2021, what are your plans?

[franc1969]

I went all whites , but looks like all juice this year no matter what I tried. Washington Winemakers order ended up with no white grapes, only buckets. Next year.

 

[mainshipfred]

Pitched the yeast yesterday and the wines are happily fermenting. All the 10 gallon brutes have around 8 gallons of must.
3 brutes - Malbec
3 brutes - Sangiovese/Alicante/Nebbiolo field blend
3 brutes - Touriga/Tempranillo field blend
4 brutes - Local PV
3 buckets - Chardonnay 12 gallons total
2 carboys - Local Viognier 12.5 gallons total This came in a 28 brix so I'll water it back prior to bottling and bench trials.
The end of October the Norton will be in I'll do about 300 lbs.
25 gallons of peach aging and not shown.

 

[franc1969]

And there we go- four days later I'm done and haven't even bottled last year yet. Anyway- my buckets are almost down to zero, 1.002 to 1.005 SG, and going to carboys tonight. They were fermenting very fast already when I opened the bucket, and they were still cold. I don't know if my added yeasts even had an effect. The only thing not already there is my Gewurztraminer, which was at 1.100+ SG when I opened. Still fizzing, but slow. Hopefully the Assmanhausen starter is what is taking over.
I haven't figured out what else I might do, no communication on skins for my cider so I may be done for the year.
(Edited for correct numbers)

I went all whites , but looks like all juice this year no matter what I tried. Washington Winemakers order ended up with no white grapes, only buckets. Next year.

 

[sour_grapes]

And there we go- four days later I'm done and haven't even bottled last year yet. Anyway- my buckets are almost down to zero, 1.02 to 1.05 SG, and going to carboys tonight. They were fermenting very fast already when I opened the bucket, and they were still cold. I don't know if my added yeasts even had an effect. The only thing not already there is my Gewurztraminer, which was at 1.10+ SG when I opened. Still fizzing, but slow. Hopefully the Assmanhausen starter is what is taking over.
I haven't figured out what else I might do, no communication on skins for my cider so I may be done for the year.

You meant 1.002, 1.005, and 1.010, respectively, right?

 

[franc1969]

Sorry, corrected. Most numbers were just above 1.000SG, now just below it. No idea really on what I have for alcohol percentage, as everything was down to 1.060 or 1.070 already with a roiling fermentation going. Gewurztraminer had high sugar/will have high alcohol, as it read 1.100 when already fizzing. I may adjust this later in spring when I taste test it.

 

[crushday]

Does anyone have a source for Petit Verdot? I know I'm late but I found out a few days ago that the frozen drum I ordered will not be delivered. The vineyard could not fill the order to wine grapes direct. So, searching... Need some blending options and substitutes.

 

[Nebbiolo020]

Does anyone have a source for Petit Verdot? I know I'm late but I found out a few days ago that the frozen drum I ordered will not be delivered. The vineyard could not fill the order to wine grapes direct. So, searching... Need some blending options and substitutes.

That’s going to be tough because most places have picked already. The winery I work at is getting our Petit Verdot in about 30 minutes.

 

[mainshipfred]

I had already ruled out Tannat for this year then I received a call from one of my local wineries. Tomorrow I'll be picking up 180 lbs of crushed/destemmed must. I wish they had more to offer but Tannat is like gold around here.

 

[SLM]

Have you tried Lonesome Spring Ranch?
Colin Morrell <[email protected]>

 

[sour_grapes]

So, I opted to ask for an Amarone and a Nebbiolo bucket.

BUT THEN, we got notification that the broker was, after all, able to supply our Washington Merlot grapes. And our group managed to gracefully withdraw our orders from the neighboring club, with no hard feelings.

So, bottom line, I am back to Merlot grapes.

We had fits and starts and disappointments and renewed hopes in the interim. But they came through. We got 2 tons of Washington Merlot from the broker (Kendall Farms). Today was crush day! We do not know the exact provenance of the grapes. However, the fruit looked really nice. Many club members thought it was the nicest looking fruit in memory. A nice, long, hard day of crushing.

Even better: I had signed up for 200 lbs. I became a little disappointed that I didn't order more. Then it became clear that they sent us much more fruit than we collectively requested. About 400 lbs or more extra. Fortuitiously, I brought a few extra buckets with me, so I signed up for an additional 100 lbs.

 

[mainshipfred]

We had fits and starts and disappointments and renewed hopes in the interim. But they came through. We got 2 tons of Washington Merlot from the broker (Kendall Farms). Today was crush day! We do not know the exact provenance of the grapes. However, the fruit looked really nice. Many club members thought it was the nicest looking fruit in memory. A nice, long, hard day of crushing.

Even better: I had signed up for 200 lbs. I became a little disappointed that I didn't order more. Then it became clear that they sent us much more fruit than we collectively requested. About 400 lbs or more extra. Fortuitiously, I brought a few extra buckets with me, so I signed up for an additional 100 lbs.

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Everyone makes different quantities to suit there needs, for me 250 -300 lbs is perfect.

Question though, what is the purpose of the pipe in the center of the bins. I've helped wineries with half bins and never saw that.

 

[sour_grapes]

Everyone makes different quantities to suit there needs, for me 250 -300 lbs is perfect.

Question though, what is the purpose of the pipe in the center of the bins. I've helped wineries with half bins and never saw that.

I confess that I do not know. They came that way from the broker. The pipes had holes in the sides, so presumably it is for ventilation of some sort, but I do not know the exact reasons.

I thought about grabbing one for a gajilion-hole pipe, but decided not to bother.

 

[franc1969]

Probably just lid supports for the cardboard gaylord. Lovely looking grapes.

 

[Bahamawine1]

I want to make (70) 5 gallon Carboys (40 flavors) in 3 months I’m well on my way.

 

[Nebbiolo020]

We had fits and starts and disappointments and renewed hopes in the interim. But they came through. We got 2 tons of Washington Merlot from the broker (Kendall Farms). Today was crush day! We do not know the exact provenance of the grapes. However, the fruit looked really nice. Many club members thought it was the nicest looking fruit in memory. A nice, long, hard day of crushing.

Even better: I had signed up for 200 lbs. I became a little disappointed that I didn't order more. Then it became clear that they sent us much more fruit than we collectively requested. About 400 lbs or more extra. Fortuitiously, I brought a few extra buckets with me, so I signed up for an additional 100 lbs.

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That is good looking fruit while I work at a commercial winery I also make wine at home, I made Syrah and Sangiovese and a Cab Blend this year as well as a couple white wines, the Syrah I got this year is the best looking grapes I have ever seen even better than our Syrah at work. This year having lower yields was a good thing because quality of fruit is up.

 

[mainshipfred]

Tomorrow I'll be picking up the Norton my last of the year. Turns out I made everything I planned except for the Petit Manseng but I did pick up peach and Chardonnay. Once the Norton is done I'll put everything through MLF then blend and bottle the 2020s sometime in February to make barrel room for the 2021s.

 

[mainshipfred]

Just finished crushing the Norton and adding the enzymes. 260+ lbs yielded about 32 gallons of must. Really high pH of 3.97 and SG of 1.096. I'll take the pH to 3.7 or so and probably chaptalize it to 1.100. But that's tomorrow along with tannins and yeast.

 

[stickman]

@mainshipfred I haven't made any Norton, but thought this article was interesting about some of the particular issues with this grape and associated winemaking.

 

[mainshipfred]

@mainshipfred I haven't made any Norton, but thought this article was interesting about some of the particular issues with this grape and associated winemaking.

Thank you, I remembered there something different about Norton. I did a brief search and couldn't find anything so this was very timely.

 

[NorCal]

Always fun to look back at your plans and see what you actually did.

ACTUAL
10 gallons of estate blend (Syrah, Cab Sauv, Zin)
20 gallons of Cab Franc
45 gallons (estimate) of Mourvedre
60 gallons (estimate) of Petite Syrah
---
125 gallons

Update to the Update. Even in the last 4 months, things took a turn. I’ll be ordering labels soon (waiting for the January 40% off sale at Grogtag) so once I commit to labels, the plan is locked in.

Wine out - gave the 30 gallons of pressed Petite Sirah and 10 gallons of Mourvedre to a buddy.

GSM - A local winery, whom I helped with their vineyard last year, offered me some 2021 finished Grenache. I said sure! I’ll take 15 gallons of Grenache, my 20 gallons of Mourvedre and 10 gallons of estate blend (mostly Syrah) to make 18 cases GSM.

PS barrel - The barrel is 40 gallons Petite Sirah and 20 gallons Mourvedre. I will probably add in the 5 gallons of pressed PS and look for a few gallons of Petit Verdot to add, before bottling.

CF - I was forced to press the free Cab Franc early and it never finished. Last time I checked it was stuck at 1.5 brix (think white zin). If it doesn’t finish, I’ll probably toss it in the 1,000 pound CF ferment I will be doing in 2022.