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Dammit! I never got that Sauv Blanc bucket like I wanted. I’ll call around tomorrow and see what’s up. Thanks
If your going to Pinto's when your Paso Robles Cab is in, at least if you call tomorrow and they still have what you want, they will add it to your order and hold. If you wait until your grapes are in it might be too late.
 
So I did a solo press last night. Much less fuss and mess than last year. I might be getting the hang of this stuff. In all, I pressed 15.5 gallons. On Monday, we’ll rack again.

Need to free up a 6gal carboy by tomorrow. Looking like I might bottle the EM French Merlot or a chard to make room. We’ll see.

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I started around 5:00 p.m. and was done cleaning up around 9:00, with a break for dinner.
 
I've got some 2016 Petite Sirah in 3, 1 gallon bottles. I need to move it into a 3gal, or bottle it. I figure I'll need the 1 gallon containers when pressing.

Just finished punchdowns and SG measurements. The Cab is at 1.030. The other 3 are between 1.002 and 0.998. I'm going to wait to press until tomorrow so I only have to set up and clean up once. Busy week coming up and tomorrow is my only chance. Thank goodness for the holiday.

@mainshipfred : I know you have plenty of your own, but you're welcome to my skins if you want 'em.
 
I've got some 2016 Petite Sirah in 3, 1 gallon bottles. I need to move it into a 3gal, or bottle it. I figure I'll need the 1 gallon containers when pressing.

Just finished punchdowns and SG measurements. The Cab is at 1.030. The other 3 are between 1.002 and 0.998. I'm going to wait to press until tomorrow so I only have to set up and clean up once. Busy week coming up and tomorrow is my only chance. Thank goodness for the holiday.

@mainshipfred : I know you have plenty of your own, but you're welcome to my skins if you want 'em.

Just finished my readings: Touriga 1.001, 1.001 and 1.005 Tempranillo .995, .996 and .996 Petite Sirah 1.018, 1.014 and 1.016 Sauv Blanc 1.000 and 1.004. I snapped the lids on all of them with an air lock except the SB which is in the freezer. I too want to wait until tomorrow to press but can't press until I do some carboy management and/or bottle two 3 gallon carboys. I could buy 2 tomorrow at Jay's Homebrew but I hate paying full price, nothing on Craigslist.

As far as the skins go how do you feel about putting as many as we can in my freezer and buying a couple juice buckets from S and S next weekend. I can't make it up there until then. It's quite a variety of skins.
 
As far as the skins go how do you feel about putting as many as we can in my freezer and buying a couple juice buckets from S and S next weekend. I can't make it up there until then. It's quite a variety of skins.

I am booked solid next weekend with baseball and Cub Scout camping trip. But you're welcome to the skins.
 
Cab down to 1.020 today. Would like it to be lower, but the show must go on. Pressing after lunch.
 
Syrah and PS were both at 1.000 yesterday. Zin at 0.998. All still have a cap, though the Zin's falls apart when you so much as look at it. :)

My son offered to do most of the pressing for me. Before I bottle the 2017 Chilean Syrah I want to do some blending with last falls Barbara and/or OVZ. Will also bottles the rest of the Norton Blend. The 11 gassy bottles are being vaccuum degassed right now. This will free up 2 three gallon carboys for the Sauv Blanc so I can use the freezer for the skins.
 
Did another chroma yesterday(sorry no pic, so some of you can doubt) and the 3 Australian juice buckets at 3 months, the PS and the Brunello at 4 weeks are all complete with MLF. Racked the Aus wines onto med amer oak chips, these won't be going in the barrel. The aus cab had a lot of tartaric crystals. None in the syrah or grenache

Brunello and PS will eventually go in the barrel after Pinotage and Carmenere/malbec batches from the spring.

OV zin has cap as of lunchtime. Looking forward to the smell when I get back home.
 
How'd your press go, @mainshipfred ? Mike seems able and eager, so I'm sure it went fine.

Started around 3:30 racking the Sauv Blanc to carboys. Finished pressing and cleaning around 7:00. My son Mike was a great help. He did most of the pressing and I did the cleaning and prep work. Wouldn't have taken that long but we triple pressed the Touriga and PS. Absolutely amazing how light you have to press to extract the wine when you fluff the skins. Ended up with 6g SB, 12+ Tempranillo, only 7-8 Touriga and 7.75 PS. PS had a ton of sediment, had trouble keeping the strainers from getting clogged. Only took one pic at the start.
 

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Thinking about going to this if anyone's interested.

Washington Winemakers are invited. We provide a wine tasting after the lunch.
We have room for 10 or so winemakers.
Washington Winemakers pays for the lunch.
Let me know if you want to attend and pour. Three or four bottles is usually enough, though we generally bring our own wine, as well, for the lunch.
 

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Racked last night. Lost a half gallon to the goop. Down to 15 gallons. Hopefully there's enough good stuff left in the wine for a strong finish for my MLF.

Was with my winemaker friend yesterday talking about MLF. Now remember he does commercial size barrels. He doesn't use Acti-ML or Opti-Malo Plus. Once he introduces the MLB it stayes in the barrel until January or February. He will then do a rack and return and sulfite a month later. He said as long as you keep it topped up there is no problem with spoilage. My only question I didn't ask was do smaller batches go through MLF faster.
 
Was with my winemaker friend yesterday talking about MLF. Now remember he does commercial size barrels. He doesn't use Acti-ML or Opti-Malo Plus. Once he introduces the MLB it stayes in the barrel until January or February. He will then do a rack and return and sulfite a month later. He said as long as you keep it topped up there is no problem with spoilage. My only question I didn't ask was do smaller batches go through MLF faster.

A while back I posted a link to a homewinemakers detailed account of starting an impressive home winery. In the site he details his annual struggles with MLF. I ended up reaching out offering info on coinnoculation. Here his reply. IMG_7119.JPG

All the study’s I’ve read did not much of a difference in quality from either way. But if that’s how all the high end winemakers do it then can’t argue. And FWIW I co-innoc’d May grapes and let it ride a while. Topped up but w/o any So2 addition. Racked and dosed last week. All was well.

This is the Thread mentioned
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/index.php?threads/Impressive-home-vineyard-winery.66109/
 

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