2014 doesn't begin!!

Well.  After rushing like nuts to let everyone know we were making wine on short notice Mike & Lori & I got to terminal market only to be told by both Lapide and Pagano that, no, there are no Muscat grapes in yet and won't be any until later this week.  We told one of the senior guys at Lapide that we'd called from (from Prague) a few days ago to be sure and he was upset that we'd been misled, told us always to ask for the sales guys, etc.  When we wandered over to Pagano (who we hadn't called) the senior and son were there, had a nice chat.

After we got home we took a long hard look at the calendar and saw that because of travel schedules and whatnot if we made Muscat next weekend on the 20th or 21st we wouldn't be able to be here on day 7, when we usually come out of the large fermenter and into 90% filled carboys, or day 9 when we usually top up the carboys.  If we threw the day 9 step at Mihai & Colleen, (who are ready, willing and able) we'd still have to come out of the primary a couple of days early and that would mean giving up temperature control of the fermentation while things were still going pretty hot and heavy.

So we called both suppliers to ask if they'd still be getting in Muscat later and have it on hand for the weekend of October 4 & 5.  Yes.  OK, that's the target.  Rain or shine.  Tent if raining.  Weeping and gnashing of teeth if it turns out all the Muscat is gone.

2014 begins!

We've decided to jam the white winemaking in between two trips, and with the early harvest that means we have to start... today.  We'll buy the usual Muscat Alexandria from either Lapide or TPS and let them sit overnight - same as we did last year.  Last night we were able to pick up some Lalvin ICV D47 yeast from Brooklyn Home Brew - also the same that Mike chose last year.  We also picked up fresh chemicals for acid testing, a small amount of tartaric acid in case we want to make the same adjustment as last year, and a clean hydrometer testing tube.

And we'll be using the new bladder press!  Woo hoo!