Vintage 2023

[CDrew]

I thought I would post up at least a start of 2023 and see where it goes. Yesterday, my wife and I picked 350 pounds of Syrah and 100 pounds of Grenache near Auburn California which is about 40 minutes north of where we live. I did not get any picking pictures because we started in the dark, and I was racing to get done with the crush and clean up before I had to be at work.

In the pictures below, you will see I made 2 starters. The smaller one is Allegro yeast that I am using for my Grenache Rose. There is only a bit over 5 gallons and I got it going last night just before bed. I've never used Allegro for a Rose, but have used it several times for white wine, so my reasoning was that it's kind of like a white wine and so what the heck. Also notice that despite 3 years in the refrigerator (though vacuum sealed) it still took right off as a starter and then in the wine.

Anyway, the wine sat on the skins from 8am-6pm and the color so far looks about right. The real pain was picking early, then going to work, then having to come home and press, then clean up. Such is wine making. Brix 22 to start.

The good news though, is that by 6am today, I already had a brisk fermentation in the Rose.

The second larger starter is for the Syrah. I let the crushed grapes sit overnight with just a whiff of sulfite and added EX-V to begin the color extraction. That seems to have worked, because the photo below is from this morning just before I added the yeast. Regarding the yeast, I used Bravo as I had good results with it in Syrah last year and since I still have a bunch, it seemed like a good choice. The juice sample that I used the feed the starter is already nicely purple. Brix 23. I thought it would be higher based on how the grapes looked and tasted, but since the pH was a perfect 3.6 I decided to just let it go and ferment without additions.

Picking Primitivo on Saturday and will try and get some pics from that. It's going to be a busy next 7 days.

Will post progress as it goes.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Love it! I'm planning to make Syrah for the first time this year, though I don't expect my grapes to be ready for another 2 weeks.

 

[CDrew]

So the Sryah with Bravo took off insanely fast. It was inoculated at 8am and by 6pm it was going full bore with a deep cap. The temp is 80F and the garage is pretty warm, but that's where I am at this point. I'll come back with pics but good fermentation at 10 hours is great to see.

 

[ibglowin]

Looking good!

 

[Snafflebit]

That looks great. Did you target 22 Brix? I think it will be a lower Brix year for me and my harvest is 1-2 weeks out also

 

[CDrew]

I didn't really target anything as the guy that owns the vinyard basically tells us when its time to pick. The Syrah was 23 brix. I would have preferred 24 or even 25 brix. But it otherwise looked so nice and the pH was so perfect that I just decided to run with it. I'll call it "French style". I debated a sugar addition to Chapatalize it but decided for a low intervention year.

 

[CDrew]

And for today's update, I fed both the Rose and the Syrah with Fermaid O this morning. Both fermentations are going very well with that beautiful winery perfume that tells you everything is healthy.

Tomorrow should be an interesting day. We are picking Primitivo (Zinfandel's more sophisticated twin brother) tomorrow and sharing verticals of the same wine from past years. It's always a blast if yields are in line with the recent past, I should come home with 300-400 pounds of grapes. I'll post an update on that.

I'll edit this in a minute with pictures of more purple bubbles. I know that isn't too exciting, but it's all I have for today.

 

[GSMChris]

I am making a couple of wines with a group this year, hosting the crush, primary ferment, pressing and ML fermentation in my garage before moving the wine to other group members to age in their wine rooms. I will also be making five wines with grapes from my vineyard.

So Tuesday morning the takeover of the garage commenced with the arrival of 1200 pounds of Primitivo grapes. We crushed into a 3/4 ton bin and added dry ice to do a couple of days cold soak. Thursday we made up our D254 yeast pre ferment and added it to the bin that afternoon. Since the temps are really mild the last few days (high of 74 is the forecast for today), things are progressing slowly. Cap formed yesterday afternoon and, after punch down, we have snap crackle pop going in the bin. Brix is 25 - started at 26.

Yesterday we had a surprise addition to the garage - 200 pounds of Mission grapes grown in San Miguel off of cuttings from the vines planted in the 1700’s at Mission San Gabriel. Own rooted plants - grapes were pretty with large berries. Didn’t taste super sweet - Brix later tested at 19. So they are now under cold soak/dry ice and will be pitched Sunday or Monday.

1500 pounds of Tempranillo expected on Thursday, then my own grapes should start to come in (I hope). Gonna be a full garage when we are done.

 

[CDrew]

So these got a little out of order. But we started early and filled a macrobin with 1000 pounds of primitivo. Then we crushed and divided up the results. I waited until everyone else there to get what they needed, and so hung back to get the leftovers. But the left overs were 400 pounds of grapes. My usual winemaking partner has COVID and could not help unload and so I used my engine hoist which works great for this. So 400 pounds of primitivo in the garage. I've added EX-v, and will inoculate the yeast tomorrow morning. The Brix is 23, so on the light side, so I'll decide tomorrow on the need to chapitalize but likely will not.

 

[CDrew]

I’m back making starters this am for the 400 pounds of Primitivo harvested yesterday. It’s been sitting overnight with EX-V to improve color extraction.

The starters are pretty standard stuff using Go-ferm Protect Evolution. I let the yeast rehydrate for 20 minutes and then added 100ml of the grape juice twice at 15 minute intervals. So in about an hour roughly, I've got both starters at full power and ready to go.

I decided to Use Avante yeast. My reasoning is that it's typically so fast, that it might catch up with my Syrah started on Thursday, then I could press both at the same time next Saturday.

 

[CDrew]

I wanted to show what a nice job the EX-V did with getting nice color out in an overnight "soak". I'm quite pleased with this as Primitivo like Zinfandel tends to be a bit on the lighter side.

 

[CDrew]

The starters go in! So 2023 Primitivo is underway.

I wanted to mention that I always stir the starter into the must. I know some think sprinkling on the surface is preferable. I've never had trouble getting fermentation to start and I think stirring it in makes it start faster.

And to update the Syrah, it looks likes it's already slowing, so likely nearly done. I'll get brix readings later today, but the fermentation was very strong, and I would not be surprised if it's under 4-5 brix. I'd really like to not have to press this until next weekend, but I'm not sure that's realistic.



\

Update:

At 8 hours, cap formed, fermentation underway. Things are looking pretty good, and Fermaid O added at 1.5 gm per gallon.

 

[CDrew]

Brief update with numbers, but not pictures!

I have about 70 gallons of wine and so split 1 packet of CH16 MLB between the 4 fermenters and added it yesterday morning.

Syrah: Brix under -0-. Looks like about -1 brix. This was picked exactly 1 week ago and fermentation now complete. Pressing tomorrow am

Primitivo: Brix 12 (starting Brix 23) Thus about 1/2 complete. Yeast pitched Sunday morning, it's now Wednesday afternoon. Press trajectory maybe Saturday or Sunday.

Grenache Rose: Not measured. Still fermenting significantly. I'm going to let this go until the weekend.

Overall plan is to let the Syrah and Primitivo complete MLF over the next month and then sulfite.

The Grenache Rose I'm going to wait until it's complete, then Lysozyme and sulfite early to prevent MLF.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

Syrah: Brix under -0-. Looks like about -1 brix. This was picked exactly 1 week ago and fermentation now complete. Pressing tomorrow

Nice! Do you have temperature data on your syrah ferment? Curious to know warm it got in order to finish in 7 days...

 

[CDrew]

Nice! Do you have temperature data on your syrah ferment? Curious to know warm it got in order to finish in 7 days...

My garage is about 80F average the last week. It's cooler the last 2-3 days though. I don't try and control this because I can't. But 7 days is pretty standard for Bravo or Avante, I use Fermaid O as a nutrient because Fermaid K lets things get too hot.

 

[CDrew]

Some press action this morning. Syrah was done with fermentation yesterday, but I got home too late to press then. I pressed all of the Syrah which yielded almost exactly 26 gallons of new wine. I put the new wine in carboys for 2-3 days before transferring to stainless steel because I want the sludge to settle and rack to a clean container. You may recall I used Bravo yeast. It got this fermentation bone dry in 6 days from pitching, so it's got close to the same kinetics as Avante. I can't say I can pick one from the other but now I have several years with Bravo I can back compare with Avante.

The taste test is good. It's new wine and thus tannic and fruity at the same time, but it's sound and good. I have about 0.5L leftover that I will drink with dinner tonight.

In the back of the first picture you can see the 2 fermenters of Primitivo. That still has a few days to go but is looking and smelling great. I am hoping to press this on Saturday or Sunday, but it's likely to yield 30+ gallons of wine and carboys will be in short supply. I may rack directly to stainless and skip the carboy step.

 

[CDrew]

Press day today. The Primitivo finally hit zero brix and it was time to press. I made the usual mess out of the garage and driveway that is 2/3 cleaned up at this point. Yield was 30.5 gallons of new wine from roughly 400 pounds of grapes, which I'll rack in 2 days so will likely yield 26-27 gallons or so going forward. Initial taste is very good, but it definitely has that new raw wine taste.

I don't know if I'll do another fermentation this year. It depends on what's available in October when I get home from Southern California. I know of a good source of Merlot and that might be an interesting wine, since I usually do Rhone or Italian varieties.

And, in reference to another thread, NO FRUIT FLIES at all. Not even a stray.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

How is your ML going? Signs of little bubbles and/or 'crackling' in your secondary vessels?

I also used CH16 in my syrah though I am a bit nervous about how it will perform. Despite ordering it with ice packs, it arrived quite warm. The vendor says that they have had good results regardless but I am concerned that there's no overt signs of activity (except maybe the odd 'pop' in my barrel).

 

[Snafflebit]

The freeze dried culture is pretty resilient, and of course, ML activity is really subtle. I barely see it in a glass carboy.

 

[BarrelMonkey]

The freeze dried culture is pretty resilient, and of course, ML activity is really subtle. I barely see it in a glass carboy.

I just recall hearing a faint 'crackling' in the barrel when I made my pinot noir 2 years ago. But that was a full 60 gal; my vessels this time are 30, 15 and 5 gal so of course it will be less evident...