2020 Barrel; The best Merlot heavy, Bordeaux blend possible

[NorCal]

I’m down to the last ferment! Here are the bits and pieces that I have that will go in the barrel.

25 gallon Merlot, Saignee
3 gallons Petit Verdot, free run only
16 gallon Cab Franc, Saignee, free run only
16 gallons Cab Sauv, free run only (in-process)

All the “left overs” will be blended together.
3 gallon Petit Verdot
9 gallon Cab Franc
10 gallon Cab Sauv (expected)

A month or so before bottling I’ll taste the barrel by itself, the leftovers by itself and then a proportionate blend of the two. I’ll then decide to blend all of it or keep it as two separate wines.

Cab Sauv in the rear view mirror

 

[NorCal]

The Cab Sauv ended up being 28-29 brix. Had to add gallons of water and over a half a pound of tartaric to get it in the ballpark. It fermented dry in 7 days and pressed it out today. I separated out the free run from the pressed wine.

I’m staying true to the goal of making the best Merlot heavy Bordeaux blend possible, but I cannot say I’m real happy with any of the wines going in.

Merlot 25 gallon, Saignee, low brix fruit, needed more hang time.
Petit Verdot 3 gallon, free run only, low brix, not all ripe fruit.
Cab Franc 16 gallon, Saignee, high brix, not the best fruit, struggled ferment.
Cab Sauv 16 gallon, free run only, watered back C+ fruit

The only thing I am hoping for on the eve of putting the wine in the barrel is that the sum is greater than the individual components.

 

[mainshipfred]

The way I see it is you're not blending bad wine with good which to me is a no no. If you blend wines you are not happy with I can only imagine the sum of the whole will be an improvement. Although I would wager they are better than you indicate.

 

[crushday]

@NorCal - I look forward to the tasting report on the blend. You’ve clearly had a busy season. I’ll be moving my wine to barrel storage on Monday: 225L barrel of the “100pt blend” and 112L barrel of Cab Franc (27.4 gallons) and Petit Verdot (2 gallons).

A couple questions about your picture in post #22:

1. What are those stoppers covering the PETs?
2. The line in the foreground looks to be filled with white wine and connected on the right to your pump and dropped in to the bucket on the left. Additionally, there’s a braided hose presumably coming off the pump and presumably into the same bucket. Curious about that.

 

[Boatboy24]

The only thing I am hoping for on the eve of putting the wine in the barrel is that the sum is greater than the individual components.

I'm certain it will be.

 

[user 38734]

Merlot 25 gallon, Saignee, low brix fruit, needed more hang time.
Petit Verdot 3 gallon, free run only, low brix, not all ripe fruit.
Cab Franc 16 gallon, Saignee, high brix, not the best fruit, struggled ferment.
Cab Sauv 16 gallon, free run only, watered back C+ fruit

The only thing I am hoping for on the eve of putting the wine in the barrel is that the sum is greater than the individual components.

In my very short experience:

1.) You can't make great wine from sh*tty grapes.
2.) Blending helps a lot.
3.) Time helps even more.

Apologies stating the painfully obvious - been there done that!

 

[NorCal]

The way I see it is you're not blending bad wine with good which to me is a no no. If you blend wines you are not happy with I can only imagine the sum of the whole will be an improvement. Although I would wager they are better than you indicate.

I think this is true; I’ve tasted each wine individually and they are sound. I’m sure they would be drinkable individually. Based on the fruit and the process, I’m projecting what I would expect the resulting wine to be. In the past years I would have 150-200 gallons of wine and I’d age them all separately and blend at the end. Since I only have 80 or so total gallons, I can only tweak things a little bit. However, I’ve made wine from each of these grapes, from these vineyards a few times, so I knew upfront what I wanted the blend to look like, although I don’t have as much Merlot to work with as I wanted.

 

[NorCal]

1. What are those stoppers covering the PETs
I have a dozen of these, love them because they work on the big mouth and small mouth carboys. Link.
.
2. The line in the foreground looks to be filled with white wine and connected on the right to your pump and dropped in to the bucket on the left.
The input line (yellow, just the color of the hose)) has a racking cane on it with a 10 foot line, so I can rack everything without disturbing it. It is sitting in a bucket of Star-San waiting for me to sanitize everything.
.
3. Additionally, there’s a braided hose presumably coming off the pump and presumably into the same bucket. Curious about that.
This is just a reinforced hose (nylon braid in the plastic) that will be going in to the barrel.
.
Good luck with your blend!

 

[NorCal]

Post mlf racking today. Happy with the fruit forward, depth of flavor and color. Added 2/3 new barrel equivalent of French oak spirals, medium toast. Time will tell!

 

[Boatboy24]

That's looking really pretty!

 

[ibglowin]

 

[NorCal]

I decided against a spring racking this time around. I’ve been staying up on the SO2 and of course tasting it with each topping. The wine is definitely the fruit forward, soft and smooth wine I was shooting for. The free run and saignee help bring those characteristics out. I think it also makes the wine an early and easy drinker.
It will be interesting to taste it side by side the Cab Franc blend from the previous year, made in the same manner, with the same grapes from the same vineyard, but in different proportions.

 

[NorCal]

The Merlot blend is in the bottle, 29 cases total with the left overs bottled separately.

My impressions are the it is very similar to the Cab Franc blend that I made a year ago; fruit forward, smooth and approachable at a very young age, which I attribute to the % of free run. It is defintely my style of wine that I enjoy making and drinking. I hope others will agree.
It was also the first time making wine in the new barn, which having enough space was a welcomed change. I'll be swapping some wine with @crushday, so I can get some honest feedback to share.

 

[Rocktop]

Hi NorCal can you tell me a little more about the transfer pump you have. I see shurflo, but can you tell me the model #.
Is it self priming?

Thanks.
RT

 

[NorCal]

Hi NorCal can you tell me a little more about the transfer pump you have. I see shurflo, but can you tell me the model #.
Is it self priming?

Thanks.
RT

Sureflo 2088-594-154. Self priming, 9 foot lift, 3 gallon per minute. It has been a real work horse, especially for $68. I built my own caddy to power it and carry it around. Be sure to get the filter (255-313) for the inlet and screw on barbs.



If making things is not your thing, basically the same pump is available as a standalone, with on/off switch built in for $100 more at morewinemaking.com.

 

[Rocktop]

Thank you NorCal, and just to check that is a positive displacement pump so gentle enough for wine?
On Amazon as we speak
RT

 

[ibglowin]

I have this exact same setup. Works great and can do the job of moving wine quickly and efficiently. It is a diaphragm pump which is a (+) displacement pump. Just make sure to get the prefilter as instructed.

Thank you NorCal, and just to check that is a positive displacement pump so gentle enough for wine?
On Amazon as we speak
RT

 

[Rocktop]

Thanks gents. If the lift is about 9' what is the lift above the pump? I need to pump from my basement to the garage so about 13' total when you include into the top of a barrel or demijohn.
Sorry to hijack the thread...

Thank you,
RT

 

[stickman]

@Rocktop In practice it is best to keep the pump as near as possible to the starting vessel. The maximum pump discharge pressure is 50psi however the pressure switch is factory set at 45psi. At 45psi discharge, the pump can deliver your wine at 1.75gpm to approximately 100 feet above the liquid level in the starting vessel. At 13 feet discharge (5.6psi) the pump will deliver the wine at around 3gpm.

 

[Rocktop]

That’s perfect. I cored a hole from my attached garage down to my wine room in my basement and lined it with an abs pipe I slip siphon hoses through. It is nice to crush and press and bottle in the garage but bulk age etc downstairs in the nice cool climate controlled space. This pump will work perfect to move the finished wine back up.
Txs all.

RT
Thank you NorCal for letting me take the thread off course.