2018 Lodi Cabernet Sauvignon

[Ajmassa]

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.

Interesting. Read a lot of different accounts from this year’s harvest and this is the first time hearing anything about cases of bell pepper aroma. Did the few others you reached out to all get their grapes from same vineyard or surrounding areas? Just Lodi? All over?

 

[askins3097]

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

I have not. Never heard of Sunfresh. I thought since Premier Produce closed a while back it was just Consumers left. I did hear there was a warehouse place in Uniontown too. I’ll look up Sunfresh tho. Thanks!

 

[Chris Johnson]

Interesting. Read a lot of different accounts from this year’s harvest and this is the first time hearing anything about cases of bell pepper aroma. Did the few others you reached out to all get their grapes from same vineyard or surrounding areas? Just Lodi? All over?

I’ve heard it from where I got my grapes in Clements Hills and also in a Mokelumne vineyard in Lodi. I bought mine from a vineyard that was getting ready to be harvested by Gallo a couple of days later. I think we’ll be able to get it under control.

 

[Johnd]

All systems are go, reefer truck due into the winery in the wee hours of Thursday morning, I’ll be on the road to arrive at 8 to get my loot. Back home after lunch, should be C/D’d and cleaned up before dinner.

Talking with Jeff (owner) today, he said “you should hook up with that other guy from COVINGTON (2 miles away from me) who’s coming to get his Colavita grapes tomorrow”. Coulda knocked me over with a feather. Got his number and called, my 1100 and his 500 are too much for either of our SUV’s, but found a fellow winemaker. Learned from his dad at age 10, does 500# Alicante Boucher every year, 19 - 20% ABV, slightly sweetened.

Off to bed for me, gonna be an early day.

 

[Johnd]

30 lugs of Lodi Cab loaded and headed home!!!

 

[mainshipfred]

30 lugs of Lodi Cab loaded and headed home!!!
View attachment 51584

It's just hard for me to believe you don't have a pick up. Would make thing a lot easier.

 

[Johnd]

It's just hard for me to believe you don't have a pick up. Would make thing a lot easier.

I do have a pickup, 2018 Black Ford F-250 Diesel Crew Cab Platinum Edition. It’s quite nice, but the bed has no air conditioning, and it’s still hot here, 4 hours in a pickup on the interstate in the heat isn’t a good solution. My wife’s SUV with AC in the back.........winner!!!

 

[Johnd]

Whole gig went off without a hitch, 1100 # crushed, destemmed, in fermenters, all cleaned up in 4 hours, it was awesome to have @Scott Harbison here for the activities, tremendous asset for sure!!

BRIX 24 today, probably up a point tomorrow, no adjustments made. Lowered the pH down from 3.75 to 3.67 prior to fermentation’s, EX-V, BM4x4, and D254 on board. Headed to the property to move into the new camp!!!

 

[Johnd]

Wifeys driving since I’ve been on the road so much today, so I have a chance to expound a bit on our crush today. Scott and I had a pretty good system in place, sorting and crushing intermittently, 30 lugs is a lot. The fruit was really good, very small berries, plump, sweet, and tannic with nice brown seeds. A few of the lugs had a lot of leaf litter particles which were hard to remove, we were both a bit OCD about it, so we spent most of our time sorting. Kept the fruit in the SUV with the AC running to keep it cool.

I’d underestimated the quantity of must space needed by about 20 gallons, so we filled the 4 big fermenters along with two half full 25’s. Think I forgot to allow for cap space, but no big deal.

New C/D was awesome, the plexishield worked like a charm to keep splatter in the chute, and easily raised up yo clean the trough. Cleanup was a breeze, 30 minutes with the pressure washer. Think we dit it all start to finish in 4 hours, not too shabby.

 

[Scott Harbison]

We had fun today! We did have a lot of grapes, so there was some work involved in getting them all crushed, but it was some beautiful fruit and I'm thankful to John for helping me learn! Here's some pictures of JohnD and his set up.

 

[heatherd]

I have not. Never heard of Sunfresh. I thought since Premier Produce closed a while back it was just Consumers left. I did hear there was a warehouse place in Uniontown too. I’ll look up Sunfresh tho. Thanks!

Keystone Homebrew gets fresh grapes and juice, as well.

 

[stickman]

@Johnd The grapes do look good, the small berries provide a lot of skin.......

 

[Ajmassa]

Sorting suuuuuuuuuuuucks!

Especially workin solo. The bar of acceptance on the first few lugs ends up being MUCH different than the last few ..... for me.
Sounds like you guys were all business today. Guess ya have to be with that many grapes. But made quick work of it. And I’m guessing learned a thing or 2 Scott. No better way to pop your cherry! I’m excited for ya.
And John, finally decided to not keep your fermentors on the carpet I see. Probably for the best. Ya never know.
So what’s the deal there Scott? Did you bring your 200lbs+ of must home or gonna let it ferment with the rest and break off your piece afterwards?
Both would have their benefits. I hope you brought it homer tho. Lots of bonding happens that first week. Like an expecting mother in the first trimester. I think that emotional attachment adds a little something to the approach.

 

[CDrew]

They got those grapes to you fast. I drove from Sacramento to Louisiana last February and it is a very long way. I'm actually impressed how fast they got there. It took me 3 days driving as much as I could stand.

Looks like fun. Is it too hot to ferment in the garage? Nice your wife lets you move fermenters inside.

Curious too about other aspects of your start. The tape suggests you pitched the yeast already. Did you use any enzymes or other additions?

The extra tall crusher/destemmer and wheeled fermenters looks bueno. Looking forward to press pics a week from now.

 

[Scott Harbison]

Sorting suuuuuuuuuuuucks!

Especially workin solo. The bar of acceptance on the first few lugs ends up being MUCH different than the last few ..... for me.
Sounds like you guys were all business today. Guess ya have to be with that many grapes. But made quick work of it. And I’m guessing learned a thing or 2 Scott. No better way to pop your cherry! I’m excited for ya.
And John, finally decided to not keep your fermentors on the carpet I see. Probably for the best. Ya never know.
So what’s the deal there Scott? Did you bring your 200lbs+ of must home or gonna let it ferment with the rest and break off your piece afterwards?
Both would have their benefits. I hope you brought it homer tho. Lots of bonding happens that first week. Like an expecting mother in the first trimester. I think that emotional attachment adds a little something to the approach.

You're spot on about the acceptance rate! We were picking out every little leaf we saw at the start....not so much about half way through!
I didn't take my must with me. JohnD has a 60 gallon barrel he's going to use for this batch and he may need some of my wine to make certain that barrel is full! So, I'm happy to let my wine stay with John. I'll stay as involved as possible as we move through the process.

 

[Ajmassa]

That’s great. Glad everything worked out so well. And at least now you have an excuse to get to together again for certain things. Pressing, racking into the barrel, maybe a chromatography test, barrel tastings, and of course bottling——- in 2 years! By then you’ll be pro. Good luck

 

[Boatboy24]

I'm finding that a lot of my 'sorting' happens AFTER the crush - I just pick out leaves during punchdowns.

I'll pull some raisined clusters prior, but to really do a good pass takes a lot of time and I'm not sure how much of an impact it really has.

 

[mainshipfred]

You're spot on about the acceptance rate! We were picking out every little leaf we saw at the start....not so much about half way through!
I didn't take my must with me. JohnD has a 60 gallon barrel he's going to use for this batch and he may need some of my wine to make certain that barrel is full! So, I'm happy to let my wine stay with John. I'll stay as involved as possible as we move through the process.

Well you did better then me if you got half way though with 30 lugs. I normally stop after the 3 or 4. BTW, tell John he needs sides on his sorting table.

 

[Scott Harbison]

Well you did better then me if you got half way though with 30 lugs. I normally stop after the 3 or 4. BTW, tell John he needs sides on his sorting table.

The sides would have been a good idea. We did have a few grapes jump off the table. But John's set up worked pretty well!

 

[Johnd]

Yup, sides on the table next year, like a crawfish sorting table, will be an addition.

Wife doesn’t mind the fermenters in th house, it only last about a week til pressing, another few weeks in carboy til MLF is done, then it all goes into the wine room.

As for the carpet, decided to remove some of the fodder for torment!!

Seriously though, we really did do well, and Scott was a blessing to have as a partner in crime.

We did do some minor acid adjustments and pitched yeast, I left for my next project at the property an hour after Scott and I finished up.

Now. Kicking back in the new digs at the property, first night in the new camp, bout to fix my third 20 oz. Crown and Diet Sprite, looking forward to some good sleep and a return on Sunday to some healthy caps.