Fall Wine Plans! A Storm is brewing....

[Pumpkinman]

You can get buckets of frozen Pinot grapes (fresh, crushed and frozen) from M&M, a buddy got a few buckets and really likes it!
Seth, I have 11 gallons of Sangiovese.
The Sangiovese was very sweet, and still has a nice pronounced fruit forward taste.
There are a few things that I'll do from now on:
I'll purchase the absolute best grapes that I can afford, what a difference it makes, I'm a firm believer in selecting a vineyard that has a proven track record, and I'm a believer in terroir, I saw first hand the differences between grapes from two different vineyards, amazing how much the fruit can be affected.
If making Juice buckets, I'll make sure that I ferment on at least 9-10 lbs of fresh crushed grapes (the ultimate fresh grape skin pack), you can then add a product such as Opti-red (obviously for reds) to achieve more intense color and better tannin integration, fuller bodied, more color stable, smooth palate wines. You can bring your wine from juice buckets up a notch or 2!

 

[seth8530]

Ahh, so that should work out quite well. I understand what you are saying about grape quality mattering. The chard juice I got was vastly inferior to my Pinot must, thus, I have been forced to take a very winemaker intensive strategy with the chard (ie surlie, oak, and MLF) to try and make something out of it.

I almost feel that the pinot noir could of almost made itself if I would of let it.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Seth, I have read about Battonage and Chardonnay, you should end up with a nice smooth Chard!

 

[sour_grapes]

Hmm sounds very interesting. Will your blended wines give you enough ABV for a Super Tuscan? If I recall correctly Super Tuscan is a slightly sweet strongish Italian red correct? How many gallons do you have going?

Tom didn't address this, so let me weigh in. A Super Tuscan can be whatever you want it to be (although at least 85% of the grapes must come from Tuscany to qualify for the IGT). As best as I know, there is no tendency for them to be slightly sweet.

My impression is that what has come to be implied by Super Tuscan is a blend of Italian grapes (principally Sangiovese) and big red grapes that are NOT traditionally Italian (typically Bordeaux grapes, Merlot & Cab. Sauv.). Sometimes there is no Sangiovese at all.

 

[seth8530]

Seth, I have read about Battonage and Chardonnay, you should end up with a nice smooth Chard!

I sure hope so!

Tom didn't address this, so let me weigh in. A Super Tuscan can be whatever you want it to be (although at least 85% of the grapes must come from Tuscany to qualify for the IGT). As best as I know, there is no tendency for them to be slightly sweet.

My impression is that what has come to be implied by Super Tuscan is a blend of Italian grapes (principally Sangiovese) and big red grapes that are NOT traditionally Italian (typically Bordeaux grapes, Merlot & Cab. Sauv.). Sometimes there is no Sangiovese at all.

Ahh thanks for the clarification, I really need to work on my stylistic knowledge. I have tried a super Tuscan before and I found that I really liked it. But from what you have mentioned it seems possible for the style to vary widely.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Seth,
Paul is correct, in the 1970s, some Tuscan producers came to believe that the legal rules governing the production of Chianti were too restrictive, or these vintners wanted to make wine outside of the allowed Chianti zone. They coined the term “super Tuscan” to distinguish their wines.
here is a link to a real nice Super Tuscan write up: http://www.winemag.com/June-2013/The-Soul-of-the-Super-Tuscan/

 

[Deezil]

Ahh thanks for the clarification, I really need to work on my stylistic knowledge. I have tried a super Tuscan before and I found that I really liked it. But from what you have mentioned it seems possible for the style to vary widely.

This seems to be true with most of the blends.. Meritage / Bourdeaux come to mind as well.. They all have general guidelines, but the actual percentages vary so much that calling them all the same things, to me, seems kind of misleading.

Not that I can think of a better way to do it, but...
It's always bugged me lol

 

[seth8530]

Ahh, thanks for the information guys! Learn something new every other day it seems.

 

[Pumpkinman]

That's what makes this so much fun!

 

[seth8530]

Yep yep!

Well good news, or interesting news I guess.. My pump came in the mail today and she is quite purty.. I cant wait to find a use for her. My brother thinks I was silly for getting it..... But I do not think he has ever tried to rack past grape seeds from a primary fermentation before.... That and I can now rack directly out of my 15 gallon (when squeezed into the temperature controlled deepfreezer) fermentation bucket right into a carboy..

Also, in other news, I currently have my ML chromography paper sitting in the solution, so hopefully by the morning I will have pictures up of the results for the 6 wines I have fermenting. I found the test paper quite pain free since the sample size needed was so small and I was able to test all 6 carboys at once.

 

[Deezil]

What kind of pump did you score?

 

[seth8530]

What kind of pump did you score?

This guy right here

http://morewinemaking.com/products/selfpriming-diaphragm-pump.html

 

[seth8530]

Alright, its a little bit later than morning time, but I finaly have the picture that I promised I would have.


The left three on the Malic, Lactic, and Tartaric acid solutions provided with the paper.

From there we have

Chard Warm
Chard Cold
Pinot Noir Warm
Pinot Noir Cold
Pinot mead 1
Pinot mead 2

The two pinot meads were fermented together but seperated into carboys.. But I figured it would not hurt to perform seperate test on them.

So from the looks of it, it seems like the pinot based wines have undergone MLF all the way to completion since the test shows no lactic but some malic.

However, the chards seem to show both malic and lactic. Does this imply that ML is or was in progress. Is it safe to assume the wine does not start off with any lactic acid and that when MLF is done all malic?

 

[Pumpkinman]

Seth,
The Chards still need some time, maybe raise the temp just a bit to speed it up, or leave it as is for another two weeks.
From everything that I've read, Grapes contain very little lactic acid, obviously this amount is increased during the MLF process.

 

[seth8530]

Yeah that sounds about right to me. I am wanting to get the ML done so that I can get some sulfites into these guys. I will consider giving them some heat.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Seth, that is the exact reason I added the heat mats to my carboys, I just didn't feel comfortable waiting much long to stabilize the wine. I really need to pick up a few of those temperature strips that you stick to carboys to monitor the temp a little better.

 

[seth8530]

Yeah, I feel ya there. If my freezer chamber was open ( currently has 12 gallons of lager in it) I would put the chards in the freezer, stick the probe on the wine and hook the controller up to a lightbulb that I would run in the freezer... and Viola! Freeze chamber is now a heat chamber.. However, I might have to settle for heat mats

 

[Pumpkinman]

Seth,
I didn't know that you brewed, what kind of lager are you brewing?

 

[seth8530]

Brewing is my brother's domain, I do the wine. But I have been through more than a few too many brew days to not know how to brew myself. It started out as a Helles, but after review the guidelines it seems like it might be closer in style to a Vienna lager.

We are slightly worried about not being able to perform a really good diacetyl rest since we were on vacation while it was fermenting and by the time we came back it had already reached its terminal gravity.. Either way we let it sit warm for a few days anyways in the hope that something would happen. It does not taste buttery or anything so hopefully it will behave well while it lagers and not show serious signs of diacetyl after it lagers.

 

[seth8530]

Just added 3 grams of redulees to each of the chards, one of them smelt slightly stinky, so I went ahead and added some in as a preventative measure. I plan on racking them on Friday and continue sur lee with whatever lees get left to me.