2024, What are your plans?

[Hazelemere]

Are you fermenting these dry and/or are you back sweetening any if these? I see the sugar addition to the port that was added with the liqueur. I’ve had some good ports from duoro valley, but have not made this style. I’ve also made hard cider before and found that it tasted flat without some carbonation. How do you plan to finish these? Thanks-

I try to have no preconceived idea about flavour and usually ferment to dryness. I go by taste wrt sweetening.. In the Framboise case I raised SG to 1.006 after ferment and Chambord addition and will retaste again from a carboy in about 6 months. I used 71B yeast to drop malic acid. If the wine is too tangy in 6 months I'll sweeten it to say 1.009 from 1.006. Acid drops over time. Even a small drop makes a big difference I added Chambord to a raspberry table wine but nothing yet to a fruit port which is still fermenting. I don't plan the endgame. I taste everything in real time and make adjustments based on what I taste and smell. I try to not have any preconceived ideas about what to do next. e.g. I have no idea now about how I will finish my fruit port which is still fermenting.

My mantra - taste and smell, taste and smell then try to improve the taste and smell.

 

[Hazelemere]

what I actually did:

Framboise 2024

Raspberry table wine fermented with 71B yeast and topped with French Chambord (black raspberry liqueur). 15 lbs frozen raspberries covered with 7.5 lb of cane sugar for 2 days while thawing before adding 2.5 Imperial gallons of water plus pectic enzyme and nutrient followed at SG 1.085 by 71B yeast starter in apple juice. Pressed at SG 1.000 in my bladder press to get the seeds out. Added 2 bottles of Chambord. Got 26.5 bottles which should be very good by Easter.

Black Iris Port 2024

Pitted frozen wild black cherries (10 lbs), 2.5 lb frozen wild blackberries, 1 lb dried elderberries covered by 6 lbs of cane sugar for 2 days while thawiing before adding 2 Imperial gallons of water plus pectic enzyme and nutrient followed by EC-1118 yeast starter in apple juice. Press after 6 day vigorous ferment through the raspberry press cake to get the seeds out. Feed with cane sugar to 16% alcohol and then switch to corn sugar to 18% alcohol. Consider topping up with Drambuie - Scottish heather honey Scotch whiskey liqueur. This is at SG 1.010 and ~16% alcohol. Flavour is good.

Cyser Pyment 2024

This is homegrown destemmed, culled, frozen and thawed white wine grapes (4 varieties - Siegerrebe, Ortega, Reichensteiner, Madeleine Angevine) crushed and pressed with ground and pressed homegrown Cox apples and chaptalized with unpasteurized blueberry blossom honey with 71B yeast and nutrient at ~25 ppm free sulphite. It has been treated with bentonite.

Russet Macintosh 2024

This is homegrown culled Russet apples mixed with Okanagan Macintosh apples, ground, pressed, chaptalized with cane sugar to SG 1.085 and fermented with D47 yeast. It has been treated with bentonite.

Regent Rose 2024

This is homegrown Regent, culled, crushed, destemmed and pressed at SG 1.073, then chaptalized with cane sugar to SG 1.085. It was fermented with 71B yeast.

Marechal Foch Rose 2024

This is homegrown Marechal Foch, culled, crushed, destemmed and pressed at SG. 1.076, then chaptalized with cane sugar to SG 1.085. It was fermented with 71B yeast.

update:

Black Iris Port 2024

racked this at SG 1.009. It is slightly sweet but has a good flavour and smell. If It stops fermenting I'll add citric acid to it improve the balance, sorbate it, sulphite it and put into my cooler.

Cyser Pyment 2024

racked this at SG 1.000 with 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulphite and 1/2 gallon of Russet Macintosh in a 25 bottle carboy. This is slightly sweet but should be fine whether it continues fermenting or not.

Russet Macintosh 2024

racked this at SG 1.000 with 1/4 tsp potassium metabisulphite in a 25 bottle carboy and a 5 bottle jug (1/16 tsp sulphite)
This is slightly sweet but should be fine whether it continues fermenting or not.

Regent Rose 2024

racked this at SG 0.996. I'll leave it alone until the Marechal Foch rose finishes fermenting before I decide what to do with it.

Australian Orange Muscat 2024

I tasted this Fresco juice wine SG 1.083 from my cooler. We used a lot of it to improve Sheridan Chardonnay 2023. I'm tasting what is left from a carboy cooler, now about 8 months old -pale clear, lemon yellow; delicate, pleasant muscat nose, good tannin, slight tang which should drop with age. Flavour should be fine in a couple of years. I may blend it with Siegerrebe 2025 or Siegerrebe-Ortega if it turns out to be ripe and slightly flat.

 

[winemaker81]

I've got a lot of ideas for the coming fall and am discussing with my son & niece. Current ideas:

• Northern Rhone -- Syrah lightened with Roussanne or similar grape.
• "Italian" blend -- Zinfandel based with Muscat, Alicante, or similar mixed in. While the availability of grapes is key, I'll be guided by the blends made by some of my early mentors who purchased CA grapes that came in via train.
• Pinotage -- I've made the kit twice and would like to make it from CA grape.
• Montepulciano -- possibly blended with a lug or two of other Italian varietals.

We'll do 2 batches, roughly 8 lugs each, to fill our older barrels. For the newer barrel we'll buy 2 juice buckets, type determined by the grapes. These will be fermented with the pomace from whatever grapes we make.

If @VinesnBines has grapes available, something from her. Last fall I purchased Vidal and Chambourcin. I'll see what she has for other whites, and consider a Chambourcin or Marechal Foch based blend.

I went back to my January post to see how close I came to the prediction:

0% !!!

For various reasons what we actually are doing is:

• 125 lbs Chardonnel (grossed 11.5 gallons, expecting to net 10.5 gallons)
• 300 lbs Chambourcin
• 300 lbs Chelois
• 150 lbs Vidal
• 2x 6 US gallon buckets of Pinot Noir

The grapes were all purchased from @VinesnBines and the juice from Gino Pinto.

The Chardonnel was frozen for 2 week, we used Cinn Free (maceration enzyme), fermented on the skins, and used rice hulls for pressing. I suspect that all together accounted for our high yield. At pressing time it's clean tasting, something resembling a Chardonnay, although a wine so green tastes nothing like it will in 6 months.

The Chambourcin and Chelois will be pressed tomorrow. The gross yield will probably be around 18 gallons each.

The Pinot Noir juice will be fermented with the pomace from the Chambourcin and Chelois, as a rather "out there" experiment.

Sunday I'm meeting @VinesnBines and her husband to pick up the Vidal.

 

[VinesnBines]

The Vidal was pressed this evening. We have better Brix than I expected. Frost on October 11, October 17 and freeze this morning. Brix are 16 and ph is 3.24. A challenge but not impossible!
The best part is that Bryan is getting a good cold soak! The must is still cold (30 F this am), Temperature of 37 or lower in the am!
I’m bummed about the weather but looking forward to seeing how the wine develops!

 

[winemaker81]

, Temperature of 37 or lower in the am!
I’m bummed about the weather but looking forward to seeing how the wine develops!

It will be interesting.

I'm picking up 8 lbs of sugar tomorrow, as that's what I figure it will take to bump the must up to 1.085 to 1.090