What's new in your cellar?

[ibglowin]

Wow talk about printing "fun facts" on a Wine label! LOL

Quarterly shipment arrived today.

 

[Johnd]

Wow talk about printing "fun facts" on a Wine label! LOL

I like when they put those "fun facts" on bottles, this was on a 2012 Bell Clone 6 Cab I drank recently:

 

[Boatboy24]

I like when they put those "fun facts" on bottles, this was on a 2012 Bell Clone 6 Cab I drank recently:

Love that - very few get to that level of detail, but I enjoy when they do. I'm often surprised at how high the pH is on some commercial wines.

 

[ibglowin]

At least the Belle Clone put something actually useful on the label from a winemakers perspective, that being pH, TA, Oak type, Brix.......

As amateur winemakers we get soooooooo wrapped up and fret over our pH's trying to get them dialed in as close as possible to the mythical 3.65........

Then you see wines being put out at (at least for me and I suspect all of us here at WMT) at pH's and TA's that look totally out of whack, but they just seem to let it roll, don't mess with Mother Nature no matter what. I don't get it but I see it (mostly because I am always looking at the numbers) all the time.

How many of us here at WMT would have let it roll with these numbers?

 

[Boatboy24]

I've seen some at 3.8+, but never at 4!! And a correspondingly low TA too! The Belle at least came in at 0.66 TA.

 

[ibglowin]

That wine appears to not have been produced since 2010. The spec sheet on the 2010 has a more respectable pH of 3.59 and TA of 0.60 and it garnered a 91pt WS score. I got one of the 2014's recently in a club shipment plus I snagged a bottle of the 2010's since it got high marks. Time for a side by side taste comparison! (for research purposes of course)

 

[stickman]

Yes, I think 3.8 is my limit for a finished wine, I get nervous beyond that. I still start fermentation closer to 3.5.

 

[Johny99]

I like to test commercial wines I like. Often pH is well over 3.65. Only once do I remember one over 4. It was good, although I'll bet it wouldn't last forever, it was 4 when uncorked.

 

[Johnd]

Love that - very few get to that level of detail, but I enjoy when they do. I'm often surprised at how high the pH is on some commercial wines.

Check the wines at Frank Family website, they give some pretty decent info there as well.

 

[Sweetiepie]

I am pretty new still to wine making so I got a kit a White Zinfandel and it doesn't say anything about checking ph but I did, so I would have an idea what it should be right. It was 4.4. I left it since it gave no instruction to change it. I am new to drinking wine too, but have found I can tolerate most White Zinfandel's so I just started a home made, clean out my pantry shelves mix and that ph was also 4.4. So I am asking should I do something with that? Completely off this topic thread, sorry.

 

[jburtner]

Hi, A kit should already be balanced as the kit manufacturer intends so you don't need to add any additives to balance.

That being said - 4.4 sounds way high especially for a white. I could be wrong about a White Zin but whites are typically more acidic in the pH3.2-pH3.6 range. One pH is a logarithmic or ten-fold change in acidity which means that pH4.4 is 10x less acidic than pH3.4.

More acidity makes wine taste crisper (more crisp) or more tart depending on your point of view and less acidity makes it taste what many describe as "flabby".

Cheers!
-jonathan

 

[Johnd]

Hi, A kit should already be balanced as the kit manufacturer intends so you don't need to add any additives to balance.

That being said - 4.4 sounds way high especially for a white. I could be wrong about a White Zin but whites are typically more acidic in the pH3.2-pH3.6 range. One pH is a logarithmic or ten-fold change in acidity which means that pH4.4 is 10x less acidic than pH3.4.

More acidity makes wine taste crisper (more crisp) or more tart depending on your point of view and less acidity makes it taste what many describe as "flabby".

Cheers!
-jonathan

@jburtner is right, 4.4 would be way to basic, and you would have serious potential for microbial instability. My first suspicion would be about whether or not the pH is really 4.4. How are you testing for pH?

 

[Sweetiepie]

@jburtner is right, 4.4 would be way to basic, and you would have serious potential for microbial instability. My first suspicion would be about whether or not the pH is really 4.4. How are you testing for pH?

I have ph strips that you color match and most definitely way on that end of the color chart. The first wine I made read 3.6.

Ok, I will adjust this bucket I am just brewing and leave the kit alone.
Thank you and jburtner. Especially for the explanation of why we need more acid.

 

[Johnd]

I have ph strips that you color match and most definitely way on that end of the color chart. The first wine I made read 3.6.

Ok, I will adjust this bucket I am just brewing and leave the kit alone.
Thank you and jburtner. Especially for the explanation of why we need more acid.

I think I'd trust the kit manufacturer before I would trust the pH strips. I suppose that they are pretty easy to use on white wines, but I prefer a good quality digital meter that I know is giving me accurate results, then I have the confidence to know that a change needs to be made............

 

[Johnd]

Postman just dropped a tasty little morsel. Have to give kudos to the Mrs. for picking Spottswoode to visit. We really liked the SB, but the cab blew us away, 6 bottles of each, plus a 2014 cab magnum. Parkers last review of the 13 cab was 99+, drinking time from 2021-2071. I'll be dead before it hits its prime.

 

[ibglowin]

Certainly hope they didn't ship that via the USPS!

Your not shipping by ground are you?

Postman just dropped a tasty little morsel......

 

[Johnd]

Certainly hope they didn't ship that via the USPS!

Your not shipping by ground are you?

Some stuff comes by ground, but only during cool months. This particular winery ships 2nd day air, landed in NO this morning, on the truck by 8, delivered at 10, UPS. Guess " postman " gave the wrong impression.

 

[ibglowin]

Problem with wine coming via ground headed east out of CA is it moves from Napa/San Fran on I5 South to Los Angeles. Then IH10 East right through Phoenix which even in the Winter months can be 80 degrees at times. You have it even worse than me, with a long slog through all of TX before you even hit LA!

The safe shipping window via ground is only ~3 months at best!

 

[Johnd]

Problem with wine coming via ground headed east out of CA is it moves from Napa/San Fran on I5 South to Los Angeles. Then IH10 East right through Phoenix which even in the Winter months can be 80 degrees at times. You have it even worse than me, with a long slog through all of TX before you even hit LA!

The safe shipping window via ground is only ~3 months at best!

We keep a pretty good eye on the weather when the releases come out. A few of them actually ship out of Cali in refrigerated trucks to Dallas or San Antonio before dropping at UPS for the last leg, others have ice packs in them. I typically defer all of my shippings between the months of April and November, so I get spring and fall releases in November. April thru October is a no-no here too.
This particular delivery showed up with the bottles pretty chilly, in the 60's, but 2nd day air is rare......

 

[Sweetiepie]

I never would of thought about shipping in the heat. Just got another 11 inches of snow in 2 hours here. For me I only worry about stuff freezing. I wonder what kind of window that leaves me.