2018 Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

[Johnd]

Finally recieved word Sunday that the grapes were ready to be picked, here's the plan for the '18 Cab.

The grapes are on the way, harvested yesterday, loaded into the refrigerated truck, and on the road. BRIX is reported to be in the 26 range and pH in mid / upper 3's, pretty much par for the course for Lodi Cabs. The supplier said that when they picked, the grapes had "perfectly ripened" this year with good warm sunny days and cool nights, beautiful fruit. Time will tell.

Fruit is scheduled to arrive on Thursday, my plan is to be there when it does, bring it home to C/D, hit with some enzyme, and make any needed adjustments, pitch yeast, and head up to the property for a few days, expecting to return home to newly forming caps.

Will be fermenting half the batch with BM4x4, the other half with D254, and coinoculating with VP-41, may hold out a few gallons for a little native yeast experiment as well.

Should be pressing by the middle / end of next week, racking off of the gross lees next weekend, and finishing up MLF sometime around the end of October. After sulfiting and sitting in the wine room for a month or so to degas some and drop some sediment, it'll be going into a 60 gallon Alain Fouquet Prestige Margaux barrel with M+ toast for a couple of years. The barrel is scheduled to arrive before the end of October.

Got all the gear and supplies in order, ready to rumble, few more days til showtime......

 

[sour_grapes]

I love it when a plan comes together. (I like it even more on the very rare occasions it happens near my abode! )

 

[CDrew]

Sounds great. Weather has been great here (I'm 30 miles north of Lodi) for the last several months, and the grapes look great. Warm days/cool nights.

How many pounds of grapes? A 60 gallon barrel sounds like 600+ pounds. It's going to be a big effort!

 

[Johnd]

Sounds great. Weather has been great here (I'm 30 miles north of Lodi) for the last several months, and the grapes look great. Warm days/cool nights.

How many pounds of grapes? A 60 gallon barrel sounds like 600+ pounds. It's going to be a big effort!

What a great place to live!! I'd get into a lot of winemaking trouble living around there....

I've got 30 lugs of Cab on the way, so 1,080 pounds in all, 6 lugs are for @Scott Harbison who will be making his first effort into grape winemaking. Imagine we'll fill the 60 gallon barrel and have a few carboys left over.

Just heard from the winery that they expect the load in at 8 AM on Thursday morning, they have multiple macro-bins for their winery, I just piggy-backed into a little extra space on the truck, ended up paying $29 per 36 pound lug for the Lodi Cab fruit, my best price point yet.........

 

[mainshipfred]

What a great place to live!! I'd get into a lot of winemaking trouble living around there....

I've got 30 lugs of Cab on the way, so 1,080 pounds in all, 6 lugs are for @Scott Harbison who will be making his first effort into grape winemaking. Imagine we'll fill the 60 gallon barrel and have a few carboys left over.

Just heard from the winery that they expect the load in at 8 AM on Thursday morning, they have multiple macro-bins for their winery, I just piggy-backed into a little extra space on the truck, ended up paying $29 per 36 pound lug for the Lodi Cab fruit, my best price point yet.........

That's an excellent price almost half of what we get for premium fruit. Will anyone be home punching down the cap while your away. Mine have been forming overnight.

 

[CDrew]

What a great place to live!! I'd get into a lot of winemaking trouble living around there....

I've got 30 lugs of Cab on the way, so 1,080 pounds in all, 6 lugs are for @Scott Harbison who will be making his first effort into grape winemaking. Imagine we'll fill the 60 gallon barrel and have a few carboys left over.

ended up paying $29 per 36 pound lug for the Lodi Cab fruit, my best price point yet.........

Yes-there are vineyards and wineries in all directions from where I live. Even Napa/Sonoma are under 2 hours, though the tasting experience in Napa has gone down hill with so many visitors, and high charges to taste. When my wife and I go, it's usually to Amador/El Dorado which is close (40 minutes) and there are still many family run operations. I also very much like Dry Creek Valley for their excellent Zinfandels and Cabs. It's more of a time commitment being a solid 2 hour drive from home.

Your price does sound extremely good. I usually pay $0.50-$0.75 per pound and you are right in that ballpark and yours are transported 2000 miles! Lodi in recent years has been upping their game, and clearly want to become another wine "destination". I hope they succeed.

Good luck with it. Will watch for updates.

 

[cmason1957]

Wow, $29/36 lbs. That sure beats the price I can get in the Missouri area from the one and only place that sells grapes and juice locally. I just re looked at it, Grapes are $68 / 36 lbs and juice is $70 or more for a 6 gallon bucket. Outside my price range.

 

[mainshipfred]

Wow, $29/36 lbs. That sure beats the price I can get in the Missouri area from the one and only place that sells grapes and juice locally. I just re looked at it, Grapes are $68 / 36 lbs and juice is $70 or more for a 6 gallon bucket. Outside my price range.

In our area, Central Valley (we never really know where they come from) grapes can be as low a $35/lug up to around $55 so I should consider myself lucky. At $68 I would have a rough time justifying it myself.

 

[Donz]

I paid $49 CDN per 36lb of Lodi Cab this year. Some of the nicest I have seen though.

 

[Johnd]

That's an excellent price almost half of what we get for premium fruit. Will anyone be home punching down the cap while your away. Mine have been forming overnight.

It is a good price, I was hoping a group of you all could have gotten together to put in a sizable order with them and had your own order or at least piggybacked a few together.

Fruit will start out at 34F and probably be in the high 40's, low 50s after crushing, that kinda slows it down a bit until it hits room temps. I'll be back in town on Saturday evening or Sunday morning, it'll be fine til then.

 

[askins3097]

That is a good price. I wish I could find something like that. Cab grapes are around $60/lug here in Pittsburgh. 6 gallons of juice is around $60 too. I’m going to mix 3 juice buckets with a lug of crushed grapes. As much as I’d like to go all grapes I just can’t justify that price. It’d be close to $200 for a finished 6 gallon carboy after I added the cost of oak and the other odds and ends.

 

[mainshipfred]

That is a good price. I wish I could find something like that. Cab grapes are around $60/lug here in Pittsburgh. 6 gallons of juice is around $60 too. I’m going to mix 3 juice buckets with a lug of crushed grapes. As much as I’d like to go all grapes I just can’t justify that price. It’d be close to $200 for a finished 6 gallon carboy after I added the cost of oak and the other odds and ends.

I don't know what premium kits go for nowadays but I bet it's close to that $200.00.

 

[Ajmassa]

$29 per lug? Excuse me while I go puke !

Maybe I should just tell wifey that’s what mine are costing too. Double that and we’re starting to get close! (Full disclosure: I’m lucky enough to a have a lot of options for an east coaster. And already did a ~$1per lb batch this season. The high priced grape batch is my own choice)

Similar timeline for me as well. I called up my supplier early this morning and the Cab clone#8 from Paso Robles has been harvested and allegedly shipped! Eff yeah!
They were expecting them in today or tomorrow. Will be sitting pretty in the reefer room till I pickup on Saturday morning. Not able to get any early numbers tho. Very anxious
When I looked into the piggyback route it was definitely not just black and white. Each order is unique And everything is negotiable. Did you split the extra costs with the winery? IIRC it woulda been another $500-$600 to split.

 

[Johnd]

$29 per lug? Excuse me while I go puke !

Maybe I should just tell wifey that’s what mine are costing too. Double that and we’re starting to get close! (Full disclosure: I’m lucky enough to a have a lot of options for an east coaster. And already did a ~$1per lb batch this season. The high priced grape batch is my own choice)

Similar timeline for me as well. I called up my supplier early this morning and the Cab clone#8 from Paso Robles has been harvested and allegedly shipped! Eff yeah!
They were expecting them in today or tomorrow. Will be sitting pretty in the reefer room till I pickup on Saturday morning. Not able to get any early numbers tho. Very anxious
When I looked into the piggyback route it was definitely not just black and white. Each order is unique And everything is negotiable. Did you split the extra costs with the winery? IIRC it woulda been another $500-$600 to split.

Colavita told me that if he were shipping to me, it’d be about $10 / lug, so I’m going to offer the guy that owns the winery the same to help defray his shipping costs, $39 / lug wouldn’t be bad either. I’d like to be more than just the dude whose grapes got stuck into his truck. They make a lot of wine from grapes they grow as well as the ones they bring in, I’m looking forward to meeting him and seeing his operation. His winery used to be 10 miles from me, but Katrina caused him to relocate north, I’ll probably buy some wine from him as well. He’s been buying from Colavita for years and loves their fruit, speaks very highly of their operation.

He was telling me about a new grape he’s growing called ???????? Cabernet or Cabernet ????????? (Didn’t get the whole name) that does well down here in the south with all of our issues, but reportedly makes great wine, no crop from his 2 yo vines yet, but I’m intrigued.

 

[sour_grapes]

He was telling me about a new grape he’s growing called ???????? Cabernet or Cabernet ????????? (Didn’t get the whole name) that does well down here in the south with all of our issues, but reportedly makes great wine, no crop from his 2 yo vines yet, but I’m intrigued.

My guess is "Crimson Cabernet." This is a hybrid; however, I have always seen this touted in the context of the Midwest, not the South.

Inquiring minds....

 

[Johnd]

My guess is "Crimson Cabernet." This is a hybrid; however, I have always seen this touted in the context of the Midwest, not the South.

Inquiring minds....

Yep, me too. I’ll find out soon enough, did a bunch of surfing tonight to find the variety, but didn’t come up with much else either.

 

[NorCal]

Good luck with the crush and remember, no pics, it didn’t happen.

 

[Chris Johnson]

I drove up and got some Cab from Lodi a couple of weeks ago. It’s been such a great year that not many dropped any crop. I had 25 brix and the worst case of bell pepper I’ve dealt with to date. I could taste it at crush. I reached out to a few others and they feel the pyrazines are related to the over crop with ideal weather. I’d recommend having something like FT Rouge on hand if you taste some spice in the juice. Best of luck.

 

[Johnd]

Good luck with the crush and remember, no pics, it didn’t happen.

We’re planning a photo session, and will crush some grapes in the process.

 

[joeybudd]

That is a good price. I wish I could find something like that. Cab grapes are around $60/lug here in Pittsburgh. 6 gallons of juice is around $60 too. I’m going to mix 3 juice buckets with a lug of crushed grapes. As much as I’d like to go all grapes I just can’t justify that price. It’d be close to $200 for a finished 6 gallon carboy after I added the cost of oak and the other odds and ends.

Have you tried Jay at Sunfresh? He is cheaper than Consumer on most. I only paid $41 for cab grapes form Jay.