2014 Muscat, day 42, Nov 15 2014

Between 65 and 66F in the cellar at 7 AM - only 33F outside, the coldest evening and morning so far of the fall.

Tasted the Muscat from CB Alice- much less aggressively tart, but still too acidic, much rounder than it was.  I'm thinking we did go through some malolactic conversion.  Color very good in the sample, yellow, though still not clear in the CB.

Did a quick Titrette test and was surprised to see it come back at 15 or 16 ppm.  Was expecting it to be considerably higher since the addition made on Nov 1.  Might check again soon but will take the sample from deeper in the CB.  This morning's sample was scootched off the very top of the neck with a 5 ml dropper.

2014 Muscat, day 22, Oct 26 2014

0800:
Gratifyingly little sediment since coming off the gross lees on day 15.  Still a fine gassing off in the CBs, not enough to see a bubbler move in 10 minutes of staring, but easy to see.  Malo?  We haven't done any testing for malolactic acid and the wine is pretty low in SO2 and the cellar isn't cold, so it's real possible.

Raisin is still.

We just lost a gallon of the 2009 Merlot, and here's how

I think it was the day after the party last weekend I noticed that the solid rubber cork on one of the 2009 Merlot overflow gallon jugs had popped off.  I don't know how long it had been off - maybe minutes, but maybe up to 12 hours.  I reset it.  The next day it was off again and I replaced the rubber stopper with another.  This morning it was off again, and I'm going to assume the jug is oxidized (and, well, I'll taste it to be sure). 

It's the only 2009 container that had a solid stopper rather than an airlock.  It's possible the neck on the jug id bad (I doubt it) and it's possible the wine is more active than it appears, which was the case with our 2006 Zinfandel.  It's also possible that if the wine was more active, it was just that jug, and not the full batch - we've seen that before, too, particularly with Bernardo's 2008 Cab. 

I'm guessing the wine is active, and probably the whole Merlot lot.  Which is fine - it's all still in bulk - except for whatever might still be remaining of what we bottled for the party.  I'm betting that gets a little frizzante in the bottle over the next few months. 

Of course, unlike in 2006, in 2009 we added bugs to force the completion of the malolactic fermentation, so my theory should be wrong.  (See October 3.)

Will check late summer.

Pressing day + 19, 2009: more clarity

Same 750 of overflow Muscat.  Now much more clear - hard to believe it would have happened given the opaqueness of the juice on pressing day.

We should expect to rack the weekend of the 7th / 8th November?

Pressing day + 8, 2009: more colors

A week past pressing day, colors are starting to change for real. None of the yogurt color left in the Grenache. And the Muscat has turned the color of lemonade or orangeade as sediments fall out. On one of the overflow 750's of the Muscat the wine in the neck has nearly turned clear, and you can see the very thick lees forming. Which, of course, raises the question: battonage anyone?

No real delta to the Syrah or Merlot blend colors.

Bubbling has died down considerably.

Wicked sneezing and the color of Grenache

Yes, all that sneezing was the trumpet call of a wicked cold. But on the plus side, I get to stare at the wine.

The neck and top quarter of the Grenache is turning a more wine-like color, less yogurty. Last evening one of the Syrah cbs - a little over-filled - kept pushing up its rubber cork. Rather than take wine out, I switched the cb over to one of the orange caps, which seem to be more forgiving.

That is all.

CB migration

We moved B&L's cbs across the street last evening (day 38), tasting one of them first. Tasting comments?

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.