2020 is happening.

[CDrew]

I implemented the Lysozyme plan in all the white wine. I'm hoping it will prevent MLF because even newly fermented, it is tasting excellent. It makes it easy that they are in 5 gallon carboys. So each one got 1/2 of a SO2 tablet (50ppm) and an hour later 5gm of Lysozyme (a bit over 250 ppm). I used the measurements in the link posted by @Boatboy24 . So we'll see if it will need fining or not. Even dissolved in 40ml of water, lysozyme is almost clear. I can't believe in 5 gallon amounts, it's going to be much of an issue. Anyway, it was time to get comfortable with that.

I may still use bentonite in a month or just to learn about that as well. It doesn't look hard.

And one other thing. On the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, WGD recommends Sur Lie and battonage for a couple of months. I'm going to give that a go as well.

 

[CDrew]

A slight update. I stopped the battonage thing with the Sauvignon Banc/Semillion. It's taking forever to clear. But I was thinking I needed to get it off the yeast lees. So today, I racked all of it. Into a 50 L keg, went all the blended Semillion and Sauvignon Blanc, and into a 5.16 gallon keg, went the remaining sauvignon blanc which was the SB that was late to the party. It's not clear or even close, but it tastes great. I think I have about 18 gallons total out of this Wine Grapes Direct juice and very happy with them. The wine is good, the customer service was excellent. Highly recommended as a source of frozen grapes.

Anyway over the next 6 months, I need to get this clear. I'll check in about April but if it isn't clear, I'll have to get a filtration set up.

 

[CDrew]

Since this thread serves as my diary of this vintage, an update.

All the red wine was racked and oaked back on 11/14. Medium toast StaVin cubes were used. The Primitivo is sensitive to too much oak, so it was time to rack it off.

I had two 15.5 gallon kegs of the 2020 Primitivo and racked into 2 more 15.5 gallon kegs. I had to top up with 1 gallon of 2020 Primitivo I had in a jug, and about 4 bottles of 2019 Primitivo. In retrospect, I should have "racked down" into 2 spare 15 gallon Intellitanks. That would have required almost no top up. But I like the stainless kegs for the fact that they don't need to sit in the dark, and my winery closet is pretty full right now! The wine is already pretty clear and there was minimal sediment, so the wine going forward is already very clean. I sulfited to 50ppm SO2 and will now leave it where it is and as is, until bottling next fall.

I still have an additional 5 gallons of this Primitivo in a Carboy that needs a home, and will probably become the base of my 2020 end of the vintage blend. That's become a bit of a tradition, but I seem to end up with 10-15 gallons of carefully tended leftovers that get blended after the main bottling events for the year are over. It's always a surprise! The 2019 version is PDG, and my picking buddy has already started drinking his case of it, despite my recommendation to wait at least 6 months and preferably 12.

But this 2020 Primitivo really good already. Fruit forward, nice acid backbone, enough tannin to go the distance. As in maybe the best balanced wine ever for me. And in the end, I should have 12 cases or so. It will be hard not to drink this early, so good thing there's a lot.

The other red wine will get racked in the next month. 20 gallons of lightly oaked Sangiovese, 25 gallons of Syrah and 15 gallons of Barbera. Then Spring time bottling planned for the Barbera Rose and then the Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion if it ever clears (I think it will but it's taking a while). The SB in the jug below, is right up to the stopper, so you can see the very upper part is clear and the rest is slowly settling.

 

[CDrew]

Bottled the Rose made from Barbera yesterday. 10.25 gallons yielded 4 cases almost exactly. pH 3.3, nice color. It’s really good already. A few weeks in the bottle and I think it’s a summertime winner. I tried to show the color below:

 

[user 38734]

Looks beautiful, bet it's delicious.

Dry Rose' has been enjoyed and taken seriously in Europe for many decades. In my family since I was a kid. It's a lunch wine, a fun wine, a party wine. Invite friends and family over for socializing and nosh, put the Rose' out next to the big reds, and see what you're constantly replenishing.

The first I recall of a US "Rose'" was the way-to-sweet "White Zinfandel" (White Trashvandel). Maybe that put people off Rose' before they were aware of true Rose'. Who knows.

In any case, dry Rose' has been getting more and more popular here for 20 years, particularly the last 6 or 8.

My personal observation has been - the lighter the color the faster it is consumed. Zero skins time and / or blend with a white.

 

[CDrew]

Looks beautiful, bet it's delicious.

Dry Rose' has been enjoyed and taken seriously in Europe for many decades. In my family since I was a kid. It's a lunch wine, a fun wine, a party wine. Invite friends and family over for socializing and nosh, put the Rose' out next to the big reds, and see what you're constantly replenishing.

The first I recall of a US "Rose'" was the way-to-sweet "White Zinfandel" (White Trashvandel). Maybe that put people off Rose' before they were aware of true Rose'. Who knows.

In any case, dry Rose' has been getting more and more popular here for 20 years, particularly the last 6 or 8.

My personal observation has been - the lighter the color the faster it is consumed. Zero skins time and / or blend with a white.

I'm biased but it's really good. Bone dry. I also got a big thumbs up from the wife and from one of her friends. It's super fruity but with a good acid backbone. I think it will improve over the next month or two as it recovers from bottling. Just in time for summer! In the glass, this color is perfect, and unlike last year where it was pink/Orange, this year it's just pink, no orange. Don't know if it was the grapes or more careful handling or what.

I'm glad I watered it back a bit, and may go even further back in 2021. I took this to 23 brix from almost 26, and I may shoot for 21 brix this year to keep it light and refreshing.

I remember the white zin craze-right along with wine coolers. I think white zin is a huge seller still but I don't know anyone who admits to drinking it. (Just looked it up-17 million cases of white zin are still sold every year.) so it's still a HUGE seller, just under the radar.

 

[Ivywoods]

Wow! Wonderful! What a bountiful crop!

 

[CDrew]

Wow! Wonderful! What a bountiful crop!

Thanks Ivy. A very good year it was, and so far the maturing red wines are really showing promise. Next up on the bottling schedule is Sauvignon Blanc. There should be about 8 cases of that. I'll need some more clear bottles. The red wine will have to wait until fall.

 

[heatherd]

So this turned out to be a huge understatement of what actually went down today.

One of the wineries I've been a club member at for the last 10 years or so, had said last year I could pick the excess Barbera that did not get picked, I could not because of scheduling, but this year the owner called me. He said they had the 2 1/2 tons they wanted and there were still 3 rows left of "perfect" Barbera if I wanted to come up and pick it. Today was the day.

Today started with me going to the LHBS to rent a crusher stemmer. I was there at opening and had it in the garage by 1015 am. Then drove up to Amador for the Barbera pick. I was expecting a gleaning type pick where the easy grapes have already been picked out and you sort through the small clusters and raisins to get what you want. Instead, this was a pick of #1 first class Barbera. RIGHT NEXT TO THE CAR. I mean it was too easy. I should have bought more Brutes, because we filled 2 40 gallon Brutes in about 1 hour. Big mistake on my part, if we'd had more brutes we could easily have had more grapes. As it is, I think we picked 400+ pounds of grapes and there's about 40 gallons of must in the garage now. We crushed after an on the spot crusher repair.

Anyway this was a great opportunity and I have to thank Rob Morse of Morse wines for the chance at these grapes. He said that they had picked these this past weeks and got the 2.5 tons they wanted, but there was at least another ton left. There were 3 full rows, and we picked the first third of each row. What we took today only dented what's there. The rest will feed the birds and deer. And they are beautiful grapes. Nutty seeds, beautifully ripe, we ate piles of them while picking. Will come back with pictures.

Things I learned today:

-Own your own crusher. The rental one sucked, had to be totally cleaned out, the gears didn't mesh and had to be repaired in real time by me. I'll have one by next season. Not doing that again. Still had fun though. Will edit with pictures.View attachment 66915

Good ol’ diammonium phosphate isn’t a bad thing though! No need to be so disrespectful towards DAP!

Did those buckets come with a numbers panel including a YAN level btw?

Brehm give you YAN, WGD does not.

 

[Chuck Rairdan]

Bottled the Rose made from Barbera yesterday. 10.25 gallons yielded 4 cases almost exactly. pH 3.3, nice color. It’s really good already. A few weeks in the bottle and I think it’s a summertime winner. I tried to show the color below:

View attachment 74006

That does look good, plan on doing a rose first time this year

 

[Chuck Rairdan]

Bottled the Rose made from Barbera yesterday. 10.25 gallons yielded 4 cases almost exactly. pH 3.3, nice color. It’s really good already. A few weeks in the bottle and I think it’s a summertime winner. I tried to show the color below:

View attachment 74006

Crew, I notice you are in Sac area, I'm in Davis. May contact you down the stretch for interest in possible group buys...

 

[CDrew]

That does look good, plan on doing a rose first time this year

You will be pleased how easy it is and how quickly you can drink it. Highly recommended. I only made 4 cases in 2020 and I'm guessing it won't make it to 2021 harvest. In fairness, I gave one case away to my picking buddy. His wife really likes Rose so I doubt it will last very long.

 

[user 38734]

Mmmmmm good.

 

[CDrew]

Had a bit of a bottling day yesterday-Yielded 2+ cases of varietal Sauvignon Blanc, and 5+ cases of Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion (66%/33%) blend. Of the two, the blend is the initial favorite. Very good flavors in both. We even opened a bottle of the new wine last night with dinner and it's good already. In another 2-3 weeks, I think it can become a regular.

While it's basically clear, it isn't crystal clear, so I will need to work out filtration for 2021.

This wine was from the frozen grape juice I got from wine grapes direct-I can highly recommend these guys as a great source of Washington wine grapes.

One other thing-the first picture, the Sauvignon blanc went into recycled wine bottles, hence the color variation. The Second picture I got all new clear bottles from Napa Fermentation for $6 per case. What a convenience-I am so done with label removal except in very select circumstances.

 

[Ajmassa]

Had a bit of a bottling day yesterday-Yielded 2+ cases of varietal Sauvignon Blanc, and 5+ cases of Sauvignon Blanc/Semillion (66%/33%) blend. Of the two, the blend is the initial favorite. Very good flavors in both. We even opened a bottle of the new wine last night with dinner and it's good already. In another 2-3 weeks, I think it can become a regular.

While it's basically clear, it isn't crystal clear, so I will need to work out filtration for 2021.

This wine was from the frozen grape juice I got from wine grapes direct-I can highly recommend these guys as a great source of Washington wine grapes.

One other thing-the first picture, the Sauvignon blanc went into recycled wine bottles, hence the color variation. The Second picture I got all new clear bottles from Napa Fermentation for $6 per case. What a convenience-I am so done with label removal except in very select circumstances.

View attachment 74836View attachment 74837

looks awesome man. If venturing into whites i guess a filter setup is inevitable. i still haven’t needed one but i know it’s only a matter of time. Especially if rosé is an annual thing.

and bottles for $6 a case?! i hope you were wearing your ‘rona mask- because that’s straight robbery!!! i need a to find me a connection like that!

 

[CDrew]

looks awesome man. If venturing into whites i guess a filter setup is inevitable. i still haven’t needed one but i know it’s only a matter of time. Especially if rosé is an annual thing.

and bottles for $6 a case?! i hope you were wearing your ‘rona mask- because that’s straight robbery!!! i need a to find me a connection like that!

Napa Fermentation buys surplus unused cases of bottles from wineries then sells at a nice discount. The only downside is you have to pick up at the shop. I got 30 cases of red wine bottles and 10 cases of white wine bottles. No labels!! Nice family business too so I like to support those.

 

[Sailor323]

While it's basically clear, it isn't crystal clear, so I will need to work out filtration for 2021.

I really like using Kieselsol and Chitosan for crystal clear wine.

 

[Darrell Hawley]

Napa Fermentation buys surplus unused cases of bottles from wineries then sells at a nice discount. The only downside is you have to pick up at the shop. I got 30 cases of red wine bottles and 10 cases of white wine bottles. No labels!! Nice family business too so I like to support those.

Looked at getting 2 cases, but like you said, you need to pick up at the store. Shipping the 2 cases would have been $66.

 

[stickman]

I too have been using Napa Fermentation for various products, very good people over there.

 

[Chuck Rairdan]

Yup, Napa Fermentation is good people, will also be getting my glass there starting this year. I'm with you CDrew on the whole removing labels business. Less pealing, more pouring.