2014 Muscat, Day 1, Oct 5 2014

0700
Temp outside is 47 F, chilliest morning of the young autumn so far and the first time we've had cool weather on winemaking day in a years.

It's also the latest date we've started Muscat: 2009 9/26, 2010 9/25/, 2011 9/24, 2012 9/29, 2013 9/22).  Last year was the earliest, which maybe makes this year feel all the later.

19:30
Brix +28, juice temp 58.5F, acid 4.5 tartaric, pH 4.3.
Wow!  What a day.  Mihai & Colleen got here first, then Jon, then Helen & Mike, then it's a jumble - Peter, James, Doyle, Michael & Kelly & Nate, Mike & Pam & Carmello, Judy & Danny & Lief... Lots of other folks stopping.

We set up two sorting tables - one in the yard and one on the sidewalk, and we used one of our 50 gallons fermenting drums to hold the sorted grapes until we were ready to press.  Tony Pagano told us yesterday that the grapes were at 28 Brix and I was doubtful, but it was exactly what I was seeing on the refractometer while we worked.  At some point Mihai and I decided not to press while the sorting was going on because we would have to use the wash-up hose for the bladder - turned out to be a mistake in that it stretched the work out for a couple of hours longer than if we pressed (as we usually do) while sorting.

One of Mihai's pics of the sidewalk sorting table - Peter, Jon & Lori.

I think we have the process of using the bladder press down now.  Next year we might elevate it a bit to make the gauge more accessible, we'll know what combination of hoses to have ready, and we'll get a Y splitter so we can press and still have a hose for washing.

Our yield was about 66 liters of juice - more than the last two years but less than 2012 and 11.  Given the condition of the grapes I don't know whether the new press helped get us a better yield, but it's nicer to use - easier for everyone to get a hand in.

At 7:30 or so we tested the juice.  Brix was where we now expected it to be, whopping high.  Acid was correspondingly whopping low - .45 tartaric, and we decided to raise it just as we did last year, to a target .65.  Using the rule of 1 g/l to raise it 1% we uses 2 g/l for 66 liters - 122 g.  That seemed like a heck of a lot, but I went with it.

Also tested for free S02, which was nowhere in sight, and using the rule of .53ml per liter to impart 30 ppm, we added 35ml for the 66 liters.

Then we hydrated the D47 and pitched it in.

During the course of the day Doyle and Peter asked and prodded about doing something with all of the raisened and bruised fruit.  At first I thought we might ferment them on their skins, but then we changed gears, ran them through the destemmer, pressed them, and put the juice (there's only 5 liters of it) into their own container to ferment.  We added appropriate amounts meta, tartaric, and yeast using the same rules as the main wine, though I did not take separate measurements.