Winter projects?

[TxBrew]

The holiday season is here and now is a good time to get a status check from all our members.

What are you making? What are you cellaring? What do you plan to get started before the holidays?

Just check in and let us know where you’re at in your winemaking. And we would love to see photos of it.

 

[distancerunner]

I'll play.

Cellaring:

• 230 L of Pinot Noir
• 25 L of Rose, saignee from the Pinot above
• 70 L of Muscat/Alicante field blend: My grandfather's blend from grapes. First time since 2002.

Waiting to press:

• ~50 L of Sangiovese. Fifty two days of extended maceration ends mid December. Second attempt at Brunello

Bottling:

• 250 L of 2022 Lanza Zindarella.
• A few things from 2021.

Mead(s) starting in January.

Putting together a club for winemakers that focuses on materials and methods. First quarter of 2024.

 

[winemaker81]

Sounds like fun -- I'll play too!

All 2022 wines are in bottle, with about half needing labels & capsules. Most of the labels are printed, just gotta do it.

On the left is 12 liters Vidal (fermented juice), 23 liters Chambourcin, 23 liters Vidal (fermented on skins), 23 liters Merlot. In the front left is 19 liters Sangiovese and 19 liters Cabernet Sauvignon (2/3) & Merlot (1/3) -- I have no free containers for the Cab + Merlot, so I blended them.



In the 54 liter demijohn is Sangiovese and hidden behind it is 25 liters Cyser Metheglin. The top barrel is 54 liters Cabernet Sauvignon, the bottom is supposedly 56 liters of Cabernet Franc (don't know the size, but the nominal 56 liters is a low figure). The two 4 liter jugs on the left are more Chambourcin.



Not visible is another 12 liters of Sangiovese, and half a dozen 4 liter jugs of various things.

The case is 2022 Grenache, has been labeled and capsuled, waiting to be put away.

 

[Thom Vinson]

I am planning an "Oats and Honey" brew, probably around mid-December as I still need more malted oats and one more jug of honey. Looking at a thirteen-gallon batch, that's the size of my fermenter.

 

[ChuckD]

home improvement projects have really put a damper on my winemaking this year. I still have to bottle 8 gallons of northern red blend and 3 gallons of Rhubarb. I also need to label my maple wine. The only wine I’ll be making this fall/winter is apple. I had a good harvest on my Zestar tree. I probably have two bushels in the freezer plus a full bushel in the cellar. I’m going to grind them and defrost the rest this weekend.

 

[fermenter]

I have 5gal. Norton from my tiny home vineyard in bulk. I will probably bottle late winter, early spring. Just starting a Grenache Carignan kit that has been resting in seclusion for almost a year. I assume it is still good. A few vines of Garnacha grapes. 2024 will be the first harvest for them.

 

[JDSeppala]

The holiday season is here and now is a good time to get a status check from all our members.

What are you making? What are you cellaring? What do you plan to get started before the holidays?

Just check in and let us know where you’re at in your winemaking. And we would love to see photos of it.

I'll be bottling up 5 Gallons of spiced Beet wine before the holidays. Nothing else brewing at the moment.

 

[fermenter]

I am actually in Nebraska working on a church construction project. I brought the kit and enough equipment with me to start it. Just enough room in the RV to begin the process.

 

[Hillcapper]

After the holidays I am planning to do a FWK, likely the Super Tuscan, unless someone here changes my mind!

 

[CaptainPolish]

I have to deal with all this, hopefully not screw it up. Tomorrow putting as much to MLF as I can. Probably around 20 individual gallons to do. Keep learning, taking notes, and keep track of everything.

 

[DrGriz]

I have a couple of pumpkins my daughter grew and gave us. I think I'll experiment and make pumpkin wine.

 

[DrGriz]

I have a couple of pumpkins my daughter grew and gave us. I think I'll experiment and make pumpkin wine.
I currently have huckleberry, mountain ash, cherry and rhubarb wines going.

 

[Rocky]

As much as I love wine making, I hate bottling. And, yes, I have the AIO with the new hand held filler! All of this is ready to bottle:



And to keep me out of trouble after New Year's, this is on deck:

 

[Ericphotoart]

Aging in carboys:
Pear
Raspberry
Petite Shirah
Red Currant
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon Forte
Bordeaux
Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon
Apple Cinnamon

To be bottled this year:
Banana
Dragon Blood

 

[Shurt1073]

My area for making wine is small but I'm making the most of it. The below wines are in glass to be bottled in 2024.

FWK Forte Pinot Noir
FWK Tavola Syrah
FWK Tavola Australian Red Blend
WE Reserve California Enigma
WE Reserve Chilean Carmenere
Island Mist "Bad" Apple (adding cinnamon to 3 gallons)
CRU Choc/Cherries Dessert wine
CRU Caramel Dessert wine
One gallon of Raspberry / Riesling Ice Wine blending together and one gallon of Vintners Best Concord with oak & peppercorn blending.

 

[Rocky]

My area for making wine is small but I'm making the most of it. The below wines are in glass to be bottled in 2024.

FWK Forte Pinot Noir
FWK Tavola Syrah
FWK Tavola Australian Red Blend
WE Reserve California Enigma
WE Reserve Chilean Carmenere
Island Mist "Bad" Apple (adding cinnamon to 3 gallons)
CRU Choc/Cherries Dessert wine
CRU Caramel Dessert wine
One gallon of Raspberry / Riesling Ice Wine blending together and one gallon of Vintners Best Concord with oak & peppercorn blending.

Beautiful! Looks like you don't completely trust your carboys!

 

[ChuckD]

Beautiful! Looks like you don't completely trust your carboys!

That’s what I was wondering… I thought maybe for ease of carrying but I don’t think I’d trust the handles or bottoms of the trash cans not to break.

 

[NorCal]

60 gallon 2022 cab franc barrel, to be bottled Feb/Mar
60 gallon 2023 chardonnay barrel to be bottled Mar/Apr
60 gallon 2023 Syrah/Zin barrel, aging until 2025
30 gallon 2023 Cab spiedel, aging until 2025
5 gallon 2022 petite verdot, holding on for future blending
5 gallon 2022/2023 blend, future topping bottles.

 

[Shurt1073]

Beautiful! Looks like you don't completely trust your carboys!

I do not completely trust my carboys lol ..... plan for the worst and hope for the best.

 

[JohnT]

Let's see,

Crushed 4 varieties the year...

for are main wines (bulk) we did an 80/20 cabernet merlot and a San Giovesse.

We also did a limited amount of Touriga and a small 100 liter run of Nero D'avolo (first time making that variety).

I have put all of them through MLF and they are now happily sitting on XOV oak.

Our crush this year was wonderful! I currently live 500 miles from the winery and made the trip up. I stayed with family and had a great time catching up with everyone. No Drama, No arguments, and no headaches.

Years ago, the winery had grown too big and included many selfish folks that only cared about getting their wine and not the social aspect of it all. It all came to a head about 10 years ago and I shut it all down for a year limiting myself to just a 300 batch for me and my brother.

The next year, I opened it up to just family and ended up having a great time. Since then, other than family, I have only invited back only a handful of non-family members and continue to have a great time with it all. It is still a good size crew making wine together.

Lesson learned... watch out for those you partner up with.

This year, we had enough experienced people to not only crush the grapes, but also to do some bottling. We split up into 3 groups that sorted the grapes, ran the crusher, and bottled. A lot going on all at once, but we still managed to get it all done in one day! We started at 11am and had it all cleaned up and put away by 3:33pm.

We then gathered together for Pizza and a nice sampling of wines. It was all so wonderful! Can't wait until next year!