2018 Sauv. Blanc & Syrah, day 8

08:00
Outside: 55 F and clear.
Cellar: 72 F.  (Suddenly I realized.  Kit was the most trigger-happy man I'd ever met.  Suddenly I realized, the room thermometer is only two feet from the white fermenter, and probably has been influenced by it since day 2 of the winemaking...)

Syrah: 74 F, 0.3 Brix.  Given the reality of everyone's work schedules, today should be the day for pressing, I think.  Would otherwise be fun to let it go on into the minus Brix and get more skin contact in a more relaxed year.  Will shout out to the winemakers to see who can pitch in.  Decisions need to be made whether to press in the cellar or up top, and whether to use the bladder or basket press.

Sauvignon Blanc: 76 F, 3.5 Brix.  Still sizzling.  Foam is flat with cracks in it - looks like a yellow lava field.  Could go off the gross lees today, or could wait a little.  Much less work than the red press and can be done solo, so less time pressure to get it done on the weekend.  History?

• 2016, day 8 @ -0.5 Brix
• 2015, day 7 @ 4.7 Brix (what was the hurry?)
• 2014, day 9 @ 0.6 Brix
• 2013, day 6 @ 4.5 Brix (what was the hurry?)

Yes, will wait till we're closer to zero or below.

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Pressed!!

12.5 gallons of purple, the majority of it free run, but the press fraction mixed in.  The seedy last 2.5 gallons are so far separate but for a bit used to top off the first to carboys.

Danny, Steve C., Michael H. and Lori did the work.  Passing the juice and grapes a gallon at a time up the hatch to the press worked out perfectly with pretty minimal mess.

18:00
Three of the 5 vessels the Syrah is in overflowed their airlocks.  Most sloppily was the last and smallest vessel, which would have come from the last and seed-filled pressing of the bottom of the fermenter.  Maybe not too surprising.  All cleaned up, but it worries me that it could create a fruitfly situation if it repeats and goes unnoticed.

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22:00
Outside:64 F, clear.
Cellar: 73 F.

Sauv. Blanc: 74 F, 2.1 Brix.  All of the shag has disappeared.  There are islands of bubbles and sizzling - lots of movement.  Tomorrow looks like the right day to move into carboys.

Syrah: Developing a little priest's collar, but the bubblers have stayed clean.  Occasional gas passing through the bubbler.

I think it's likely that tomorrow I'll start writing about the two wines separately.

And I've ordered a bunch of supplies, a little too late, from more wine: toppers, bubblers, a 3 gallon plastic carboy to experiment with, and a replacement for the nylon liner that works inside the bladder press.