Hi All from NJ

[Morris]

Last week I picked whatever grapes the deer and the birds didn't eat on me. So I felt it was time to check out the grapes at Corrado's. Today I bought 360 lbs of grape. Half old vine Zinfandel and Barbera. Brix 24, de-stemmed it and crushed the whole batch of almost 40 gallons of must. Added yeast, BM 4X4 couldn't get RC 212 that I usually use. Hope it won't impact the flavor negatively. Punched it down tonight and will start the routine of AM and PM punch down for the next week.

I also bought a 6 gallon pail of Sauv.Blanc to try at the same time. That one's Brix 21.

My messy set up the white plastic crate is my hand de-stemmer on top of the crusher. Someday i will figure out how to make the photos come upright. Sorry.




What have you guys started lately?

Bill...Nice. Will post once I start. My grapes/juice will not arrive till end of Sept or 1st week of October, then the Italian will arrive at end of October. Will save some grapes for Porto and fortified vino. November will start the grappa. Morris

 

[JohnT]

Bill...Nice. Will post once I start. My grapes/juice will not arrive till end of Sept or 1st week of October, then the Italian will arrive at end of October. Will save some grapes for Porto and fortified vino. November will start the grappa. Morris

Guys, Distilling is Illegal. In New Jersey, it is a misdemeanor to make hard liquor and a felony if you sell it.

Not to be a sick-in-the-mud, but the topic of distilling is discouraged on this site..

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

Sauv. Blanc came out beautiful clear and crisp. DW is loving it. The red is now in Oak and last year's red is out and in bottles now.
Next dry day I will be pruning the vines and fixing trellises. Looking forward to another year of feeding the damn deer and birds. Good thing i keep bees for honey. It keeps me positive.

 

[Billpizzaiolo]

BM4X4 worked but the flavor is off for me. Next time I will surely use RC 212 I like that better. Half in oak half in glass for 6 months and then switch oak to bottles and glass to oak.