For Norton vintners

[jswordy]

The gallon bung rubber taste mystery is solved. Just pulled a sample from one of my gallons. I don't give a snot what Midwest Supplies says -- YUP ... tastes like the rubber!

DON'T buy them and DON'T use them. I replaced the airlocks with caps. Hope I can get that taste out, or there goes 2 gallons of wine.

 

[GreginND]

I just pressed 100 pounds of Baltica this evening on my #25 press - SG is 1.000. I got 7.5 gallons of pressed wine from it. No MLF or oak on this one. It is a light flavored red wine meant to drink young while it still has it's fresh cherry notes. Color is pretty dark though. I may add just a tidge (yes, a tidge) of sugar at the end to bring out the fruit. We'll see. My first time with this grape.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

how is yours so light? mine looks like ink, and can not see through it even in a glass.

 

[GreginND]

Are you asking me? The baltica is definitely not light in color. It's deep inky red right now. I said it is light in flavor.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

I was looking at the photo of the wine in the glass. You can see through it.

 

[jswordy]

I was looking at the photo of the wine in the glass. You can see through it.

If you're talking about my wineglass photo, I think you are "seeing" an optical illusion. You can't see through it.

 

[Snafflebit]

Is Norton typically high in TA, although the Ph and SG levels are normal?

I would like to hear your experience with Norton TA, pH, Brix also. I have a farm near Springfield, MO and considered buying a few Norton to test what critters eat it and how the grape perform. I really like the wine, it has an earthy quality. I wish connoisseurs liked it.

 

[lawrstin]

I highly recommend Norton. These grapes come from St James, Missouri.

 

[GreginND]

I really like the wine, it has an earthy quality. I wish connoisseurs liked it.

I agree. I've had some fantastic nortons from MO. And some excellent ports as well.

 

[jswordy]

I would like to hear your experience with Norton TA, pH, Brix also. I have a farm near Springfield, MO and considered buying a few Norton to test what critters eat it and how the grape perform. I really like the wine, it has an earthy quality. I wish connoisseurs liked it.

Um, I am not that kind of winemaker, so I doubt I'll help you much. The test-strip pH of the one Alabama commercial bottle I have opened is 4.5 and the pH of mine is very close, at between 4.0-4.5. I have two more commercial bottles, from Missouri and Virginia, to open and test yet.

Vineyard said 25 Brix as I picked. I got 20 Brix on the hydrometer. Brix and Norton, I have found out through research, are very difficult chums who do not always get along. The very high solids content of the grape juice makes accurate Brix readings really hard. My hydrometer Brix reading was taken from the just-crushed juice, which was basically clear and only slightly tinged with color. I did not see how the vineyard took its Brix reading on the refractometer.

I agree, I love the wine (which compelled me to make it) and it is a good dry wine to offer people who otherwise might not drink a dry. Not all like it but it is more approachable IMO for a sweet wine drinker than others, maybe because it likes to finish at 1.000 with a bare touch of residual sweetness. The grape has an affinity for oak, and that sometimes leads too many vintners to over-oak it. As you saw, I used chips in primary and I plan to leave it at that.

Plus, it fulfills one of my desires in grape winemaking, to use grapes that originate only in the United States.

In other research, I found it appears many vintners of this grape say the wine is best at between 1 and 3 years of age, but tends to slightly lose quality after 3 years and declines more rapidly after about the 5-6 year mark. This is my first batch, so I have no firsthand knowledge of that. I've just read it.

After long carboy residency, I do plan to cold stabilize this, and see what I get by way of tartrate crystals. I do that now with any grape wine I make. It's easy insurance against crystals in the bottles.

Oh yes, I removed the rubber bungs from my gallons just quickly enough, it seems. The smell is already gone from the wine. I have not tasted, but that is encouraging,.

 

[Kraffty]

Regarding the small rubber bungs and smell, I've used them on probably 4 diff wines and have the same very noticeable smell BUT I believe it's just the air that takes on the smell. Once you pull them it disappears and same with the taste after giving it a slight stir. It also seems like it's just a problem with new bungs, once they are used and aged some they go pretty neutral.
Mike

 

[jswordy]

Regarding the small rubber bungs and smell, I've used them on probably 4 diff wines and have the same very noticeable smell BUT I believe it's just the air that takes on the smell. Once you pull them it disappears and same with the taste after giving it a slight stir. It also seems like it's just a problem with new bungs, once they are used and aged some they go pretty neutral.
Mike

I wish that were true for long-aged wines. I did an apple for 3 months with them. It took a year to get the taste back out. That's when i contacted Midwest and was told it was my yeast, my sanitation, my winemaking --- but NOT their product. Um, wrong? Yep. WRONG!

I'm just glad I was suspicious enough to check early. I've checked on buying silicone but can't find them for gallons. And they're pricey.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

I wish that were true for long-aged wines. I did an apple for 3 months with them. It took a year to get the taste back out. That's when i contacted Midwest and was told it was my yeast, my sanitation, my winemaking --- but NOT their product. Um, wrong? Yep. WRONG!

I'm just glad I was suspicious enough to check early. I've checked on buying silicone but can't find them for gallons. And they're pricey.

I've got them :http://brewandwinesupply.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_29&product_id=1218

 

[Snafflebit]

Um, I am not that kind of winemaker, so I doubt I'll help you much. The test-strip pH of the one Alabama commercial bottle I have opened is 4.5 and the pH of mine is very close, at between 4.0-4.5. I have two more commercial bottles, from Missouri and Virginia, to open and test yet.

I recall that Norton has a naturally high pH and also that they benefit from aging, which seems counter-intuitive. I have never drank a young Norton, usually 2 year old commercial Nortons. The taste lacks the malic acid bite but that could be due to MLF at the winery. I have not tried my less wine loving friends out on Norton (the ones who call my fine California reds "vinegar") Seems worth a shot.

I would love to try some vines next spring. The soils around the farm are red clay if you dig deep enough and I worry the grapes could get iron problems.

 

[jswordy]

I recall that Norton has a naturally high pH and also that they benefit from aging, which seems counter-intuitive. I have never drank a young Norton, usually 2 year old commercial Nortons. The taste lacks the malic acid bite but that could be due to MLF at the winery. I have not tried my less wine loving friends out on Norton (the ones who call my fine California reds "vinegar") Seems worth a shot.

I would love to try some vines next spring. The soils around the farm are red clay if you dig deep enough and I worry the grapes could get iron problems.

Well, there I might be able to help you. The Alabama soils where these Nortons are growing are red clay through and through, and the vines are vigorous and produce a good crop.

 

[jswordy]

I've got them :http://brewandwinesupply.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=25_29&product_id=1218

Doug, but here's the pricey part: $11.98 + 5.80 = $17.78 / 2 = $8.89 each

The rubber ones are 77 cents. I just need to find some that don't stink, like the old black laboratory supply stoppers.

We plan a day-trip to Birmingham, AL, which has a nice brew store I have never been to. Hopefully they'll stock some better ones.

UNDER EDIT: Found the black ones: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L3Q4O0/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[lawrstin]

The fine lees just keep coming but the Norton stays dark. Only in America,,,,, Vitis Labrusca!