2024 Winemaking

[StimVino]

2024 winemaking kicked off for me this weekend. Early Sat morning, I picked up 1,000 lbs of grapes that I had ordered a few weeks prior from a local supplier. On the way home, the pallet shifted a little in my truck and I almost lost some precious cargo. My father-n-law generously helped unload grapes and get equipment sanitized before he had to leave to attend a neighbor's wedding.

Main Varietals:
Merlot - 8 lugs (288 lbs)
Malbec - 6 lugs (216 lbs)
Zinfandel - 6 lugs (216 lbs)

Blenders:
Cabernet Sauvignon - 2 lugs (72 lbs)
Petite Sirah - 2 lugs (72 lbs)
Cabernet Franc - 2 lugs (72 lbs)
Alicante Bouschet - 2 lugs (72 lbs)

By 10:00am everything was ready when 'my Crew' arrived (ie the rest of the family). We sorted and crushed everything in about 5 hours, with a nice lunch break in between where we drank some of last years vintage together for the first time. After crush, everyone left and I was finished cleaning by about 9pm. At this point in the day, I was pretty tired, so I took initial measurements on the must, made acid adjustments, added enzyme, and went to bed.

Initial Measurements:
Merlot (~17.2 gal) - 25.6 brix | 3.96 ph | 3.00 g/L TA (before adjustment)
Malbec (~12.9 gal) - 24.8 brix | 3.45 ph | 4.66 g/L TA (before adjustment)
Zinfandel (~12.9 gal) - 25.3 brix | 4.27 ph | 3.57 g/L TA (before adjustment)

Initial Must Adjustments:
Merlot (~17.2 gal) - 10 tsp Tartaric Acid | 4 cups Oak Cubes | 23 mL Color Pro
Malbec (~12.9 gal) - (No Acid Adjustment) | 2 cups Oak Cubes | 17 mL Color Pro
Zinfandel (~12.9 gal) - 8 tsp Tartaric Acid | 2 cups Oak Cubes | 17 mL Color Pro

Next morning, the Merlot had a 3.69ph & the Zin had a 3.59ph. I pitched some bentonite, yeast nutrient, BM 4x4 yeast for the Main Varietals. For the Blenders, I made similar adjustments including adding sugar to the Petite Sirah to get it around 24 brix (came in at 21.5 brix), since I will eventually be blending with the Zin and don't want it to dilute the alcohol. The Alicante I left at 22 brix, since I don't have a specific plan for this one. The color of the Alicante is amazing, see last pic. The Blenders are all using RC212 yeast.

Will try to post more pics as I go, if anyone is interested.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Love it! I brought in 1/2T grapes too but only one varietal, can't imagine crushing 7...

What kind of crusher/destemmer is that?

 

[StimVino]

Love it! I brought in 1/2T grapes too but only one varietal, can't imagine crushing 7...

What kind of crusher/destemmer is that?

Thanks, im still in the experimental phase of my winemaking so I need to try a lot of different blends to see what I like. My goal is to find out what works well and what doesn’t.

The crusher destemmer is a manual Enoitalia from Winemakers Depot that was supposed to be all stainless steel, but came with the painted red wheel and stand. It does have rubber rollers. I also added red caster wheels to it. Honestly, if I ever get another one it will be motorized.

Better Pic with my Brother-n-law

 

[StimVino]

Been busy… had to press a few of them a little early this year since Im going out of town for the weekend. My Petit Syrah finished to dry in 5 days. A few of the others were tracking at about -3.5 brix per day, but then slowed down towards the end. My Merlot is still finishing in glass carboy under airlock, after day 10. I’ll let these settle out over the weekend then rack clean while combing the basic structure for my blends. I like the blends to homogenize while putting them through MLF. The blends can be fine tuned later with wine that Ill set aside for adjusting based on taste and trials.

 

[Obbnw]

Thanks for posting pictures!

 

[JBP]

Nice pics - where did you get the circular, wheeled bases for the carboys?

 

[StimVino]

Nice pics - where did you get the circular, wheeled bases for the carboys?

I bought these keg dollies several years ago so the price may have gone up. I think I paid $15/ea at the time. Mine are: DeVault 12” keg dolly with casters through Amazon. Webstaurantstore also has a similar one by Regency. 12” is perfect size for standard carboys up to 6 gal. Even though these dollies make it easy to move around carboys, im still very careful because they can tip. Happened to me once and not only lost 6gal of wine, but made a huge mess.

 

[StimVino]

UPDATE: After letting pressed wines settle in carboy for a few days, I racked the different press runs into a blending tank with their respective blends (85 Zin / 15 Petit Syrah, 85 Malbec / 15 Cab Sauvignon, & 80 Merlot / 20 Cab Franc). I tasted each carboy before racking to check for any flaws and to determine if the intended blend improved the wine. Generally I preferred the 2nd press run from the wine easy press, which would have been the lightly pressed grapes that came just after the free run. I prefer to blend at this stage for several reasons. The main reason being at this point in the process there is so much CO2 in the wine that the Oxygen exposure is negligible. Still, I work quickly and blanket the tank with argon as I rack the wines into the mix. I also prefer to mix my press runs because some years I’ve kept press runs separate and had some stellar wines, but were inconsistent from bottle-to-bottle. I prefer consistency once in bottle. I also think blending early allows the wines to homogenize better. While racking I was careful to leave behind gross lees. I now have relatively clean wine with primary blends ready for MLF. I’ll run some tests over the next few days for final SG, pH, TA, and malic acid starting point. More to follow.

 

[StimVino]

Over the past couple vintages, Ive been trying to get diacetyl production out of my ML fermentation for creaminess in my wine, but have not been successful. Last year I tried Beta, tracked ML to < 0.1 g/L then added sulfite just after ML finished, but cant detect any trace in the finished wine. This year Im doing something unconventional by bumping up the L-malic acid before MLF. L-malic is the organic form of malic acid unlike the synthetic form D-malic or mixed form DL- malic, which cant be converted by ML bacteria. Most wine suppliers sell the synthetic version because its easier to produce and most wine makers aren’t adding it with the intention of being converted into lactic acid. After a little research, I found a source.

Initial measurements:
80 Malbec / 20 Cab Sauvignon = 3.72pH. & 5.73g/L & 1.02 g/L Malic

80 Merlot/ 20 Cab Franc = 3.75 pH & 5.34 g/L & 0.92 g/L Malic

85 Zin / 15 Petit Syrah = 3.75 pH & 6.03 g/L TA & 0.91 g/L Malic

Based on these measurements, I decided to add 1/4 tsp Tartaric & 3/4 tsp L-malic (per each 6 gal carboy). I also sampled a heavy L-malic addition and actually thought it improved the flavor of the sample. Perhaps a hint too much apple flavor. But, Im not too concerned since I know this will be converted to the weaker lactic acid.

Measurements after adjustments:
80 Malbec / 20 Cab Sauvignon = 3.52pH. & 6.11 g/L & 2.68 g/L Malic

80 Merlot/ 20 Cab Franc = 3.68 pH & 6.19 g/L & 2.10 g/L Malic

85 Zin / 15 Petit Syrah = 3.64 pH & 6.34 g/L TA & 1.00 g/L Malic

Not sure why I got such a bump in malic in the Merlot and Malbec but not the Zin. Could be a mixing issue, but the taste of the Zin is great and the acid helps. Got alot of activity 1st minute after Lmalic additions.

Now that all the wine has been inoculated with Lallemand PN4, these wines will go to sleep for 6-8 weeks. Ill test weekly to track ML progress, and perhaps more as it finishes. Hoping to time when it completes so that I can sulfite and preserve the diacetyl, which was one of my goals.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

That would be diacetyl, right?

This is a nice resource regarding how to modulate various effects of ML: https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/mlf_modulation_AWRI_fact_sheet.pdf

And from the ever reliable Scott Labs: https://scottlab.com/managing-diacetyl-production-during-malolactic-fermentation

BTW love the carboy covers! Good choice if that area of the winery is often in the light

 

[StimVino]

That would be diacetyl, right?

This is a nice resource regarding how to modulate various effects of ML: https://www.awri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/mlf_modulation_AWRI_fact_sheet.pdf

And from the ever reliable Scott Labs: https://scottlab.com/managing-diacetyl-production-during-malolactic-fermentation

BTW love the carboy covers! Good choice if that area of the winery is often in the light

Thanks for your reply and the article.