WM81 Fall 2023 Experiments

[winemaker81]

I really appreciate the plug for good grapes. It is a challenge to keep everything clean and in good condition.

We're VERY happy with the 2023 Vidal. It took some figuring to determine what to do with it, but a tiny bit of backsweetening fixed things. The end result is great!

The 2024 Vidal and Chardonnel received Lalvin 31 MLB, and both are already lower in the acid bite than the 2023. It helped that I used 71B, which eats malic acid.

It doesn't matter what fruit is used -- it helps to understand the situation to make better wine.

The French/American hybrids can be tricky to ferment. All in all, the whites may be a little easier. The reds will need MLF and oak to soften the acids. And a Bryan noted, blending the F/A with small amounts of vinifera can change meh to fantastic.

We really liked the reds you served on crush day. My son has very little experience with F-A hybrids, so your blends were a new experience, and he really liked them.

Off the top of my head I don't recall exactly what the blends are.

My son & I are discussing tactics for the 2024's ...

 

[winemaker81]

Note on blending the Chambourcin and Merlot: this was not done blind. I keep a 10 ml syringe handy, and we put 90 ml Chambourcin and 10 ml Merlot in a glass for taste testing. We really liked it -- it wasn't just an "improved" Chambourcin -- it is a good wine overall. One we'll be happy to have 4 cases of.

I need to get larger syringes, to reduce effort when measuring the larger quantities.

As I've mentioned, using metric when working in wine makes things easier. Trying to do these quantities in English measurement would not work any where near as well.

 

[wood1954]

My local farm store has syringes that go up to 35 ml. Makes things easier.