2022, What are your plans?

[winemanden]

You're right Chuck D,those bottles do disappear quick if you don't watch it.
A bit like Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard and found it bare. That's too sad to think about.
What ever the reason for making so much, it was just curiosity on my part. I've always been curious, some folks call me a nosey old sod. I've always had the attitude, if you don't ask you'll never know.
I guess you folks have a lot more friends than I do.

PS. if you folks offered your friends 10 cents to return each empty you wouldn't be short of bottles.

 

[winemaker81]

PS. if you folks offered your friends 10 cents to return each empty you wouldn't be short of bottles.

It appears I am cheap -- no return bottle, no more wine!

 

[hounddawg]

,
You're right Chuck D,those bottles do disappear quick if you don't watch it.
A bit like Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard and found it bare. That's too sad to think about.
What ever the reason for making so much, it was just curiosity on my part. I've always been curious, some folks call me a nosey old sod. I've always had the attitude, if you don't ask you'll never know.
I guess you folks have a lot more friends than I do.

PS. if you folks offered your friends 10 cents to return each empty you wouldn't be short of bottles.

cough,,,um (IF) I WAS TO SELL a case now and then, i'd charge $12 a case for bottle deposit, most would pay deposit on 2 or 3 cases and just swap them out at a case at a time,, never forget (IF) of course that'd be after having better than 20 case of bottles never come back, hypathedikley of course,,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

It appears I am cheap -- no return bottle, no more wine!

THAT DOG WILL HUNT,,,
Dawg

 

[hounddawg]

It appears I am cheap -- no return bottle, no more wine!

you make me laugh,,,
Dawg

 

[Rice_Guy]

This year is building the apple orchard. I just ordered several red flesh scion wood from an orchard in Suamico, WI. ,,, from the write up at Michigan state Otterson var should make a balanced slightly tannic cyser. sadly I guess I‘ll have to drink enough apple to figure out what soft tannin versus hard tannin versus astringent tannin varieties are before ordering more varieties next spring.
This year I see wine tourism exploring the finger lakes region, AKA a detour on trips to the grand kids.

if this is a good year, apple, and pear if the neighbors tree has a good year.

Come now Chuck, ,,,, every year is a good year for deer apples, ,,, the hard part is finding the special trees that balance the flavors.

 

[winemaker81]

you make me laugh

I was serious!

 

[ChuckD]

Come now Chuck, ,,,, every year is a good year for deer apples, ,,, the hard part is finding the special trees that balance the flavors.

It depends. I’m not a huge fan of those free apples littering peoples lawns… typically too much work culling and trimming. I have an older neighbor who heard I made apple wine so he brought me four buckets of them… super nice guy but the apples were all bruises and worms. I thanked him and fed them to the deer when he left. I bought two bushels from the orchard and I’ll give him some of that wine when it’s ready.

 

[hounddawg]

I was serious!

i knew that,
that is exactly why it is so funny, no bottles back=no more wine, i laugh when i picture that,,,
Dawg

 

[Meadini]

For 2022, I’ll start with kits and fruit wines and finish with my plans for grapes-I have ambitious plans.
I have a Finer Wine Bordeaux Forte kit to start. If it turns out as I hope, I’ll get another next year.
For fruit wines, I have 40 lbs of frozen bananas that need fermented. I make a mead with them every February.
I’ll be back in Missouri when the blackberries are ripe, so I’ll get as many of those as I can.
I’m gonna get a bushel of peaches and see what I can make outta those.
I’m enjoying the very early returns of my white grape/pear wine and I’ll probably double that.
For the grapes, I’m going to do another field blend, probably 16 gallons, of a Super Tuscan from Lodi grapes a company ships in.
I’ve spent a lot of time in Palisade (Colorados grape growing area)this year cultivating relationships with some vineyard owners. There’s a vineyard that will let me pick some Cab Franc and Petit Verdot-I’m super excited about this opportunity!
I’m also a member of a co-op and plan on ordering 18 gallons of Cab Sauv and 12 gallons of Merlot to round out a Bordeaux blend.
Whew, that’s a lot! But I can’t forget 2 buckets of Moscato to keep the Mrs. happy!

 

[wood1954]

Same old thing for me. Keep trying to get a great harvest from my Marquette vines. Last year was the first year I had invasive brown stinkbugs so I need to figure out to get rid of them.

 

[my wine]

I have plans for a Pinot Noir and a Super Tuscan kit from Finer Wines. Likely one other red which I haven't decided on. I have a bunch of bananas in the freezer. Not certain if I have enough for 3 gallons. I found an orchard nearby that will sell me apple juice without preservatives. I'm considering 3 gallons of that in the fall. I started a dozen raspberry and blackberry plants out back last year. I'll tend to those and will likely triple the number of bushes this year from the shoots. Last year I succeeded in making enough wine to drink mostly year-old wine. this year I'll cut back a little but try to get my drinking wine closer to the 2 year mark.

 

[Sage]

Hunker down and try to survive first. I'll just have to wait and see what nature provides this year from my vines. Cab, Merlot, Carmenere, Syrah vines have been providing 18-25 gallons per year. I never seem to know who's on first or who struck out. Since I don't change much of what I do, I'll have to go with what the weather does. Part of the fun!! And then, wait about 3-4 years to see if my part of the process worked!

 

[Newine]

I will be making wine from my home vineyard. The Seyval Blanc, Noiret, Frontenac, and Marchal Foch will all be celebrating 10 years of age. My Petite Pearl, Chardonel and Itasca are just 3 or 4 years in the ground and I expect a decent harvest from them this year.

I will, for the 3rd year in a row turn all the whites into sparkling via traditional method, just too good!

The reds I will likely do a field blend and ferment in about 5 different batches with various different yeasts in combination with different oak adjuncts. The last few years I have been narrowing down the yeasts in the red to a few favorites but always have room to try 1 or 2 new ones.

 

[Dan M]

I think it's great that many of you have ambitious plans for 2022! It shows your passion. As we enter the 3rd year of COVID, my plans are a little less ambitious. Completely coincidentally, this is also my 3rd year of winemaking...

1. I started an Island Mist Black Cherry kit. Why? It was on the shelf, and my family loves it. I'm tweaking my process based on some good advice from the senior members here. I prefer a nice dry red, but you can't beat this sweety by the pool over ice.

2. I'm planning to get me some of them Finer Wine kits! I've made quite a few Winexpert kits over the last 2 years, and the wine is decent, but I think I can do better. I'm thinking a Super Tuscan and maybe a Strawberry Frutta to start.

3. My biggest goal is to improve my processes to produce better tasting wines. I may stray away from the kit directions in some areas to experiment. I hope to try some of the ideas in the "Tweaking Cheap Kits" thread and see where that takes me.

4. Lastly, I hope to have a good recipe or two by juice season, so that I can make a wine without a kit (scary). I know yinz guys will help me...

Have a great 2022!

 

[winemaker81]

I started an Island Mist Black Cherry kit. Why?

When I got this far reading your post, "why not?" popped into my head!

The only reason to make wine is because someone loves it!

I'm thinking a Super Tuscan and maybe a Strawberry Frutta to start.

My son & I pulled a sample of our Super Tuscan last night. At 2 months old, it's not on oak yet, and it's amazingly good. Certainly not drinkable yet, but the taste bodes good things in its future.

I may stray away from the kit directions in some areas to experiment. I hope to try some of the ideas in the "Tweaking Cheap Kits" thread and see where that takes me.

IME, add to kits, do not take away. I've had 2 kits turn out overly acidic when I shorted the water. I don't buy the cheap kits, buying from Winexpert, RJ Spagnols, and now FWK. Even the low end WE and RJS kits are well balanced for reconstitution to 23 liters; changing that throws the wine out of balance.

Adding raisins, currents, elderberries, etc. to a red will boost it, as will grape concentrate if the SG is low (concentrates add body which sugar/syrup does not).

Lastly, I hope to have a good recipe or two by juice season, so that I can make a wine without a kit (scary). I know yinz guys will help me...

Do you mean grape juice? The difference between a kit and juice is that 1) you're not reconstituting concentrate; and 2) you have to buy all the consumables separately. You can follow the kit instructions with juice.

If you plan to bottle quickly (3 months or less) use degassing and fining agents, else you'll get sediment in the bottle. If you're ok with bulk aging for at least 4 months (6 to 12 is better), you can skip them.

 

[Dan M]

@winemaker81
I knew you'd take the bait and share more gems! Thank you.

 

[Rocktop]

For the vineyard adding:
‘Pinot noir clone 828 and clone 73.
chardonnay clone 548
Dornfelder
Ortega

For wine making I want to focus on Pinot noir, really want learn to make a stellar Pinot. Will probably get around 250lbs. Will pull a good amount off for saiganee . Long cold soak and am I’m looking to upgrade to a stainless primary tank with bottom port as I want to try delestage to strip out as many seeds as possible.

RT

 

[winemaker81]

For wine making I want to focus on Pinot noir, really want learn to make a stellar Pinot. Will probably get around 250lbs. Will pull a good amount off for saiganee . Long cold soak and am I’m looking to upgrade to a stainless primary tank with bottom port as I want to try delestage to strip out as many seeds as possible.

Why remove the seeds? Excess tannin?

 

[mainshipfred]

I think I may do a modified delestage prior to pressing. I do this because I normally press by myself from 10 gallon brutes that are too heavy to lift, at least carefully. I'll scoop out the skins from the top leaving as much juice as possible. Then start scooping out the juice until the brute is light enough to lift. The remaining juice is slowly poured into the press. The bottom of the brute always has a ton of seeds which I stop pouring when the seeds start to come out. By then all that is left are seeds and thick sediment and I'm greatly reducing the amount of seeds that get pressed. So I guess in a way I am doing a delestage. During the last few days of fermentation I also stir the must after it is punched down. I don't know if this does anything to help the seeds sink to the bottom but I guess it could.

I don't know if the heat or chemical reaction during fermentation extracts the harsh tannins from the seeds or is it just the pressing that extracts the tannins. The last couple years I considered doing the press prep process mid way through fermentation to extract the seeds earlier. It's just a lot of work, especially when I have as many as 20 fermenters going at one time.