Day 43:
Two weeks since I last checked it. I have not yet sulfited it yet, relying (read that hoping) on the CO2 to preserve it if I left it undisturbed. But today is taste and decision day for the next step. I apologize once again for being palate and wine language deprived and not likely giving you a thorough and proper description of what I tasted. But have faith @ceeaton and I plan to meet mid next month where I will give him half a bottle and he can give us his thoughts. I've seen his descriptions, they're pretty good.
But for now, here are mine.
Nose: best nose on a kit wine of mine yet. I've had 6-9 month old Eclipse kits that didn't have any nose, but this one definitely does. Weird though, not wine, fruit or floral to me. More like a note of coffee, my wife described it as nutty. Hopefully not oxidation nutty, just nutty but I don't taste that. Remember though that the oak cubes have been in for four weeks at this point, so there is plenty of oak in it. we both find it to be a pleasant smell. It's also been in my fermentation closet at 73 degrees for three weeks so that certainly could have helped with the nose opening up.
CO2: yep, plenty of it. Not obnoxious tasting but there, and I'm pleased for it as I believe it may continue to perotect the wine a bit longer.
Taste: we are not picking up the blackberry taste we did last time. Like the smell, there is no specific smell of fruit or florals. There is just a very pleasant, more mature, Cabernet taste, again with a hint of coffee. The tannins I noticed last time are much more muted now and pleasant which surprises me with the oak that's in it now. Maybe 6 weeks is the magical time when we've turned the corner and extended maceration has done its job and brought the tannin curve back down. It is very very pleasant and more mature than its age would suggest.
Clarity: the wine is not clear and other than settling no attempt has been made to clear it. Nonetheless, it looks very good. For this batch I may just jump on the bandwagon and skip the chitosan and see what happens.
Mouthfeel and body: both good. It could be because I haven't cleared it yet, but both mouthfeel and body are full and pleasant like a hardy red.
Legs: this wine has legs. I haven't taken a final SG reading yet, so I don't have the calculated ABV, but the legs on this one are better than my other Eclipse Cabs. The clear layer on the glass that forms the legs is almost viscous, many legs with many branches. I thought legs were a functional of alcohol, but perhaps there's more to them.
Overall Verdict: I've made 7 or 8 Eclipse Lodi Cab kits, and this is the best so far, even comparing others out to say 6 months. Quite impressive considering that it's still in diapers. There are of course variables other than extended maceration in play here. For one thing the oak cubes have been in for four weeks, when by instructions they generally get less than two weeks. The other major change was the addition of currants which I've not done before. I see no ill effects from doing a kit this way, and a whole lot of positives. Time will tell about oxidation though.
Next step: I don't know if there is any benefit to continuing extended maceration. From my research the purpose of extended maceration was to extract all the goodness from the skins and this would likely occur after the initial spike in tannins and then with more time on the skins the taming of those tannins. I believe that we have accomplished that. I won't have the time to rack till Sunday so I believe that's when I will rack it, degas it and add kmeta. Then it can sit for four months till it goes in the barrel.
Thoughts?
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