2023, What are your plans?

[NorCal]

For 2023, I am going to do repeats of what I have made in the past, that I enjoyed.

- 60 gallon barrel of Amador Cabernet Sauvignon, with a splash of Petit Verdot
- 60 gallon barrel of Lodi Chardonnay
- 15 gallon estate Zin Rose
- 15 gallon estate Syrah


What are your plans?

 

[winemaker81]

I have a "5 year plan" which is to not make the same wines twice within a 5 year span, as there are too many ideas floating in my head to make repeats. This applies to reds, not whites, and different blends into a base red are counted as different. [my 5 year plan doesn't impose as much limitation as it may appear.] For 2022 I made Grenache and Tempranillo, and have a small batch of Syrah / Petite Sirah / Mourvedre that will be blended into the Grenache and Tempranillo next fall.

The 2023 main batches will probably be:

• 8 lugs Cabernet Sauvignon
• 8 lugs Sangiovese OR Montepulciano

In addition to the main batches, I'll probably make a blending wine consisting of 1 lug each Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, which will selectively be blended into both main batches.

I'm hoping to get some VA-grown French-American hybrids, preferably Chambourcin and Marechal Foch, making a carboy or so of each.

For whites I'd like to get Seyval and Vidal, but if that doesn't happen and I don't have other options, I may make another FWK white. I don't go through a lot of white, and have a fair amount of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, so I'll probably make only a 23 liter carboy of white.

 

[wood1954]

Keeping with my Marquette grapes, making rose and red, carboy aging as I want to leave two barrels of 2022 wine to age for two years. I’m hoping my itasca grapes give me enough for 6 gallons of white wine. If my current juice buckets turn out well I’ll probably get a couple more as it’s hard to beat the price and convenience.

 

[BigDaveK]

I will continue to work on my To Do list.

It baffles me how crossing one off the list will cause two more to appear.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

3-5 gal Elderflower wine, still and sparkling. Hoping to learn from my experience last year, when I made 2 small batches of elderflower 'shampagne' - neither of which was really great. But in each case I know what I did wrong...

3-5 gal Elderberry wine. It's hard to tell this early but I think my 2022 iteration was an improvement over 2021. Planning to significantly increase fruit per gallon next time. If I have enough fruit, I may try to do separate batches from my European and American cultivars.

30-60 gal barrel fermented Chardonnay. Hoping to join with one or two others to process 1-1.5T fruit.

30 gal (1/4T) of something red, probably not Pinot noir since I have a lot of my 2021 pinot in the cellar. It depends what's available, could be Syrah, Merlot, Zinfandel... we'll see.

 

[winemanden]

No fixed plans. Just making and enjoying wine

 

[Hazelemere]

Control powdery mildew very early with potassium carbonate spray + kumulus S sulphur

Blend new low acid Siegerrebe with high acid carboy Brehm Chenin Blanc and Brehm Chardonnay

Fix rest of the Sheridan Syrah with any or all of the following:

blackberry/elderberry
wild black cherry
Marechal Foch
Regent

Make - Ortega and Madeleine Angevine, new Raspberry Chambord, make Russet Cyser and treat it with eggwhite to drop tannin

Make - Brehm Jarret Vineyard Gewurtztraminer from frozen juice

Make - Sonoma/Napa Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon from destemmed uncrushed fresh grapes, Dineen Vineyard - Cabernet Sauvignon or Syrah or Malbec or Petite Verdot or Mourvedre or Cabernet Franc or Grenache or Merlot or Riesling.

 

[VinesnBines]

For the vineyard, stay healthy and recover enough from a severely broken leg to make up the lost four months (plus). Train the vines to mid and high cordon and get the young vines on trellis.

For wine, ferment the frozen Marquette and Leon Millot as well as the frozen Dandelion, Day Lily, Raspberry and Figs. Get the whites from the 2022 harvest (2/3 or less of the crop - due to the broken leg from August to present) bottled. Let the same 2022 reds continue to age.

If the good Lord allows, no late frosts, good pruning, keep the racoons at bay, have perfect vineyard conditions and a fantastic harvest.

 

[winemaker81]

If the good Lord allows, no late frosts, good pruning, keep the racoons at bay, have perfect vineyard conditions and a fantastic harvest.

https://selectedrecipe.com/recipes/15-best-raccoon-recipes-c86320af/

 

[VinesnBines]

https://selectedrecipe.com/recipes/15-best-raccoon-recipes-c86320af/

HAHAHAHA! The wildlife cameras have three at a time near the vineyard. Actually, they seem to be collecting black walnuts for winter. We have a tacit agreement, they take the walnuts and stay out of the vineyard and they live to see another day.

Truth be told, we have to get someone else to shoot them. Please don't tell the racoons.

 

[mainshipfred]

Never thought I'd say this but I'm cutting way back next year. 22s are still going through MLF, 21s barrel aging, still have some 20s to bottle and I'm out of space in the cellar. More than likely I'll do one or two S. Hemispheres, a VA Tannat ( I missed out in 22), if the Petit Manseng turns out nice I'll do that again, but that's probably it. Or so I say now.

 

[ceeaton]

Never thought I'd say this but I'm cutting way back next year. 22s are still going through MLF, 21s barrel aging, still have some 20s to bottle and I'm out of space in the cellar. More than likely I'll do one or two S. Hemispheres, a VA Tannat ( I missed out in 22), if the Petit Manseng turns out nice I'll do that again, but that's probably it. Or so I say now.

Common', get drinking. Get all that equipment out of your warehouse, you'll have plenty of room, lol!

 

[winemaker81]

Never thought I'd say this but I'm cutting way back next year. 22s are still going through MLF, 21s barrel aging, still have some 20s to bottle and I'm out of space in the cellar. More than likely I'll do one or two S. Hemispheres, a VA Tannat ( I missed out in 22), if the Petit Manseng turns out nice I'll do that again, but that's probably it. Or so I say now.

This rang a bell for me. Since I posted, I've been examining my available space -- I either need to double my consumption (not a good idea!), give away a fair amount of wine, or cut back on the 2023 production. I'm not complaining, as it's a good position to be in, but it enforces better space management.

 

[cmason1957]

Never thought I'd say this but I'm cutting way back next year. 22s are still going through MLF, 21s barrel aging, still have some 20s to bottle and I'm out of space in the cellar. More than likely I'll do one or two S. Hemispheres, a VA Tannat ( I missed out in 22), if the Petit Manseng turns out nice I'll do that again, but that's probably it. Or so I say now.

I (or maybe I mean we, or more likely her) has told me we are cutting way back and that seems like it's the right thing to do. Probably less than a handful of kits and then a few locally grown grapes (well that's 200-300 lbs of grapes only). Wife retired this year, I am thinking 2 more years for me and then we will be downsizing from the mini-mansion to something much smaller and one story, hopefully with a walk-out basement, but who knows.

 

[CDrew]

2023, Hmmm

Goals:
1-Post up on WMT whatever I do as I've neglected this the last few years

2-Make more white wine and Rose. These have been extremely popular. I may even have to sacrifice the 2023 Primitivo to make all Rose as I have lots of '19-'22 already aging. (I have 18 too but it sucks in my opinion) For sure making a Sauvignon Blanc whatever it takes. My wife has proven in 2022 that she can handle fermentation while I'm away, so the SB may have to make itself with her help.

3-Make another small Port. About 2 cases will be sufficient

4-Syrah-Love it, I've made since 2017, so maybe 8-10 cases in 2023

5-Barbera-One of my all time favorites that I've made. I'd like to make more. And, it doesn't need to age that long to be good.

6-Stretch goal-I'd love to meet up with @NorCal and @crushday in September if harvest is after September 11th.

 

[Obbnw]

Primary goal is test batches of lower alcohol content wine.
1) earlier harvest.
2) watered back prior to ferment.

 

[crushday]

@NorCal - I think I'm going to try aging and bottling ONLY free run wines this year*. I've been looking at Titus (Titus Vineyards) in Napa Valley - their wines are awesome - and that is their practice. Another practice seems to be only fermenting on the skins for a maximum of 14 days. This is consistent, sans two - Petit Verdot (10 days), Imperitus Ultra Reserve Cab (50 days). With the ambient October temps in Napa (general harvest) there's no way the AF is complete in 14 days. Meaning, they must drain the wine and let the AF finish in barrel. They rack every quarter for the first year and then let it be until racked to a tank for bottling. Interesting...

Both free run only and draining the wine too early could rob the finished wine some residual benefits from skin/seed contact. One evidence of this would be the cellarability of the finished product. However, Titus clearly provides a "enjoy for the next..." timeline that extends 7-30 years depending on variety. The most shallow red wine timeline being assessed to the Estate Zinfandel. So, it doesn't seem to adversely affect the longevity of the uncorked wines.

As you know, my original goal in becoming a winemaker was to make wines as good or better than I can buy. Although I'm pleased with how I'm developing as a winemaker, I need to begin fine tuning my process in an effort to make good, great.

*Because my current pressing pressure is only 1 bar, by only capturing free run I estimate I'd be loosing about 5%. To head off those crying foul on just dumping wine, how that translates to my volumes per variety wouldn't even fill a carboy.

 

[NorCal]

@crushday, great plan. I think the two steps that have improved the wines the most (once getting the basics down) are doing a 5-10% saignee and the use of as much free run in my primary barrel. The saignee brings out the depth of flavor, the free run a softness, both are qualities I like most in my wines. I’ll swap a few bottles of Petite Sirah, when you head this way late summer.

 

[crushday]

@crushday, great plan. I think the two steps that have improved the wines the most (once getting the basics down) are doing a 5-10% saignee and the use of as much free run in my primary barrel. The saignee brings out the depth of flavor, the free run a softness, both are qualities I like most in my wines. I’ll swap a few bottles of Petite Sirah, when you head this way late summer.

Saignee - because of your influence, I tried this method on two wines this past year: 1) Cab Franc (the Rosè is very good) and, 2) Carménère (this Rosè is very good too). I don't have a full appreciation for the red wines yet and won't for a while. BTW - my Cab Franc is still fermenting some... I'm extending my bulk aging timeline 6-12 months. As late as 2021, I was aging for only one year and then bottling. Once it was in the bottle, my impatience eventually took over and couldn't help but "try" the wine. Those trials have led to depletion and on some wines 'the world will never know' how good they could have been in the future. By extending the aging and bottling later, I'm hopeful the wines will be better.

Looking forward to the Petite Sirah and, others...

 

[BarrelMonkey]

I think I'm going to try aging and bottling ONLY free run wines this year*. I've been looking at Titus (Titus Vineyards) in Napa Valley - their wines are awesome - and that is their practice.

I think this is the practice at many wineries, ie the reserve/select/high-end wines are mostly if not exclusively from FR barrels. This isn't to say that the press wine is bad, but the free run is typically richer and more structured. New (and nearly-new) barrels will amost exclusively be filled with FR rather than press wine.

*Because my current pressing pressure is only 1 bar, by only capturing free run I estimate I'd be loosing about 5%. To head off those crying foul on just dumping wine, how that translates to my volumes per variety wouldn't even fill a carboy.

When I made my 2021 pinot noir, I didn't have the luxury of only using free run - with only 1/2 ton grapes I needed some of the press wine to fill my barrel! But I did keep separate about 5 gal of 'hard press'. This was re-pressed pomace that I saved from the initial (basket) pressing, and I aged and bottled it separately. It's OK - I would definitely drink it (and have done!), but it's clearly a grade below the barrel-aged wine. I plan to use it mostly for cooking (in fact I have a boneless leg of lamb marinating in right now). It's instructive to taste the two side by side; you might consider doing the same for your FR vs press wine.