2020 Fall Grape Season Coming Up

[jgmann67]

That really does look awesome. I stirred mine yesterday before heading out. Feeling like I want to get it off the fine lees this week or next and put the Super Tuscan together.

Good lunch with the Chromotography.It seems this year’s grapes get high marks all the way around. Should be some fantastic wine in a few years.

 

[Boatboy24]

As my fam would say— that’s beauTEEful !

I think I see 11gal yields for the merlot and sangio
And 7gal yields for Zin, CS, & CF- correct?

What was the starting amount? 5lugs for merlot and sangio? And the rest 3lugs ea.?

3 lugs for all of 'em. That's 8gal for the Merlot and Sangio.

 

[heatherd]

Good seeing all of you today. Dad and I got back, had lunch, then got to work. Crush took just over an hour and cleanup about 45 minutes. Not too bad. Mrs Boatboy did jump in and crank the C/D for a few lugs. Much quieter event this year, with no other family or friends. Stupid COVID. Just hung on the deck with Dad for about an hour after we finished and had a beer. About that time, Mom showed up and we hung out there w/ Mrs Boatboy; enjoying the spectacular weather. We ordered some pizza and I opened up my last bottle of "Pahpy's Blend". This was one of three different blends we did in 2015 with Cab, Syrah and Petite Sirah and was my Dad's #1 choice of the 4 or 5 blends we tried during bench trials. Ultimately bottled 3 blends, but this one turned out best. It was really good. I just finished adding enzymes to the grapes and will measure Brix and pH in the morning, prior to pitching the yeast. Any required acid adjustments will be done as well.

All in all, this was a pretty good crush. The grapes were in very good shape, and going by taste, will make some very good wines. So far, extraction is good already - especially on the Zin and Merlot. Excited to see how things turn out.

Again, it was great seeing everyone, even if in masks. Looking forward to trying everyone's wines. And I'll post some pics tomorrow. The only one I have on my phone is the back of my car full of grapes. The rest are on Mrs. Boatboy's phone.

I'm really bummed that I missed you guys! I had it in my mind that I'd ordered Malvasia Blanca juice, which was short, when I'd actually ordered Albarino which was there on day 1 of pick-up. So I went on 10/17 and it was just me and my fam. Did you guys get any additional stuff beyond what you ordered?

 

[jgmann67]

I'm really bummed that I missed you guys! I had it in my mind that I'd ordered Malvasia Blanca juice, which was short, when I'd actually ordered Albarino which was there on day 1 of pick-up. So I went on 10/17 and it was just me and my fam. Did you guys get any additional stuff beyond what you ordered?

I asked and there was nothing extra to snap up unfortunately.

We still haven’t formally met yet. Let’s hope there’s an opportunity sooner than later to swap bottles and stories.

 

[heatherd]

I asked and there was nothing extra to snap up unfortunately.

We still haven’t formally met yet. Let’s hope there’s an opportunity sooner than later to swap bottles and stories.

Yep, hopefully next fall things will be better and we can all get together. I stuck bottles in my Jeep to swap at WW pick-up but alas no. Next fall I suspect I'll do some more grapes again. Pick of 2019 Touriga Nacional crush/pick-up with Craig, me, and Fred to prove I exist.

 

[Boatboy24]

I didn't get anything beyond what I'd ordered. They did have several buckets of unlabeled red juice, but I think that was it. If they had extra Albarino, I would have likely left with some.

 

[jgmann67]

Got a wild hair last night and decided to go ahead bring the kids down to the basement and rack them off the goop. Too much headspace in the carboys for my tastes. I went out and bought a 3 gallon, and had a 6 gallon open. After some consternation, I figured out the order to rack everything so it fit better.

Yielded about 11 gallons of Malbec (will likely be closer to 10 at next rack); and 18.5 gallons on Super Tuscan blend (which will drop to 17 -ish at next rack).

No activity that I could see. But it’s been cool in the garage Moving to the basement should help with that.

 

[mainshipfred]

this was our first time using the press and we had the same issues as you did. The extra set of hands helped a lot. But, we’re already talking about ways to engineer around the slippage (maybe making half moon top plates, and adding washers to the ratchet mechanism).

If I'm understanding the issue correctly I would make the following recommendation. Remove the ratchet pins and hand crank it until you get adequate pressure on the blocks then reinsert the pins and start ratcheting. I also start by hand pressing the half blocks.

 

[mainshipfred]

Picked up and crushed 235 lbs of Tannat today. Got 28 - 30 gallons of must in 4 ten gallon fermenters. Thursday or Friday the Petit Verdot will be harvested and Saturday or Sunday the Norton. Going to do a similar quantity of both. Now all I need which I'm probably too late for is Syrah and Cab Franc. With my new normal quantity of 200+ lbs I need more 10 gallon fermenters, the 6 gallons just don't cut it, unless I put 4 gallons in each which would be 8 fermenters per varietal. So this year, including spring, minus the angels share I'll end up with:
15 gal Shiraz (spring)
14 gal Cab Sauv (spring)
8 gal Viognier
13 gal Petite Sirah
14 gal OVZ
20 gal Tannat (hopefully)
20 gal Petit Verdot (hopefully)
20 gal Norton (hopefully)

 

[buzi]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce the Class of Two Thousand Twenty:

View attachment 67149

Finally got everything racked this morning. Will probably do the Sangiovese one more time, as I pulled in some sediment. All in all, pretty good yield. Things are smelling and tasting great. Tiny bubbles present in all carboys. I did a co-inoculation on the 6th, so I'll likely run chromatography Halloween weekend.

Are you cutting back this year!?!

 

[Chuck E]

If I'm understanding the issue correctly I would make the following recommendation. Remove the ratchet pins and hand crank it until you get adequate pressure on the blocks then reinsert the pins and start ratcheting. I also start by hand pressing the half blocks.

I will try that next time. I was thinking of placing a piece of Teflon in between the ratchet and the spacer blocks.

 

[Ajmassa]

My top blocks are cut to fit snug around the threads and allow just about full surface contact of the ratchet bottom. Not sure but this might make a difference. I don’t get any slippage issues. I do like Fred said. Hand push round tops and get ratchet and blocks all snugged up before cranking

 

[jgmann67]

My top blocks are cut to fit snug around the threads and allow just about full surface contact of the ratchet bottom. Not sure but this might make a difference. I don’t get any slippage issues. I do like Fred said. Hand push round tops and get ratchet and blocks all snugged up before crankingView attachment 67216

thats exactly what my buddy and I were thinking.

 

[mainshipfred]

Picked up some beautiful Petit Verdot today, wish I had taken pics. Off the vine it was 25 brix and 3.43 pH. Every cluster would have qualified for the cover of any magazine. I'm going to be very disappointed if I screw this one up.

 

[jgmann67]

Thought I was done for the season. Interesting development - I may have a line on some decent quality Pennsylvania Cab Franc. Is anyone local interested?

If that falls through and it’s not to be this year, it will definitely be next year.

 

[mainshipfred]

Thought I was done for the season. Interesting development - I may have a line on some decent quality Pennsylvania Cab Franc. Is anyone local interested?

If that falls through and it’s not to be this year, it will definitely be next year.

Keep that networking close at hand. Even without yeast they seem to multiply.

 

[Boatboy24]

Picked up some beautiful Petit Verdot today, wish I had taken pics. Off the vine it was 25 brix and 3.43 pH. Every cluster would have qualified for the cover of any magazine. I'm going to be very disappointed if I screw this one up.

Wow! Great numbers! Pics or it didn't happen.

PS: your carboys are cleaned and ready with KMeta in them. I'll touch base toward the end of the week - can bring 'em by Friday eve or Saturday morning.

 

[Boatboy24]

Thought I was done for the season. Interesting development - I may have a line on some decent quality Pennsylvania Cab Franc. Is anyone local interested?

If that falls through and it’s not to be this year, it will definitely be next year.

Do you deliver?

 

[jgmann67]

Do you deliver?

No. But we’re a hospitable bunch for northerners.

 

[mainshipfred]

Wow! Great numbers! Pics or it didn't happen.

PS: your carboys are cleaned and ready with KMeta in them. I'll touch base toward the end of the week - can bring 'em by Friday eve or Saturday morning.

No hurry, whatever is best for you.