EARLY PICKING

[rrawhide]

My friend, Paul, from Deparo Vineyards (6 miles away) called Monday and asked me to come right over - did so - wandered around the syrah vines - with a refractometer checking individual berries.Got readings anywhere from 22.5 - 25.5. Then we took a 20 berry average from all over the vineyard and the brix was 24.5. WOW - we were both surprised and then remembered the heat wave that we had - over 100 degrees for about 3 weeks straight. So, contacted the picking crew and they will be there at 0500 Monday morning. Will take about 1/2 day to pick 500 vines. We are guessing that the brix will be approx 25.5 - 26.0 by then. This is approx
3 1/2 weeks earlier than last year. If we only can keep the birds away for a few more days we should be good.


The 300 Merlot vines in front is only 19.5 and will be picked a week later.


I'm glad that everything is ready early this year so we are good to go!! Paul is trying the new flex tanks this year instead of barrels since his are getting very old. The tanks look great. He willusefrench oakstaves for flavoring.


I gotta get my room ready for 2009!!!!


Will post some photos later.


rrawhide

 

[Tom]

And what are you getting ?

 

[AlFulchino]

wow that is early!

 

[rrawhide]

hopefully, 25-30 gallons of each. I will take the juice after adjusting and after fermentation in the primary. We call it 'dirty juice' as it will have lots and lots of sediment. Last year, it was 72 gallons that I took home. Every carboy, pot, tank, fish bowl and empty pop can was used. This year, I have lots of carboys ready - at least 25. What am I doing?

 

[jobe05]

I got my bottle of Syrah from you the other day Rick and I like the label and the note paper that you use, they match, very clever and very professional looking. I always wished I had made a standard label design that I used for all my different wines. Can't wait to try this wine. I think I'm going to let it sit for 30 days or so, then drink 1/2 the bottle and refer to you steak recipe for the other half, that sounded good. Thanks again for the bottle.

25.5 brix is great for being so early. Are you gonna take some pics of the whole process for us? We love our pictures!

 

[rrawhide]

Our friends at Bella la Vina Winery in Terra Bella, Ca (15 miles away) started harvest yesterday. Same numbers. Everything is at least 3 weeks early in this area this year.


have a great day.


rrawhide

 

[rrawhide]

Well, to bring you all up to date - we picked this morning.


Met the crew at 0600 and ready to go. Here is a pictorial of the day:


Heading to town to get a 'trash pump' to move the must from the crusher to the primary as the electrican did not get there in time to fix the regular must pump. Oh well - - - - 0600

picking crew heading to the vineyard to start - 0600. A local picking family of 5 and a son-in-law of Pauls - Tom as a helper

the syrah are waiting - -

the crusher destemmer setup - by the way this was a manual hand-crank machine that we motorized several years ago - - - works just great

Paul Roozen - Deparo Vineyards and Winery pushin' grapes

picking pails of syrah ready to crush

Paul and Tom at crusher - Tom brought all the pails to us for crushing (his first harvest)
also, you can see how we modified the hand-crank with the pully and motor

lots of stems - working good

this is the original set-up with the 'trash pump' from the crusher to the primary fermenter - - -

DID NOT WORK - pump worked just fine but would not pick up and push the must so we crushed 10 pails - pulled the barrel under crusher - and carried to the primary and dumped. 10 pails, Paul and I could handle but more than that was tooooooo heavy to lift and dump.

this is what Paul uses for primaries - until he get his flex tanks on line

and here's the must - 250 gallons of Syrah grapes. This is about 100 gallons smaller than last year. The brix ended up at 26.0 and the birds had a field day the past 4 days. We did not pick the first 2 and last 2 rows because of bird damage.

Anyway, this was our day - started at 0600 and were done at 0915. had a snack - he paid the pickers and started testing. For 250 gallons of must we added 100 ppm of meta. Tested the ph and it is always high at 4.2 in this area. Will have to add extra tartartic acid to lower. The brix is 26.0 and the TA we did not get a good measurement as the solution did not change color. Paul is getting new penaphol solution (sp) today and we will retest.


He will start fermentation tomorrow and 4-5 days later will add the ml culture.


Then we will press in about 12 days and pump to the flextanks.


Next Monday, we will pick the Merlot as the brix is 21.5 and should be about 24.5. Always about a week later.


By the way, there are 7 barrels with 2008 wines - 2 merlot - 4 syrah and 1 a 50/50 blend that he calls 'syrlow'.


Had a good day -


and now you know -------------------------------


rrawhide


ps the 2nd black tank is for the merlot primary

 

[Waldo]

Great pictures buddy..thanks for sharng them

 

[grapeman]

Those grapes look great! I bet the taste will be super!


That is one lot of k-meta. Did you really mean 100 ounces? That is over 6 pounds!


I figure it needs about 5-6 Tablespoons for that much. I use a 1/4 teaspoon per 5-6 gallons of must.


What are the primaries that he is using currently?


So many questions.....................

 

[rrawhide]

Hi Rich


I meant 100 ppm but my fingers stuttered. 250 gallons in the tank. These are/were 500 gallon water holding tanks. He cut the tops out and this is what we use for the primaries.


He bought 2 - 275 gallon plastic totes that are in an aluminum cage and he bought 2 - 330 gallon flextanks. The totes were new and are about $275 each. The flextanks are new also and they cost about $2300 delivered. (for the pair)


SO, the plan is:


from the primary, pump (rack) to the tote - let settle until fermentation is complete then rack into the flextank for aging. The flextank has a flat membrane (pillow) that you fill with argon (?) and float on the wine. You also add the gas above the membrane too. This totally protects the wine and if you add oak you do it with oak staves under the membrance. Makes a complete and safe environment for the wine.


The 2008 vintage had a few taste problems that he had to work out and this, we found out, was the old barrels that he had. Always, kept them full of water and sulfited before using by burning sulfite strips and rinsing several time but still, at some point, they will all die.


Anyway, this is what's up. By the way, we added about 2# of tartaric to raise the TA and lower the ph. Normally, the TA is low and the ph is high.
Just talked to Paul and the ph has now lowered to 3.5, which is right where it needs to be.


here's the difference:


tote

flextank

 

[grapeman]

I figured it wasn't right. The ole fingers get tired after clipping grapes and work all day.


The flex-tanks are very versatile and come in all sizes.

 

[AlFulchino]

great pics...thank you for sharing...i saw an air conditioner in the building...what is he keeping the building at...and is it keeping up during your summer?...what is the approx sq ft of the building? i ask this because this is my plan for my little bdlg.

ps i love the flex tanks...if he does not fill his tank completely, what will he be using on top...a 'skin' or gas?

 

[rrawhide]

Hi Al


The building is 24 x 36 or 864 square feet. We seems to have plenty of room for what he needs.


Barrels along one side - the primaries in the middle and the square tanks will be on the left side. Then, when the primaries are empty he just pulls them outside with his tractor, cleans and flips upside down until next year.


The a/c is a 110v - 12000 btu home depot special. ($125). It can easily be replaced, if necessary. Has it on a separate thermostat and it holds 60 degrees pretty easy. However, now he has raised it up to 74 degrees for the fermentation time - then back down to the 60 mark. (I plan to add a separate thermostat on my a/c too - then you can crank 'er down colder if you need to - the built-in temp setting only goes to 60 but you separate you can do what you need).


The walls are stucco outside, 2x6 framing with r-30 instulation. On top of the insulation inside is a sheet of 1" styrofoam then sheetrock on top of that. Probably has over 8" thick walls.


He has never made mention about having a locked case goods room for the tax folks. Maybe he considers the whole thing locked and that works. Do not know about that for sure.


Anyway hope that this answers your questions. ...............................


whoops - the flextanks came with a pouch that you add gas to and then float it on top of the wine. Then you give it a shot of gas on top of the pouch to remove the o2. It just floats and apparantly protects any volume that you have in the tank.


rrawhide

 

[jobe05]

Pretty impressive rrawhide, thanks for sharing the pictures with us. I had to go out and see my Merlot and Syrah plants and let them know I just seen their family pictures in California.

Nice operation your buddy's got there. Are you building yours to be around the same size? or BIGGER!!!!?

 

[AlFulchino]

thanks for the info..very helpful......has he any comment on whether the state or feds ask much of him regarding a sanitary atmosphere...or does another agency like a health dept over see this?...i ask because you mentioned the tax folks....how does he feel about the whole paperwork process etc? does it get seecond nature and pretty easy after a while?

i know its a lot of questions..if none can be answered its no sweat...just trying to learn from those that come before me..

 

[rrawhide]

al


he has not even been visited by anyone as of yet. the paperwork process just took time and not too difficult. I believe the county was more hassle than anything else for a special use permit, but I am not real sure about this. one thing, he does not have a tasting room and this might have a variance attached to that. Another commercial winemaker friend of mine in Nevada City, Ca has a portable wine tasting 'cart' he rolls out when he has a tasting as the county up there is a mess. He puts a sign out on the road "tasting today" and he is open for business. Opens the winery doors and turns on the music and rolls out the cart.


You might check out your county requirements for permanent wine tasting facilities or ???? If you like I could put you in touch with both of these friends and you can direct the questions to them.


pm me and I will give you my phone number




rrawhide

 

[grapeman]

I was just talking with a couple guys a few days ago. They are getting permitted right now. They both have recently gotten the Fed permits. The second guy was saying that he had been in the process for a while and nothing had been done. He mentioned to the woman that he had hoped to get his permit by now. She says well why didn't you say so sooner. I'm a nice lady and will send your permit right to you- and he got it. He was also told to apply for a free temporary statepermit. DOn't know if he was BS ing or not. The other guy basically had the same deals. I doubt I will get mine in time for this fall's harvest. I guess I will just be making a lot of juice at my place.


I will probably try to get permits for just the winery at this point and add a tasting room later. If your friend can get a permit with his building, I think mine would be just as good without any improvements- so I am more encouraged now than before. I even have a nice large concrete receiving ramp and crush pad with running water at it. I have drainage gutters going to a receiving pit for waste water. The small winery room has concrete floor with drain, water tight walls and concrete knee walls for easy washdown.


Thanks for the encouragement even if it wasn't intended!

 

[rrawhide]

and the "pressing"

Well, this is how we press - -


Finally got the 'must pump' fixed - it's an old enolamatic -3" hard line directional suction pump. Apparantly, sometime in the past year it fell over and messed up the electrical. Had to have a electrican out since it is a 3-phase so we know nothing about that. BUT, it works great now!!!!!


We pumped from the primary to the press on back of truck and juice ran into barrel underneath the pour trough. Then we had another 1" pump in the barrel which pumped to the flextank secondary.


So far today we have about 80 gallons of syrah in the secondary. Tomorrow morning we will pull the primary outside and raise one side (with the tractor) and pump out the rest of the wine. Then the pomice or cake is spread back into the rows of syrah grapes for fertilizer.


Too bad that we cannot post a 'video clip' with sound on this forum as I did take a video with my camera and you can see the pumping action and hear the sounds -


at this time the taste is rather harsh but the SG is less than 1.0. ML culture was added at day 4 so it should start whenever.


Hopefully, we end up with about 100 gallons but that just may be a dream.


Anyway, a week from Monday we will probably pick the merlot as the brix this am was only 21.5 so we wait - - - and remember the 3 p's!!!


patience - patience - patience!!!


just thought ya'll would like to see the 'rest of the story'!! So this is how we do it here.


More pictures later when we start the merlot - hopefully we have more juice of that this year.


rrawhide

 

[Waldo]

More great pictures Rick. Thanks for sharing. I think you need to keep this thread going all the way to bottling time.
Hey buddy, put the video on Photobucket and then the link to it on here

 

[AlFulchino]

ditto on the pictures and i second what Rich said....things like this give encouragement and ideas...if i get in any pickles i will contact you and your friend...thank you very much for the offer