

Chicken Paprikas (my brother)_
lecho (again, my brother)
Stuffed cabage (mom)
Eggplant parm (friend)
antipasto (another friend)
sausage/butternut squash soup (cousin)
Goulash (uncle)
Lasagna (me)
Meatballs (me)
Sausage and Peppers (me)

My cousin is preparing to make 2 corney kegs of beer.

This is what I have so far..

Also, my SIL & BIL (members of a band called "Hicks with Picks) are coming, so we will have bluegrass music for sure!!!


P.S. I'm sorry to be mean, but did anybody else think that red sauce looked just as horrid as that press????

 

[ceeaton]

P.S. I'm sorry to be mean, but did anybody else think that red sauce looked just as horrid as that press????

I think it didn't help it was on a spinach fettuccine, the green seemed to show though it like it was a bit watery. Pasta w/o the green would have probably presented better. Who knows, might be much better than mine. I'm Welsh, English and German, not a Italian bone in my body so what in the hecks do I know.

 

[Johnd]

I thought you all could enjoy the comedy, quite a cast of characters, just a little something to look forward to as crush and press gets closer. Personally, it's all done alone in the kitchen, but it's meticulously clean and I don't put the skins in my mouth and spit them back into the press basket. I usually drink a bottle of a really good cab as I go.