Bulk aging red wine - some lees?

[jkim888]

Hello -

Kinda new to grape wine making.

I racked my Cab.S after MLF. There's about ~1 cm of lees dusted on the bottom. Is this of concern if I want to bulk age for a year?

 

[vinny]

Hello -

Kinda new to grape wine making.

I racked my Cab.S after MLF. There's about ~1 cm of lees dusted on the bottom. Is this of concern if I want to bulk age for a year?

I recently did a search and came up with a result that Sur Lie, aging wine on the fine lees, is only notable with whites because all reds are aged on the lees. well, I asked about it here a couple of times and got no definitive replies as it seems it is a bit of a muddy subject. However, I have been aging some heavy reds on the lees for 6 months now. I also have them on oak cubes. I asked if I should be racking off either, and the consensus was, leave them be. The oak will have imparted most of it's flavor by now so no harm in over oaking, and people commented that they have aged on the lees for 10-12 months.

So whether it is standard protocol, or not, I dunno, but there is certainly no harm in aging a red for most of its duration on the lees. Many here do from what I have gathered.

 

[jkim888]

Thank you for your input Vinny. There's an incredibly light amount in my current carboy, thus after reading your input I think i'm good to leave it as be.
I have a gewurztraminer currently surlie aging. I am quite excited to see how it changes at the end of the process.

 

[ChuckD]

I don’t know if it’s a consensus opinion or not, but us lazy winemakers limit racking to gross lees, when degassing is complete, and before bottling… some skip the second one.

Post-MLF all you have is fine lees (dead yeast cells). It’s fine to wait until bottling.

 

[NorCal]

I always rack after MLF and before bottling. I have an optional racking in-between these two activities depending on the amount and nature of the sediment. If the wine is in a barrel and I cannot see the lees, I will base that optional racking on the wine as well as the quality of the fruit and the cleanliness of the ferment.

 

[Hazelemere]

Hello -

Kinda new to grape wine making.

I racked my Cab.S after MLF. There's about ~1 cm of lees dusted on the bottom. Is this of concern if I want to bulk age for a year?

rack and sulphite it 1/8 tsp per carboy

 

[winemaker81]

Gross lees (fruit solids) supposedly drop within 24 to 72 hours of the end of fermentation. Anything after that is fine lees (yeast hulls). As @vinny pointed out, sur lie aging is common in some whites.

I was originally taught to rack off the lees and to rack every 3 months during bulk aging. In recent years, my research indicates this is unnecessary, so I ceased the practice. Once wines go into bulk aging, I do not rack. Barrel wines are bulk aged for ~12 months.

Generally speaking, I rack as few times as possible. Each racking exposes the wine to air and potential contaminants, and wastes wine.

 

[ChuckD]

I don’t know if it’s a consensus opinion or not, but us lazy winemakers limit racking to gross lees, when degassing is complete, and before bottling… some skip the second one.

Post-MLF all you have is fine lees (dead yeast cells). It’s fine to wait until bottling.

I will amend my answer… with pressed grapes you get most of the fruit solids out but not all. You may still have some gross lees after MLF. Last year I made wine from grapes for the first time and racked after MLF. Those wines are now sitting in the cellar in bulk and will not be racked until bottling later this summer. So I will have racked those wines exactly twice.

 

[bjoll001]

Gross lees (fruit solids) supposedly drop within 24 to 72 hours of the end of fermentation. Anything after that is fine lees (yeast hulls). As @vinny pointed out, sur lie aging is common in some whites.

I was originally taught to rack off the lees and to rack every 3 months during bulk aging. In recent years, my research indicates this is unnecessary, so I ceased the practice. Once wines go into bulk aging, I do not rack. Barrel wines are bulk aged for ~12 months.

Generally speaking, I rack as few times as possible. Each racking exposes the wine to air and potential contaminants, and wastes wine.

That's my practice. Rack off gross less and age on fine lees for 1 year in barrel, rack to stainless steel tanks, age for 6-8 months more then bottle if no further clarification is needed. I usually have to rack once more before bottling if some further sediment arises in the stainless steel tanks. I leave on the fine lees not because I want to rack less, but to gain more texture to the wine and some additional flavors to add more complexity.