Three pretty different treatments of the 2008 Cabernet S.

I thought it might be good to pull what we know about our 2008 wine production into one post, which we can update & refine. I'm urged to do this by Laura and Bernardo's tasting notes from last week, and by what different schedules we've put the three batches on.

I'll refer to the batches as: Sclafani, Dawson / Pace, and Cheatle / Lewis.

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Grapes - no differences
All three batches started with identical grapes, Cab. S., from Michael Kontokosta, grown in Greenport, L.I., picked in the late afternoon of the day prior to our use. The grapes were lower brix than we used previously, and that leads, below, to some of the differences in the treatment of the batches. We all had the grapes crushed in less than 24 hours from their being picked.

Crush, and destemming - differences
October 25. Crush was identical, but destemming was not. How to characterize it? Dawson / Pace destemming was light to moderate, and Sclafani and Cheatle / Lewis destemming was obsessive and maximal.

Primary fermentation - no differences
The Dawson / Pace and Cheatle / Lewis batches were in 55 gal food-grade drums, and the Sclafani batch in a 32 gal roughneck. No specific measurements here, but a third of the grapes went into the Dawson / Pace drum, more than a third into the Cheatle / Lewis drum, and less than a third into the Sclafani roughneck. Cheatle / Lewis to share some of their batch back to Sclafani.

All batches had pectic enzyme added immediately following crush - 1 dropper per 11 lb of grapes, as best we could estimate.

The same yeast - Lalvin RC 212 - was used in each batch.

The batches fermented similarly through the first [N] days, with temperature and speed variations tied, I think, mostly to their different batch sizes.

Punchdowns were identical (twice daily) for all batches.

Chapitizing - differences
I drove everyone a little nuts because I was using a refractometer as the wine approached dry, and was getting false readings. By October 30 fermentation was still.

Pace conferred with Presque Isle, and decided to add sugar to come to an approximate 12% alcohol level.

Sclafani opted out, and decided to go with whatever the grapes would yield.
Dawson / Pace added 5 lb sugar directly to the drum, & stirred.
Cheatle / Lewis mixed 5 lb sugar over low heat with 1/2 gal of juice & must, let it cool, and mixed this syrup back into the drum.

MLF - no differences
Nov. 1 brix was back under one for the Dawson / Pace and Cheatle / Lewis batches. Nov. 2 we divided 1.5 g. of freeze dried malolactic bacteria amongst the three batches, in proportions attempting to match the batch sizes.

Pressing - no differences
All batches were pressed on Nov.2. Yields were

• 20 gal Cheatle / Lewis, including going back to the pressed must for a little more;
• 16 gal Dawson / Pace;
• 10 gal Sclafani (and, remember, some of the Cheatle / Lewis wine for to Peter to even things out).

Stirring the lees - differences
A week after pressing, Cheatle / Lewis stirred the lees of their batch, looking to promote the MLF, etc. Offered the idea to the other partners, who did not take them up on this.

Secondary fermentation - possible differences
Noted in the blog 28 days after pressing, one Dawson / Pace carboy was still bubbling. It's behavior was different than all other carboys. Dawson / Pace moved their carboys to Bernardo's cellar 3 days later (Dec. 2). Don't know if the wine from that bottle was tracked after that.

1st racking - differences

• Cheatle / Lewis, Jan 4, 2009. Added K₂S₂O₅ , about 3/4 teaspoon per 5-gal, which I think translates to 45 parts per million. Pretty liberal with aerating the wine.
• Dawson / Pace, Jan 13, 2009. No sulfur added. (Oaked at this time - see below.) All three carboys tasted identical. Noted a little fizz.
  
• Sclafani, Jan 25. No sulfur. Topped up one of the CBs with about 3 liters of mixed wine for Cheatle / Lewis.
  

2nd racking - differences

• Cheatle / Lewis, Mar 21, 2009. No sulfur. All wine was racked together into the 100 liter steel tank.
  
• Dawson / Pace, no 2nd racking - see oaking notes.
• Sclafani, June 5, 2009. (Not a typo.) No sulfur. Racked into clean carboys, and topped up with wine from Cheatle / Lewis batch.

Oak - differences

• Cheatle / Lewis, April 10, 2009. Used Barrel Mill spirals. 4 medium toast American oak, 2 medium toast French oak, in the prescribed proportion - one 8" spiral per 3 gallons of wine. These spirals are still in the wine as of this writing.
  
• Dawson / Pace, January 16, 2009. Used heavy toast for one week and removed. (Barrel Mills? American or French?)
• Sclafani, June 5, 2009. Used Barrel Mills medium toast American oak in the prescribed quantity.

Finishing / bottling - differences

• Cheatle / Lewis: except for a little wine to be used at the 2009 party, and tasting as it goes, we intend to bulk age the wine, with the oak in, until the tank is needed again next year. That puts bottling at late winter, 2010.
• Dawson / Pace: bottled in early February, 2009. [Need date.]
• Sclafani: no stated plan. Minimal oak-ready, July 17, 2009.
  

Sclafani 2008 2nd racking and oak, at last

Peter stopped by to rack his 2008 wine.

Very little sediment (he sacrificed wine in the first racking and it looks like it paid in the second). Color the same as the Cheatle / Lewis batch.

Added Barrel Mill medium toast American oak spirals, and topped up the 2nd carboy with wine (a gallon or less) from the Cheatle / Lewis batch.

Tasted the 2008

Just a short note to say that the bottle Laura and I sampled on Friday, May 29, began well but finished badly. What I mean is that each sip started nicely--dry with nameless fruit and some spice--but finished with a sour after taste. Steve and Lori, did you try some on Memorial Day?