My 2014 Crush

[the_rayway]

Thank you for sharing again this year JohnT! I love reading your stories and feeling like I'm part of the crew.

Sounds like you are a very blessed person with so many good friends, memories, and new wine to make!

 

[JohnT]

Thank you for sharing again this year JohnT! I love reading your stories and feeling like I'm part of the crew.

Sounds like you are a very blessed person with so many good friends, memories, and new wine to make!

Thanks Rayway!

That reminds me that I was negligent in mentioning my older brother. Through the entire event, he remained at his post in the truck managing the sorting crew. From about 7:30 to 2:00pm, he was at it. What a job he did! simply unbelievable! I need to figure a way to get him off the truck next year so that he can enjoy himself. He sure earned it!

 

[JohnT]

Well folks, pressing is this weekend! Hope to have around 12 - 20 people helping. Once the wine is put to be, it will be time to battle with fruit flies!

 

[JohnT]

.. and then there is pressing!

Folks,


Saturday was press day.


I managed to sleep in until 6am, got up, showered, poured myself a cup of coffee and sipped it until the cobwebs in my head went away. The night before, Friday night, I planned to share a bottle of wine with my uncle Charlie who had has been staying with us since before crush and been doing the AM punch downs. Just a little reward, mind you, to thank him for his effort.


Unfortunately, my plan went awry and we ended up splitting 3 bottles. I did not feel too bad Saturday morning, and had gotten plenty of sleep, but Charlie looked a little slow at the starting line. Ahhh, the price we must pay for a good time! After a cup of coffee, I was ready for action.


I started by cleaning and then sanitizing the press, carrying tubs, and other equipment with k-meta. Then I set about to pressing. The process is rather simple. A flat head shovel (one that had been coated with ez-do food grade polyurethane) is used to take the dry, top layer of the “raft” off of the fermenter. Once down to the wet portion of the raft, a giant sieve is used. The skins are deposited into a “carrying tub” (or a small brute garbage can) and then carried over to the press and dumped in.


When the press is fully loaded, It is closed and allowed to drain. It is quite amazing how much wine will flow out of a press without having to apply any pressure. Just the weight of the grapes themselves will yield quite a bit. I let this wine flow for a while until it is down to just a trickle, then begin adding slight pressure. It is hard to be patient when we have so much to press, but as I keep telling people every year… Gradual pressure and time is how gems are made.


From the press, the wine falls through a sieve and into a 5 gallon bucket. Once about ½ full, the bucket is swapped with an empty one and then carried to the appropriate tank and emptied. This process continues all day.


When the flow of wine is again down to a trickle, the press is opened up and the skins are stirred. More skins from the fermenters are added to the top. The press is then closed again, and the pressing continues.


Each varietal is pressed separately. For each varietal, the press is opened up, broken down, emptied, and the hard pack skins are dumped into a pile (in the woods) to compost. I find that composted grape skins are perfect for growing tomatoes!

Meanwhile, back at the fermenter…


After the raft is removed the standing wine is pumped through a sieve into the appropriate tank. The empty primary is then taken out of the winery, cleaned, and put away. Before anyone else had arrived, I managed to get 2 primaries out of the winery and had the press actively working. With 2 primaries gone, there was finally enough room to move!
In all, I had 12 people show up to help. They arrived throughout the day which worked out great. As more and more fermenters were taken out of the winery, and more and more space opened up, there were more and more people to help.


We finished pressing be 3pm. The press was finally broken down, hosed, scrubbed, and put to bed. All equipment was washed and neatly stacked to dry. With all of the wine sealed up, the winery was swept, hosed down, and mopped. With the exception of the customary stains on the concrete floor, one would never tell that a crush happened only 1 week ago!
Then the celebration began. Chairs were set up in a circle (in the winery). Out came the Cohiba cigars and, once again, some of the better wines in my cellar. By 6pm, we were down to just 5 or 6 of us.


When I had a chance to finally sit down and relax, I realized that I was STARVING! I had been at it for the better part of 11 hours and I only had a small slice of pumpkin bread that I managed to sneak in the morning. I had missed out on lunch. With everyone out of the winery and eating, I skipped the meal and swept up instead.


Hunger drove the conversation. The topic of food is always a common discussion point, but as fate would have it, the other folks were hungry too. One thing lead to another and in no time we were on our way to this local steak joint that is famous for its BIG 24 ounce Delmonico steaks. We had 2 sober drivers, so we played it good and safe.


Boy did we eat! When you are first seated, buckets of pickles, cherry peppers, and green tomatoes in kraut great you at the table. We all devoured them. As far as dinner, all of us had the same thing! French Onion Soup to start, 24 ounce Delmonico steak with home fries, followed by carrot cake and coffee (I swear they have the best coffee I ever tasted).


When the bill came, there was the customary argument. I must admit that I am a check grabber, and come from a long line of check grabbers. My two brothers are the same way. I could tell you of all the creative and sneaky methods we have employed to obtain the check, but I digress..


I was able to quickly grab the check and managed to keep it by declaring that this meal was the close out of a crush and it is my right to pay!


When we got back to the winery, we resumed right where we left off, gabbing, sipping, laughing. The party broke up around 10pm and I once again I crawled into bed and slept soundly.


Right now, I feel the same way I did as a kid on December 26th. It is that same let-down or depression you get when you realize that a big event is all over and it is time to return to normalcy. Having had such a good time, however, I can look at my wine stained hands and smile.

 

[JohnT]

Remove that gross lees!

Well folks, this weekend was a jam-packed one for me. On Saturday, I grocery shopped, went to the bank, and got a haircut. By 10am, I was back at the winery, ready to begin that all important first racking.

I would like to say.. I HATE the gross lees. I feel that prolonged exposure is the root of all evil. So, a week after pressing, I give the wine its first racking.

I started out grabbing a vacuum cleaner and sucking up as many fruit flies as possible. I HATE those little buggers! Just a regular vacuum cleaner works well. Just use the hose attachment, sneak up behind them, and send them to OZ!

On crush I had about 54 people, at pressing, I had a dozen or so. On Saturday, I was down to myself. The hard part (other than lifting the tanks on and off of their stands) is replacing/resealing the tank lids. Putting a lid on a 500 liter tank requires two hands to hold the lid in place and level, and two hands to pump up the gasket to seal it tight. By my count, I have only two hands.

So here is what I do.. I pump up the gasket as much as I can before I insert it into the tank. I then use one hand to hold the lid in place, one hand to hold the pump, my thigh to push against the pump's plunger, and my teeth to draw the plunger back. I find that after just two or three pumps, the lid will hold in place and I can then use two hands to pump the gasket up the rest of the way.

Other than that, it is a lot of cleaning. Cleaning the tanks out when empty, cleaning out the Demijohns when empty, cleaning the pump and hoses after each wine is racked, etc.

Racking gives the first opportunity to do a tasting. By smell, the wine is going to be fantastic. The merlot and the petit sarah are already far along in clearing and have great aroma. All of the wines were rather tart and tannic, but considering the wine was is only 2 weeks old and has yet to undergo MLF, it was exactly as I hoped it would be.

The true stars are going to be the reserve sangio/cab franc blend and the super cab. The super cab is already very drinkable at only 2 weeks! Well worth the extra money for the expensive grapes.

Whenever I rack I take the opportunity to inspect and (if need be) replace any gasket, pump, or hose that is showing any sign of age. I always have spares and simply replace the spares when they are used. One of my fears is to have a tank gasket fail and not be able to seal the wine. I ended up replacing 1 500l gasket, 1 hand pump, and 4 of the hoses that run from the pump to the gasket.

Just about an hour before I was finished, my wife reminded me that we were having company for dinner and "shouldn't I start cooking?". Got to say that even when my wife is nagging, she is still incredibly cute! This is where things got hectic....

Since it takes about 20 or 30 minutes to rack a 500 liter tank, I checked that all valves were closed (I am NOTORIOUS for forgetting to close the spigots at the bottom of tanks), started the pump, noted the time and ran up to the kitchen to prepare a quick shrimp cocktail platter and some "pigs in a blanket" (PIAB) for appetizers. This took about 10 minutes because I like to make my own cocktail sauce. I then ran back to the winery to check the progress of the racking. It was doing fine and only half complete, so I ran back to the kitchen to season the steaks, wrap the potatoes in tin foil for baking, and slice/prep 16oz of mushrooms.

This done, it was back down to the winery with about 30 seconds to spare. I Rinsed out the last tank, rinsed and cleaned all hoses, the pump, and all other equipment. I Had it all put away and was just sweeping up when my first dinner guest arrived. Talk about timing!

Once all of the guests arrived, I tossed the potatoes into the oven to bake. We then sat, ate the shrimp and PIAB appetizers and cracked open some wine (just so happened that I had a spare bottle of wine laying about). I then had one of my guests grill the steaks (the man is a certifiable grill master). While the steaks were cooking I sautéed up the mushrooms while the wife set the table. We had a good time, but the party broke up early (about 9pm). Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the winery.

Once all wine is racked, all lids serviced, and all wine is sealed, I like to do a "Deep Cleaning". I wash and wipe all surfaces, hose down the outside of the tanks, and pressure wash the winery's concrete floor. I then mop the floor dry. I use a solution of 8 gallons of hot water and just the smallest splash pine-sol (chlorine free) to wash everything. Since my dinner guests left early, and since I had an excess amount of energy from the steak dinner, I did the deep clean. Got to bed around 1am.

By Sunday, when the winery had a chance to dry out, there was not even the slightest aroma of any fermenting fruit or wine in the air. AHHHHH, neat and clean, just the way I like it. It was clean enough that even the fruit flies had decided to seek elsewhere for food.

I inoculated the wine with my MLB which arrived on Friday. Once done, I set about cleaning up from last night. I then picked / canned another two jars of cherry peppers, and managed to complete a number of other small chores. By noon, I tossed the saurbraten into the oven that I had marinading since Thursday. I also made some fresh spaetzle and had that ready to be sautéed in butter for dinner. I then lit a fire in the fireplace, poured myself a nice cold beer, sat in a recliner, and settled in for a nice afternoon of football. I was fast asleep between the first and second sip of beer.

Well folks, that about sums up the 2014 crush. There is still a lot that I do during the year, but nothing that I what I call a "big event". It was a lot of work and it sometimes got the better of me. All I can say is that it is all well worth the effort.

What most people do not understand, but most members here do understand, is that wine is not just art, not just science, not just hard work, it is a way a life. Bees collect honey, salmon swim upstream to spawn, and I make wine..

johnT.

 

[Boatboy24]

And now you get to 'entertain' again this weekend for the contest! No rest for you, young man!

 

[JohnT]

Yes, I have the competition next Saturday, but that is all I have going. It should be like a vacation!

 

[Enologo]

Well folks, this weekend was a jam-packed one for me. On Saturday, I grocery shopped, went to the bank, and got a haircut. By 10am, I was back at the winery, ready to begin that all important first racking.

I would like to say.. I HATE the gross lees. I feel that prolonged exposure is the root of all evil. So, a week after pressing, I give the wine its first racking.

I started out grabbing a vacuum cleaner and sucking up as many fruit flies as possible. I HATE those little buggers! Just a regular vacuum cleaner works well. Just use the hose attachment, sneak up behind them, and send them to OZ!

On crush I had about 54 people, at pressing, I had a dozen or so. On Saturday, I was down to myself. The hard part (other than lifting the tanks on and off of their stands) is replacing/resealing the tank lids. Putting a lid on a 500 liter tank requires two hands to hold the lid in place and level, and two hands to pump up the gasket to seal it tight. By my count, I have only two hands.

So here is what I do.. I pump up the gasket as much as I can before I insert it into the tank. I then use one hand to hold the lid in place, one hand to hold the pump, my thigh to push against the pump's plunger, and my teeth to draw the plunger back. I find that after just two or three pumps, the lid will hold in place and I can then use two hands to pump the gasket up the rest of the way.

Other than that, it is a lot of cleaning. Cleaning the tanks out when empty, cleaning out the Demijohns when empty, cleaning the pump and hoses after each wine is racked, etc.

Racking gives the first opportunity to do a tasting. By smell, the wine is going to be fantastic. The merlot and the petit sarah are already far along in clearing and have great aroma. All of the wines were rather tart and tannic, but considering the wine was is only 2 weeks old and has yet to undergo MLF, it was exactly as I hoped it would be.

The true stars are going to be the reserve sangio/cab franc blend and the super cab. The super cab is already very drinkable at only 2 weeks! Well worth the extra money for the expensive grapes.

Whenever I rack I take the opportunity to inspect and (if need be) replace any gasket, pump, or hose that is showing any sign of age. I always have spares and simply replace the spares when they are used. One of my fears is to have a tank gasket fail and not be able to seal the wine. I ended up replacing 1 500l gasket, 1 hand pump, and 4 of the hoses that run from the pump to the gasket.

Just about an hour before I was finished, my wife reminded me that we were having company for dinner and "shouldn't I start cooking?". Got to say that even when my wife is nagging, she is still incredibly cute! This is where things got hectic....

Since it takes about 20 or 30 minutes to rack a 500 liter tank, I checked that all valves were closed (I am NOTORIOUS for forgetting to close the spigots at the bottom of tanks), started the pump, noted the time and ran up to the kitchen to prepare a quick shrimp cocktail platter and some "pigs in a blanket" (PIAB) for appetizers. This took about 10 minutes because I like to make my own cocktail sauce. I then ran back to the winery to check the progress of the racking. It was doing fine and only half complete, so I ran back to the kitchen to season the steaks, wrap the potatoes in tin foil for baking, and slice/prep 16oz of mushrooms.

This done, it was back down to the winery with about 30 seconds to spare. I Rinsed out the last tank, rinsed and cleaned all hoses, the pump, and all other equipment. I Had it all put away and was just sweeping up when my first dinner guest arrived. Talk about timing!

Once all of the guests arrived, I tossed the potatoes into the oven to bake. We then sat, ate the shrimp and PIAB appetizers and cracked open some wine (just so happened that I had a spare bottle of wine laying about). I then had one of my guests grill the steaks (the man is a certifiable grill master). While the steaks were cooking I sautéed up the mushrooms while the wife set the table. We had a good time, but the party broke up early (about 9pm). Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the winery.

Once all wine is racked, all lids serviced, and all wine is sealed, I like to do a "Deep Cleaning". I wash and wipe all surfaces, hose down the outside of the tanks, and pressure wash the winery's concrete floor. I then mop the floor dry. I use a solution of 8 gallons of hot water and just the smallest splash pine-sol (chlorine free) to wash everything. Since my dinner guests left early, and since I had an excess amount of energy from the steak dinner, I did the deep clean. Got to bed around 1am.

By Sunday, when the winery had a chance to dry out, there was not even the slightest aroma of any fermenting fruit or wine in the air. AHHHHH, neat and clean, just the way I like it. It was clean enough that even the fruit flies had decided to seek elsewhere for food.

I inoculated the wine with my MLB which arrived on Friday. Once done, I set about cleaning up from last night. I then picked / canned another two jars of cherry peppers, and managed to complete a number of other small chores. By noon, I tossed the saurbraten into the oven that I had marinading since Thursday. I also made some fresh spaetzle and had that ready to be sautéed in butter for dinner. I then lit a fire in the fireplace, poured myself a nice cold beer, sat in a recliner, and settled in for a nice afternoon of football. I was fast asleep between the first and second sip of beer.

Well folks, that about sums up the 2014 crush. There is still a lot that I do during the year, but nothing that I what I call a "big event". It was a lot of work and it sometimes got the better of me. All I can say is that it is all well worth the effort.

What most people do not understand, but most members here do understand, is that wine is not just art, not just science, not just hard work, it is a way a life. Bees collect honey, salmon swim upstream to spawn, and I make wine..

johnT.

You need to change your name from John T to La Machine. I got tired just reading your report.

 

[JohnT]

This weekend it is time to "Barrel-up" the 2014 reserve (blend of sangio and cab franc). I got my two brothers coming over to help.

While we are at it, we may very well rack all of the other wines too.

We will then settle in and watch the Giants ruin yet another Sunday with bad play. All I can say is this... it could be worse, I could have been a Jets fan too.

This week, I had some more pictures sent to me... Here is another picture of the "sorting room", AKA the truck...

 

[JohnT]

Well last Sunday was a bust..

Just as I got all of my Sunday chores completed, the power went out at 9:30am just before people arrived at 10am.

The power outage was preceded by the lights dimming twice. It looked just like someone getting "the Chair". Whenever this happens, for whatever reason, the power is out for a long while.

No power means no water for washing (I am on a well) and also no pumps!

So we tabled barreling and had an impromptu transfer of all social activity to my brother's house (about 10 minutes away). We grabbed a case of wine and the chili off of the gas stove (it has been cooking since 7:30am) and met up with in-laws and cousins.

What a good time we had! I had made enough chili to feed an army and also brought some corn bread mix. We sipped, we ate, we watched a couple of bond movies (My brothers felt that we HAD to have explosions and women in various tasteful stages of undress)..

Then it was time to go. My wife was bringing the chili pot to the car when she misjudged the steps and fell, spraining her ankle. She still drove home and the power had been restored.

In the morning, her foot had really swollen and I took her down to the hospital.

As it turns out, she actually had a hairline fracture to one of the bones in her foot. They put her into a splint/cast, and handed her crutches. I have been waiting on her "hand and broken foot" ever since.

Some may complain, but it is actually kind of nice to show her some TLC for a change. Usually it is the other way around. It is nice to be able to show her that I still care after 25 years.




On a completely unrelated topic, I have just received approval to post this picture by the subject. This is Pat, the newest member of the "purple foot club", stomping on the orphan berries!!!

 

[JohnT]

Last Saturday I transferred my san gio / cab franc blend to the 225l barrel. Talk about the perfect batch, I filled the 225 barrel, a 54 liter demijohn, and 6 1/2 gallons (for top off) EXACTLY!!. all that was left was lees.

Will be racking all of the other wines again this Sunday.

Got the little brother coming to help. Promised him a proper "Jersey Diner" breakfast. For those of you unfortunate enough to have never eaten at a true Jersey diner, they are world renowned!!!

Once racked, I will oak the wine in the SS tanks, pump up the SO2 to 35ppm, and put it all to bed for the winter. All that will be left to do is to QC it from time to time. A tough job, but I think I can manage!

 

[JohnT]

Last Sunday, I had the younger brother over to help rack the rest of the reds. The older brother is in Florida, and was missed. Had a chance to sample the wine and also do an additional TA test on them. Made a slight adjustment to the petit sarah only.

I also added my favorite oak to each batch. I always add my oak after the third racking. I use a OXV oak that has always given me enhanced vanilla flavor components.

In sampling the wines a week ago, I noticed that the MLF was not progressing as I would like. No doubt that this was due to the temp in the winery being below 60 degrees. I upped the heat in the winery to 65 degrees to give the MLB a little kick in the pants.

When sampling the wine on Sunday, it was easy to tell that the mlf had definitely progressed. The tartness was most noticeably replaced with that buttery, velvety, softness that I like. I will give the wine another week, then up the free SO2 to the appropriate level for the current PH.

Here are the dosages that I have figured. feel free to check my math...

Most of the this year's wines are at a PH of 3.6, so a desired SO2 level is 35ppm. The current level of SO2 is coming in at around 10ppm. This means that I want an adjustment of 25 ppm. This means that I will add...

Liters K-meta (in grams)
500 22.7
300 13.0
200 8.6
54 2.4



After the SO2 adjustment, I will lower the temp in the winery to 55 degrees for the duration of the winter.


PS. I hope that you folks like the fact that I am keeping this thread alive. If any of you feel that adding to this post serves no purpose, I will stop.

 

[Boatboy24]

PS. I hope that you folks like the fact that I am keeping this thread alive. If any of you feel that adding to this post serves no purpose, I will stop.

Please, keep it up!

I need to do a chromatography this week - pretty sure my MLF is complete, so I can do one more racking and let it rest a bit while it waits for barrel space to clear up.

 

[ibglowin]

More info please, link etc. Google is coming up with garbage. Thanks!

I use a OXV oak that has always given me enhanced vanilla flavor components.

 

[JohnT]

More info please, link etc. Google is coming up with garbage. Thanks!

Sorry, typo.. XOV oak mini-staves. Here is where I get them...

http://www.winerystuff.com/suber-leforts.htm

 

[bakervinyard]

PS. I hope that you folks like the fact that I am keeping this thread alive.

John please don't stop. Enjoy reading about your process. Any pictures from when you bottled last years wines? Thanks, Bakervinyard

 

[JohnT]

I will not bottle last year's wine (2013) until the spring, but I will post some photo's.