Tasting the 2006 Zin~Alicante

Just an FYI - opened a bottle of the 2006 Zinfandel / Alicante blend. From the label (which I remember making), it could have gone into the bottle as early as the beginning of June, 2007.

I decided before opening it I would decant it. A quick taste confirmed why - fizzy. But 10 minutes later, not so and very nice. Very cherry. Color is super - thank you to the black A.B. grape. No idea whether it's tasting differently from a year ago. We do have a completely unoaked (naked) bottle left (1), but we don't have any that went through a a longer oaking. Am half tempted to take 5 bottles, put them in a gallon jug and do the deed - maybe with the leftover spirals from Peter's 2007 cbs.

2008 day 37, 28th since pressing

Quiet. Occasional bubble in that one Pace / Dawson volcano - really makes you wonder why it's so much gassier than its friends.

Having my first taste of the Cheatle / Lewis cd that's a mix of free run and press -
great color -
still very fruity, sharp berries, and not very complex nose
a tad tart and maybe, I can't tell, a tab hot (but that's probably worry and not actual tasting)
but already very drinkable
Obviously need to get Lori or someone else with an actual palette to give it a go. When we do, we should compare it to Peter's unchapitized wine to see about that hotness.

It's begging for oak.

Girl in the stars Cabernet

Been fooling with lots of Library of Congress images. This one's from a 1928 stereo card.

Day 27, relative quiessence

Much calmer down there - the staring to bubble ratio has gone way up. Even the Pace Dawson volcano cb.

Here's a couple of pics. Left, Bernardo & Laura on press day. Right, bubblers on day 27.

The guy on the left doesn't wear glasses...

... so I must be the guy on the right.Image at Library of Congress.

A few other images: Sicilians at a bar; Wine Song; chorizo, eggs, bread and wine; kosher wine inspection;

Fab Cab (Magog) label

Day 22, 2008

Infrequent bubbles in most of the cbs; still power-bubbling in that one B&L cb. No other changes of note. Some floating seeds and schmutz in all, but not much.

22 days total, 15th day since pressing, at least 2 weeks until first racking unless anyone wants to go faster.

Costs, 2008

I've kept spreadsheets on our costs the last couple of years.

Here's a link to 2008 costs. I'll put the same link in the permanent links section in the right margin.

I use the same sheet to track our joint costs and my private splurges - only the joint costs get calculated into the cost-per-bottle projection. Right now I've put a pretty random number out there for projected per-bottle costs. Anyone remember the real dollars we paid for the grapes?

Take 2 on victory label

Take 2 (on the right) is mo better. Less busy. Easier on the eye. The wine tastes better.

Super Crusher!

Crusher vs Crusher-Destemmer vs Destemmer-Crusher. Makes the head swim. Daniel Pambianchi weighs in at Winemaker Mag.

Vessels

Well, S&L are chatting about a small barrel. Seems like so much work & maintenance, and a 15 gal. barrel sounds like it may be too sharp and evaporate too much, but... It's fun to think about.

Wikipedia article on winemaking

2008 label, victory

Another great LOC image, a little depression, a couple of wars, and Barry's victory.

Day 16, a wee stir of the lees

No real change from yesterday.

Lori & I decided to stir the lees of our cbs. I'd seen references to it as a way to help things mellow out. Lots of gassing off from the disturbed lees. Got a little vigorous with the last of the cbs and it went all bubble-gummy purple. Likely will all be settled again tomorrow this time.

Anyone else want to stop in to do the same with their cbs?

Destemmer

Hi all,

Let's talk to Doug at PIWine about the destemmer. I'm wondering how much fruit is lost in the process.

As for the press, let's give it a tune-up. Let's take the polls apart and let's consider buying new hardware. Some lockwashers down at the bottom beneath the plate, for instance, might keep those poles from wiggling. I know at the very least we need to rachet it down with some wrenches. It's never been so wiggly.

Best,
Bernardo

Day 15, 2008

More gassing off today than I've noticed up until now. Good. This will likely be the secondary, malolactic fermentation. MLF bugs have been in the juice for 8 days now, and the juice has been in the cbs for the same.

Color looks like rock and roll, but haven't drawn off any wine to look at closely or taste in a week.

Nothing else to report.

We should probably be looking for a convenient date in the week or two before Christmas for the first racking.

First 2008 label ideas bubbling up

Well, really, is it ever too soon to start thinking about labels? No. No, it is not.

Oaking the last of the 2007 production

Thursday evening (Nov. 6) finally oaked Peter's last two cbs from 2007 - one each of the Barbera blend and the Sangiovese. Used American oak medium toast infusion spirals from Barrel Mill (purchased from piwine.com). I was interested in the format - very easy to use and will be very easy to remove: if we like the oak itself it's a good format for using in the steel tank.

The spirals are designed for 6 week infusion. So, a few days before Christmas Peter should taste and decide to re-oak or not. (This really was the first oaking of these two cbs.)

Less tarts (the Eliot Spitzer saga)

I sampled some wine yesterday and the day before from the overflow bottle I took away. Red-purple to garnet--really pretty stuff, and there's some nice fruit trying to talk it's way through the green blur of a new wine.

Let's monitor the tartness--Spitzer's on his own--but it's already a whole new ball game.

Thread re ratchet / basket vs. bladder

More GAS. See here. A little hard to imagine using the bladder press indoors. But still, one can imagine...

All I want for Christmas is...

• The Marchisio Crusher & Destemmer, [FP170].
• A nice double-ratchet press, with no life threatening folk-hacks, like the R-30 or R-35.

Guitarists call this GAS. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

Day 11, 2008

Close to 48 hours after pressing.

Abut an inch of sediment in each cb. Reminds me much more of 2006 than 2007.

No bubbling to speak of, but it's obvious a number of the cbs have been very active. One B&L cb spunked into the bubbler. (Will clean & refill bubbler unless B&L want to.) Another looks close to doing so. One of P's is close, also.

Mighty mighty red.

Status?

How does everything look, Lori and Steve? Any bubbling? Have sediment lines begun to form? What's the political mood down there, very Obama? B

A few small supplies ordered

Ordered a handful more of those sassy orange carboy caps (in case B & L want to switch to them), some new bubblers to insert in them, more K2S2O5, and oak for Peter's 2007 Sangiovese and Barbera (medium toast American, in spiral form). Should be here in a few days.

Pressing update (2008)

Hokiedoke. S&L pressed early. 2 free run carboys, and two mixed - the last one we went back and recombined the cakes so we could squeeze out that last liter or so, and that last tastes a bit tart. (We let some of this stand a few hours and tasted again, and it seemed less so, but who knows?)

P pressed an hour or so after S&L. Very fast. Got two full carboys and maybe a liter and a half of overflow. One of the S&L carboys pushes to P.

At three, B&L pressed theirs, and finished with about 3 carboys and a jug (5 l.?)

All in all, less then we were mentally set on, but maybe not less than we should have expected by looking at the fill lines on our barrels. And MEK did charge us for 700 lb of grapes, not 750.

So, we're cleaned up, the barrels have migrated to B's place, and the watching begins until the first racking. Will purchase more K2S205 and some more of those sassy orange cb caps.

Election Crazed Wine

Obama Sauvignon 08 for president.

2008 malolactic bugs have been added, day 9

The 2 chapitalized barrels had small cakes and some initial fizz on punching down, but get hydrometer readings of abut zero, so we've added (at about 8:15 AM) the freeze dried Chris Hansen malolactic bacteria. Divvied up the small amount in the pouch (1.5 g.) as best we could to match the relative volumes of the barrels.

Day 8, 2008

Good fermentation through the day in the two sugared barrels.

Peter has decided not to add sugar, and not to ad S02 - he'll take the chance on spoilage and shoot to pres the same day as the rest.

10:00 PM and the brix is under 1. Tomorrow morning is probably when we want to add the malolactic bacteria. Once the pouch is open, everything should be used the same day. That gives Bernardo, Laura and Peter a bit of time to decide.

When to press?
Sunday, Peter is @ Toto for brunch & Tano for dinner - might have some mid-day hours. B&L? Lori & I will not likely go to Philly (but that can change). Still, and even though it may be MLF time, we might not be quite still.
Monday? Tuesday would be the latest we can go without getting dicey, especially Peter's barrel.