Snafflebit 2024 winemaking thread

[Snafflebit]

I am starting a thread with my winemaking progress. Everybody feel free to jump in and post also.

I picked grapes on 9/8 and Finally got them destemmed on 9/12. I did not notice any issues with the fruit starting to turn, but I kept them about 60-70F. After a day of cold-soaking (ha, actually I was exhausted and quit for the night) with Lallzyme-EX-V the color looks good.
I am making 4 batches.
M Merlot: Brix 27 pH 3.58 TA 5.0 g/L
M Cab Sauv: Brix 26 pH 3.51 TA 6.0 g/L
GW Cab Sauv: Brix 28 pH 3.56 TA 8.8 g/L
W Zin: Brix 27 pH 3.47 TA 10.5 g/L

I said that I did not want to add tartaric acid this year, and I got my wish!

The grapes were picked earlier than usual, targeting 25-26 Brix and again I overshot my goal. But, I get to backwater to 25 and that helps a little with the acid. It will be an interesting vintage.

We have liftoff


I attempted to make yeast starter using the wine bottle method. My yeast is a little aggressive it seems.

 

[MiBor]

What yeast(s) are you using for your wines this year?

 

[Snafflebit]

BM 4x4 that I had left over from last year. It seems to be quite alive and happy. I have tried Merit and D-80 as well. I really don’t notice any difference. I keep them all well fed and my grapes are usually in good shape.

 

[MiBor]

Avante would have eaten up some of the malic during AF, but if you plan on a sequential MLF there is no need for it.

I'm intrigued by how high the TA is in your grapes. I buy California grapes every year (they come mostly from Lodi) and I don't remember a year when I didn't have to add tartaric, including the CS I'm fermenting this year which came with a 3.8 pH and a 4.0 TA at 25 brix. I know the micro climate is different in San Jose, but still, that's a big difference...

 

[Snafflebit]

The TA is high. I agree. Avante would have been a good yeast, but I did not expect this. San Jose is hot and grapes are ripe and low acid. My NaOH is one year old. I guess there is a chance that it is bad and I have made mistakes before. It is probably worth rechecking later. I can add acid if necessary

 

[winemaker81]

The TA is high. I agree. Avante would have been a good yeast, but I did not expect this. San Jose is hot and grapes are ripe and low acid. My NaOH is one year old. I guess there is a chance that it is bad and I have made mistakes before. It is probably worth rechecking later. I can add acid if necessary

Post-fermentation you'll taste it if the acid is low, but a re-check with fresh HaOH is a good idea.

 

[Snafflebit]

I co-inoculated all batches with the ML bacteria tonight at the onset of fermentation. The caps are starting to form.
I tested the TA of one of my finished wines with the same NaOH, measuring 6 g/L. That is close to what I expected. I will recheck the musts at the end of AF.

The taste is more important than the numbers.

I sipped a spoon of the Zin juice and it tastes bright and sweet like a Jolly Rancher. I would not be surprised if it is 10 g/L. I harvested all the clusters I could find that were ripe looking and tasting, but some were from lateral shoots, so clearly they do not have the same ripeness. This batch is only for me to experiment with and learn what the wine from these grapes tastes like.

The GW Cab rehydrated overnight and Brix rose to 26.5, so I watered it back to 25. That should bring the TA down to 7.5 g/L, still high. I may water down yet again...

The M Merlot and Cab have noticeably less acid upon tasting. Their TAs will be lower because of backwatering and I am fine with that.

 

[Snafflebit]

From WineMaker magazine:

Zinfandel wines sometimes have high total acidity in the face of relatively high final pH, so it’s not unheard-of to see a pH level of 3.6 or 3.7 and a TA of 0.90. When in doubt, go by taste and by Brix. You can always acidulate, but watering down a must of 29° Brix so that the yeast can survive will only dilute flavor and concentration.

I will have to closely monitor my Zinfandel ripeness, and do some whole cluster sampling.

 

[Snafflebit]

For the winemakers that love a horse race:


I set the temperature of the workshop to 78F today, to get a hotter ferment—great color on all the batches including the Zin, which did not receive enzyme.
I taste green apple malic acid in the Zin. The other three batches have the more typical tartaric acid taste. I trust my sense of taste now; these wines will have plenty of acid and will not be flabby.

 

[Snafflebit]

Big Brix drop on the Zin to 2.5 Some of the batches dropped faster than I predicted. I detected a whiff of H2S on the Merlot and Zin. I avoid feeding a must below 10 Brix, so I cut it close on the Merlot. The Zin gets no food at this point--It is almost finished. The other three got nutrients and some DAP

 

[GSMChris]

Why the two dots on the GW cab graph for 9/14? Is that from watering back?

 

[Snafflebit]

Why the two dots on the GW cab graph for 9/14? Is that from watering back?

Yes. That is what happened

I am now bottling 27 gallons of 2022 wine tonight because I need the carboys and the space, ACK
Looks like another Bordeaux blend is in the works. Even adding a touch of PV.

So far, smells great and I like the amount of oak added. one bottle of Petit Verdot added and I can smell it in the whole batch. that is amazing.

 

[Garagista]

This is a great thread, thx.

The BRIX of the Zin from Martinez was 32!!! That’s right, thirty-two. I’ve knocked it down to 26 now after 10 liters of watering down.
Yee ha!

 

[Snafflebit]

This is a great thread, thx.

The BRIX of the Zin from Martinez was 32!!! That’s right, thirty-two. I’ve knocked it down to 26 now after 10 liters of watering down.

Did you get a TA measurement? I would guess there were a fair amount of raisins. I picked some crazy Brix Cabernet and I am currently making a port-style wine.

I am tasting my 2022 blend and, it needs to rest, I assume that it is very bottle-shocked. I sulfited to 20ppm and raw sulfites can combine with other sensory notes to create a garlicy, burning taste. And the oak (which I may have overdone) is, I think, imparting a sweetness that I did not expect.

I will sit in my chair and meditate on the winemaker's motto, "Give it time."

 

[Snafflebit]

The ferment is winding down. Time to schedule a bladder press rental.

 

[Bmd2k1]

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Big Brix drop on the Zin to 2.5 Some of the batches dropped faster than I predicted. I detected a whiff of H2S on the Merlot and Zin. I avoid feeding a must after 10 Brix, so I cut it close on the Merlot. The Zin gets no food at this point--It is almost finished. The other three got nutrients and some DAP

do you use a tilt hydrometer or something like it to gather data?

 

[Snafflebit]

No Tilt, and I am not sure if a Tilt will work in a red must. I figured they were for beer. So, I measure the values with a floating hydrometer once a day and add it to a Google spreadsheet.

 

[Ohio Bob]

A tilt will work with white wines, just not with any ferment that has skins, or fruit that interferes with the action of the tilt.

 

[Snafflebit]

I am drinking the leftovers of the 2022 Bordeaux blend from the marathon bottling session last night. It has improved a lot, fresh Kmeta tastes and smells baaad. The wine had a night to breathe (or maybe a better term would be "off-gas") I have not calculated the blend percentages yet.

I pick up the bladder press Saturday and because the shop is closed Sun and Mon, I have until Tuesday to use it. Pretty happy about that.



Edit 9/23/24: The 2022 blend is 61% Merlot, 38% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Petit Verdot. A Right Bank Bordeaux

 

[Snafflebit]

Final Brix.

I pressed 9/22/24 in a marathon session by myself this year, with a 90L Spiedel bladder press, greatly speeding up the process. The Spiedel press is on my short list of winemaking purchases.



And just my luck, this is the week that the painters scheduled the Tahoe house staining So I had to dance around that.



including a black bear that smelled grapes, and knocked over my stem bin.



For 2024 harvest, I have about 50 gallons of Merlot and Cab Sauv. I will post the final pH and TA once the CO2 bubbles off. I overfilled the carboys and the next day, as usual, I found a mess in the workshop. Cleanup is in progress.



I have big hopes that harvesting these lower Brix grapes will make 2024 a finer wine. I can already taste the difference. No acid adjustments were made. I have plenty of higher-acid wines that I can blend into this vintage, if necessary.