Pinot Noir Words of Wisdom

[stickman]

@heatherd thanks for reminding me about the oak, the pinot she likes is aged in neutral barrels, Mahoney Vineyards, in fact, the grapes I purchased are from the same vineyard, so I guess I have no excuse if the wine doesn't turn out good.
I dumped everything into the fermenters, the Sangiovese only got a half dose of Lallzyme EXV as I knocked over the cup of solution before it was all added, I think I said a few "words of wisdom" at that point. The fermentation is just getting started, the must is still a bit cool.

 

[Johnd]

I'm doing two different batches, the Pinot Noir will be in the stainless vat, and the Sangiovese Syrah 80/20 blend will be in two Brutes. I added the Lallzyme EXV and Lysozyme earlier this morning, and added the 4 gallon RC212 yeast starter (using RC212 on everything) around 3:00pm. I'll dump the pails into the fermenters sometime tomorrow, the garage heat is set and maintaining 70F, expecting -13F outdoors tonight. I'll post some pics once everything is dumped tomorrow.

Lysozyme? Not going to MLF?

 

[stickman]

I'm going to do the standard sequential ML using CH16. I've been using a low dose 150ppm Lysozyme for the past 5 years to reduce bacterial activity during the early thawing and fermentation stage, and I've also used it after ML. The lysozyme activity drops off very quickly in a red wine with significant tannins present. I have not seen any delay of ML after fermentation when using this low dose. I'm sure that most of the time it is not needed, but my decision to use it is primarily based on my perception of higher risk associated with unseen preprocessed fruit.

 

[stickman]

The cap came up, so I drained some must to have a look and add a little oxygen. Still a little cool at 63F. Fruit and berry aromas are very nice.

 

[Boatboy24]

Nice color!!

 

[ceeaton]

I smelled the berry flavors when I opened the post. I must have finally got that smell-a-vision to work properly...

 

[stickman]

Yes, I'd say the Lallzyme is working, the Sangiovese only got a half dose, but there is 10% (1 Pail) Syrah in the batch that was absolutely black/purple. I have another pail of the Syrah still thawing as I received it late, I guess my super Tuscan will be 80/20 Sangiovese Syrah. The Pinot is definitely a different hue.

 

[stickman]

The Pinot is down to 12 brix, the cap temp was 87F yesterday and 86F today. This Pinot is truly different than any other wine I've made so far, the strawberry/raspberry aromas are intoxicating, I think I've just been hooked, now the challenge is getting the wine through the process and into bottle capturing some of these aromatics. A lot of things can happen between now and then.

The Sangiovese is at 10 brix, added the last of the nutrients, looks and smells good, hopefully it will finish without H2S, I know this RC212 can be trouble.

Just a few pics.

 

[Johnd]

You're getting me fired up, my frozen musts from Spain are scheduled in the first week of 2017.

 

[stickman]

I thought the frozen must from Spain was interesting also. I'm on vacation through the new year so this timing worked out well for me, although the Holidays are a crazy time.

 

[Johnd]

I thought the frozen must from Spain was interesting also. I'm on vacation through the new year so this timing worked out well for me, although the Holidays are a crazy time.

I've been communicating with the supplier, it was supposed to be delivered just after thanksgiving, but he ran into problems. It seems that when shipping individual pails of must, no alarms are set off at US Customs (must coming in from Canada). My order was to be shipped on a pallet, which saves bucks if you have enough pails. The pallet set off a chain of events including USDA certifications, need for a Customs Agent, etc, which delayed shipping. I pushed it back to first week of January. Good way to kick off 2017.

 

[stickman]

@Johnd The new year will be here before you know it.

I pulled a sample of the Pinot while doing a drain and return. The color looks a little light , which I suspect is typical of most Pinot that doesn't have Mega Purple or other additions. Really nice, it's at 5 brix and drinkable now if you like sweet sparkling Pinot.

 

[Johnd]

I like it @stickman! I'm keeping tabs and anxious to hear how it comes out. You've got me wanting to do a Pinot now.... I think this spring, instead of doing Chileans, I'm going to get a few frozen pails from Brehm to get my fix.

 

[Boatboy24]

Looks good, stickman. A little light, maybe. But as you probably know, there are solids in there. Once they settle out, you should have a darker color. And that's a small sample too.

BTW: A sweet, sparkling Pinot Noir is suddenly sounding very good.

 

[stickman]

Decided to press yesterday as the neighbor was off work, otherwise I would have had to press by myself, sg was around 1.0, so it was a little earlier than the usual .992. It looks like there was some color left in the pinot skins, so I put a couple of gallon bags into the freezer for future kit use, or maybe I'll add them back to one of the current carboys for further extraction. At this stage the flavors are clean, the Pinot definitely has greater fruit and aromatics than the Sangiovese, but I suppose that's expected.

Photos
Sangiovese Press
Sangiovese Glass
Pinot Noir Press
Pinot Noir Skins

 

[philbard]

I do a lot of Pinot Noir, living in the Willamette Valley. Besides the quality of the fruit, fermentation temperatures and yeast make the biggest differences in how it turns out. All the other phases, cold soak, extended maceration, etc matter too but less I think. A heat spike early in primary seems to provide bigger fruit extraction, too long at high temps can blow off your nose, but a day or so doesn't seem to harm it. If you stay cooler you will get a little better bouquet but will not have as much extraction. I often get to the upper 80's or even 90. Frankly, I believe the growing conditions play a far larger role. CA Pinots are grown in hotter conditions and when we drink them here in Oregon they almost always seem over the top, lacking in the subtle nuances that wines from cooler climates provide.

One thing that is constant, Pinot is always changing. Month to month it will have different personalities, especially in barrel. In May it will be fruity and have great body, in June it will seem to have gone into hibernation. Not until we have been 1, or better, 2 years in the bottle do we attempt to judge the results definitively.

Good luck

 

[stickman]

@philbard thanks for the comments. This is the first Pinot for me, so I don't have anything for comparison. These grapes are from the Carneros AVA and I also have access to the White Salmon Underwood WA vineyard, they are the best available to me. I can tell already that I'll be making more in the future; after 25 years of making Cab blends, that I'm very satisfied with, this batch of Pinot is making me think.......

Thanks again

 

[stickman]

Just an update; I only did one racking two days after the press. Did the first chromatogram a couple of days ago and it looks like they are finished with ML; the CH16 culture was added Jan 1, but the wine was still fermenting at .996sg. It took longer to reach .992 than my usual DV10, but I guess that's expected with RC212. The temp in the storage area has been steady at 68F. The Pinot PH ended up at 3.70, and the Sangiovese is at 3.76. Ill be conducting a little taste testing, and possible acid touch-up over the next couple of days, and will then sulfite and rack.

 

[Johnd]

Just an update; I only did one racking two days after the press. Did the first chromatogram a couple of days ago and it looks like they are finished with ML; the CH16 culture was added Jan 1, but the wine was still fermenting at .996sg. It took longer to reach .992 than my usual DV10, but I guess that's expected with RC212. The temp in the storage area has been steady at 68F. The Pinot PH ended up at 3.70, and the Sangiovese is at 3.76. Ill be conducting a little taste testing, and possible acid touch-up over the next couple of days, and will then sulfite and rack.

Very nice, that's the kind of chromo you gotta love to see! So how are they tasting and what's your oak plan, if any, for the pinot?

 

[stickman]

The taste is as expected, quite a bit of co2, and a little leesy, the Pinot sample took about 3hrs in an open glass to get back to the original fruit profile, good fruit and very supple at this point, not much tannin that I can detect as it seems smooth. I couldn't resist putting into the 30gal tank one French oak medium toast stave at the same time I added the ML culture. For a Cab I would usually use 4 or 5 staves, but I know this is a completely different wine, and as discussed earlier, I don't want to cover the fruit with oak. The 6 gal carboy I left unoaked. The color looks reasonable, maybe a little light, but similar to Pinots from this area in the Carneros.