A 2020 Cab Franc journey with fellow WMT member

[crushday]

(Interestingly enough though despite all that mess you are still able to determine mlf progress)

AJ, nice job. I’m not seeing the disaster you describe. I’m no expert by anyone’s definition but it would appear that you are maybe 50% to completion on a full conversation to lactic. Again, nice job.

 

[Ajmassa]

AJ, nice job. I’m not seeing the disaster you describe. I’m no expert by anyone’s definition but it would appear that you are maybe 50% to completion on a full conversation to lactic. Again, nice job.

It’s ok to laugh. That’s why I shared it— my 1st attempt chroma fail!
And I just tested everything I had at the time, including non-mlf’d & kit wines to see how they registered on the test. But I assumed I needed to manually mark the standards up the sheet for the wine to pass over them in order to get the spots lol. Did zero homework. No judgements!

 

[NorCal]

@crushday, could you give an inventory of the wines you have going and any blending plans? How did the cab franc turn out?

 

[crushday]

@NorCal - glad to...

60 gallon (225L) barrel containing the following wines:

Livermore Merlot, 14 gallons
Livermore Cabernet Sauvignon, 4.5 gallons
Rattlesnake Hills Petit Verdot, 2.5 gallons
Clos Du Lac Cabernet Franc, 39 gallons

30 gallon (112L) barrel containing the following wines:

Rattlesnake Hills Petit Verdot, 2 gallons
Clos Du Lac Cabernet Franc, 28 gallons

I’ll also have enough for a six gallon barrel of Merlot, a fourteen gallon barrel of Cab and a six gallon barrel Petit Verdot.

This will give me 19 gallons of CDL CF in balance which will be stored in two 6 gallon carboys and seven 1 gallon jugs. The jugs will be used for topping up over the next 18-20 months in the 60 gallon and 12-14 months on the 30 gallon barrel.

For this go around I have the following quantities in secondary:

CDL CF 86 gallons
LM Merlot 20 gallons
LM Cab Sauv 18 gallons
RH PV 10 gallons

And, every tasting of the CF has been really great. I’m excited about this wine! So thankful...

 

[crushday]

I moved everything to long term storage today. Here’s what I got from the grapes:

1. 225L barrel filled with @NorCal ’s 100pt Bordeaux blend
2. 112L barrel filled with 2 gallons of Petit Verdot and 28 gallons of Cab Franc
3. 60L Speidel filled with 100pt Bordeaux blend
4. 60L Speidel filled with 1.5 gallons of Petit Verdot and balance of Cab Franc
6. six gallon carboy of Petit Verdot
7. seven one gallon jugs of Cab Franc (topping up wine)
8. four one gallon jugs of 100pt blend (topping up wine)

Everything cleaned up, put away and now I’m resting. Long day... I need a bigger pump. The one I’m using only pumps one gallon a minute. Brutal. Any suggestions?

 

[CDrew]

I moved everything to long term storage today. Here’s what I got from the grapes:

1. 225L barrel filled with @NorCal ’s 100pt Bordeaux blend
2. 112L barrel filled with 2 gallons of Petit Verdot and 28 gallons of Cab Franc
3. 60L Speidel filled with 100pt Bordeaux blend
4. 60L Speidel filled with 1.5 gallons of Petit Verdot and balance of Cab Franc
6. six gallon carboy of Petit Verdot
7. seven one gallon jugs of Cab Franc (topping up wine)
8. four one gallon jugs of 100pt blend (topping up wine)

Everything cleaned up, put away and now I’m resting. Long day... I need a bigger pump. The one I’m using only pumps one gallon a minute. Brutal. Any suggestions?

That's the kind of day when you can be glad that the rest of the time, the wine makes itself. I'm tired reading that list and at 1 gpm-I'd go crazy. You could set up a vacuum pumping system. ( I can rack 15 gallons in 5 minutes with 1/2 inch tubing and likely even faster with bigger tubing). Otherwise there's a nice looking diaphragm pump on Morewine that is close to 3 gallons per minute.

https://morewinemaking.com/products/selfpriming-shurflo-diaphragm-pump.html

 

[crushday]

I forgot to mention that the pH of the 100pt wine is 3.79. The pH of the Cab Franc is 3.91. I added enough KMeta to bring the SO2 up to 50ppm and 60ppm, respectively.

I have a Vinmetrica SC-300. How often should I check the SO2 levels?

 

[NorCal]

I forgot to mention that the pH of the 100pt wine is 3.79. The pH of the Cab Franc is 3.91. I added enough KMeta to bring the SO2 up to 50ppm and 60ppm, respectively.

I have a Vinmetrica SC-300. How often should I check the SO2 levels?

Lots of the kind of wine that I like ! With these pH levels I check ever 8-9 weeks when in a barrel, 12 weeks when in glass. You might want to check the first one a week or two earlier.

 

[crushday]

You could set up a vacuum pumping system.

Do you mean, use my AIO? Is that what you use?

 

[CDrew]

Do you mean, use my AIO? Is that what you use?

No. I have one, (an AIO) but built a bigger one around a surplus hospital suction pump. High volume variable vacuum. Works great. The pump is made by Schuco. GOmco is another maker of similar vacuum pumps.

here is a bad picture of it

 

[crushday]

I bought a new pump today: Tellarini solid impeller pump - 32L per minute.

It works great!

 

[stickman]

Looks good, that's a pretty good flow rate, don't let the hose pop out of the tank, you'll have wine on the walls and ceiling......... don't ask how I know.

 

[crushday]

Just thieved some replicated 100pt (Cab Franc, Merlot, Cab and Petit Verdot) wine and a Cab Franc/Petit Verdot blend from the barrels. I let breath for 20 minutes. Both went into barrels (225L and 112L, respectively) on October 13th.

Both are drinking very well. The CF/PV blend has a deeper color (7.5% petit verdot) than the 100pt wine but that is expected given the higher concentration of PV of the bi-blend (approx. 4% PV in the 100pt'er).

Thanks @NorCal for letting me crash your crushing party! I hope I'm invited next fall!!

 

[NorCal]

Just thieved some replicated 100pt (Cab Franc, Merlot, Cab and Petit Verdot) wine and a Cab Franc/Petit Verdot blend from the barrels. I let breath for 20 minutes. Both went into barrels (225L and 112L, respectively) on October 13th.

Both are drinking very well. The CF/PV blend has a deeper color (7.5% petit verdot) than the 100pt wine but that is expected given the higher concentration of PV of the bi-blend (approx. 4% PV in the 100pt'er).

Thanks @NorCal for letting me crash your crushing party! I hope I'm invited next fall!!

That’s what is crazy about this blend. I’d call it a medium body wine but it drinks much earlier than other wines I’ve made. Hope it continues to evolve in a way you like. I’m sure we can work something out again next year.

 

[crushday]

Topping up this past fall’s wine. Doing a bit of tasting too! Yeah, it’s only 9am!!

The 100% Cab Franc is particularly great! Thanks @NorCal !!

Here is a pic with bad glare but you can get a sense for the color on the left of the image.

Can’t wait until next season...

 

[CDrew]

Like they say, you can’t drink all day if you don’t start early!

 

[Kraffty]

you forgot to take your lens cap off. Looks great!

 

[mainshipfred]

Topping up this past fall’s wine. Doing a bit of tasting too! Yeah, it’s only 9am!!

The 100% Cab Franc is particularly great! Thanks @NorCal !!

Here is a pic with bad glare but you can get a sense for the color on the left of the image.

Can’t wait until next season...

View attachment 70978

I almost made a post asking if anyone has heard from you but then seen you have ben posting all along. Must be me that is not following close enough.

 

[crushday]

I almost made a post asking if anyone has heard from you but then seen you have ben posting all along. Must be me that is not following close enough.

Fred, to be fair I have been laying low here. The last quarter of 2020 and, this year so far have been unusually busy for me. I’m hopeful that things will settle down here soon.

 

[Venatorscribe]

Topping up this past fall’s wine. Doing a bit of tasting too! Yeah, it’s only 9am!!

The 100% Cab Franc is particularly great! Thanks @NorCal !!

Here is a pic with bad glare but you can get a sense for the color on the left of the image.

Can’t wait until next season...

View attachment 70978

Your Cab Franc looks perfect. Franc is one of my favourite varietals