Obama Sauvignon

Laura and I bottled the first of our three cboys--yield of 25 bottles. We'll bottle the other two cboys this weekend. We tasted it, and I tasted it before the bottling with Steve and Lori. Pretty good. Great color, and a nice array of notes--chocolate, pepper, and a little bit of plum. I said faint cherry to Laura--who responded correctly, plum. It's intriguing to think of how it will drink in a year or two--at this point it's just a little more than three months old.

Aged of Re-Zin

I've been wanting to do this for a while. Took 3 liters of the 2006 Zin-Alicante, unbottled it, put it together in a jug with a bit more of the Barrel Mill medium toast oak, a bit of meta, and put an airlock on it. Half wanting to just plain experiment with more oaking, and half wanting to have some of that vintage with less fizz. And it'll give me a good reason to make a new label and a bad pun.

Peter first-racks his 2008 Cab. S.

Peter came by and first-racked his 2008. We both tasted it - but Peter has a sinus infection and couldn't tell anything. We should taste his & S&L's, or even better, when B & Laura bottle, taste all three. I thught P's wine tasted a little more berryish than ours did a few weeks ago - but really we need to go head to head. Remember, Peter's has a lower alcohol content than S&L's and B&L's.

We topped off the racking with the jug that S&L had in addition to their carboys from their first racking - so at this point there's 2 full cbs of Sclafani wine, and the second one has about 3 liters of mixed topper.

Onward and upward.

First rack

Just a note to say Laura and I racked Tuesday before last, 1.13. There was quite a bit of sediment but it was pretty well behaved. It stayed where it belonged and we were able to siphon off most of the wine. We tasted each of the three cboys, and they were triplets. There's a little fizz at this point, and the the taste is quite deep and dark for a wine so young. Pepper, chocolate? Probably a little of both, and some sour cherry. Hard to say much more at this point--it needs the clarification of oak.

We added a dark roast infusion spiral to each cboy last Friday and we will take it out in a day or two and then bottle. We wanted medium roast, but the people at PIwines told us that leaving the dark roast in for a week or so should have the same effect.

Maraschino - Jan. 2009

I'm not going to cross-post all the stuff from the personal blog, but I'll track our Maraschino effort here, and any other fortified drink we try to make.

The Maraschino was assembled on Jan. 4 - images below.

Two weeks later, after turning the drink now and then, the oils looks like they have integrated, the orange peel is saturated.

S&L 1st racking of 2008 wine

Lori and I racked our 4 carboys today (one of which goes to Peter). A couple of hours with clean-up. Drew everything off very cleanly, maybe could have been a bit more aggressive, but I don't think it would have made too much difference. We filled three 5-gal carboys, one 3-gal carboy, and a jug that's 3 or 3 liters - I'll check. We were shy in that jug and topped it off with a Rhone blend. Given how clean everything looks, I'll be surprised if we use all of the jug to top off at the next racking.

Taste? Yes. Color is very, and I think the nose is already bigger than last year's finished wine - and maybe the finished 2006 wine, too. Taste is still pretty fruity. If I had more energy or brain cells it would probably be good to test the total acid: maybe I can make that happen.

We added K₂S₂O₅ , about 3/4 teaspoon per 5-gal, which I think translates to 45 parts per million, and we were pretty liberal about aerating the wine during the siphoning.

We didn't rack Peter's two CBs - Yo, Peter, you need to give it an hour.

And here are some pics:

Cellar archeology, 001 - cross post

I'm cross-posting this from my personal blog. Might be nice here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, kids, we're dedicated to making the cellar more usable / less creepy-scary in 2009. Not exactly a resolution, more like a survival tactic.

So! Cellar Archeology entry 001!
There's a grape carton that a lot of our supplies are in - B's had it since I don't know when and it made it's way over to out cellar on September of 2006. It's got all sorts of stuff in it, some new and useful, some old and useful, some corroded metal implements that are just begging to experiment with your blood, some empty containers and some full but spoiled. I've decided to get rid of some of the older jazz, but am using Cellar Archeology to document them.

1. One half filled 500 cc jar of formerly liquid food grade enamel yellow paint, O'sullivan Paint Co., purchased some time in the past from Presque Isle Wine Cellars. Last year we bought a fresh jar of the same. Still liquid. It's what we paint the iron bottom piece of our press with. The current term of art is Gondola Enamel. Available in black, red, white, and yellow.
2. 4 oz. plastic container of formerly powdered sodium metabisulfate, packaged by Crosby & Baker, and - judging by the $1.75 price sticker - purchased at Party Creations. Who'd a thunk? We haven't used sodium metabisulfite for cleaning these past three years - we use potassium metabisulfite. Probably why this sat around until it solidified.
3. Plastic container, empty, which formerly held 50 Campden tablets. Another form of sodium meta. Price tag says it was purchased at L.J Lapide, Inc., $2.49. Mrs. Lapide is who the group has traditionally bought it's (CA) grapes from - until this past year when we bought LI grapes directly from the grower.
4. Cracked, dirty, empty plastic container. Skanky. 120 cc of nothing you want to put your tongue near.
5. This I like, and if I wasn't dedicated to cleaning out the cellar, I'd keep it, just as it is. 10 oz. Kerr "self sealing" mason jar, once filled with peach butter from Centennial Farms, Augusta, MO 63332 (Send for our catalog), and re-used to hold tartaric acid, with a sticker over the original label and on the lid. Rust on the lid, residue inside the jar. A thing of beauty. Who ate the peach butter?
   

Last of the 2007 production ready for tasting

Six weeks since Peter's 2007 cbs were oaked.
He should give it a taste and decide whether to leave in the existing oak, add new, or pull it.

Corks and chips

Hi,

Laura and I are going to rack soon, and, depending on what we find, we may want to add wood chips. I'm thinking it's a way of bringing the content of the cboys up to the rim. I'm also thinking that even if we have to rack one last time before bottling, there's no harm in introducing the wood at this point.

We should also take a look at corks and other supplies before we place the order. Do you guys want to go through the supplies and place the order, or do you want us to come join you--perhaps one evening this week?

Best,
Bernardo and Laura

Fresh Air interview with Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher

Our west coast buddy JP sent us this link to Terry Gross interview of Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, who write the Tasting column at Wall Street Journal wine columnists. Very nice.

U.C. Davis wine scoring system

I've mentioned a few times that the UC Davis system, as described by Alison Crowe in her book, seems sane and accessible.

Here's an on-line description of it at Finias. There's also a 20 point scoring sheet here. I really find this method a lot more approachable than a lot of what I read about.

CB migration

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

Tasting the 2006 Zin~Alicante

Just an FYI - opened a bottle of the 2006 Zinfandel / Alicante blend. From the label (which I remember making), it could have gone into the bottle as early as the beginning of June, 2007.

I decided before opening it I would decant it. A quick taste confirmed why - fizzy. But 10 minutes later, not so and very nice. Very cherry. Color is super - thank you to the black A.B. grape. No idea whether it's tasting differently from a year ago. We do have a completely unoaked (naked) bottle left (1), but we don't have any that went through a a longer oaking. Am half tempted to take 5 bottles, put them in a gallon jug and do the deed - maybe with the leftover spirals from Peter's 2007 cbs.

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.

Girl in the stars Cabernet

Been fooling with lots of Library of Congress images. This one's from a 1928 stereo card.

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.

The guy on the left doesn't wear glasses...

... so I must be the guy on the right.Image at Library of Congress.

A few other images: Sicilians at a bar; Wine Song; chorizo, eggs, bread and wine; kosher wine inspection;

Fab Cab (Magog) label

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.

Costs, 2008

I've kept spreadsheets on our costs the last couple of years.

Here's a link to 2008 costs. I'll put the same link in the permanent links section in the right margin.

I use the same sheet to track our joint costs and my private splurges - only the joint costs get calculated into the cost-per-bottle projection. Right now I've put a pretty random number out there for projected per-bottle costs. Anyone remember the real dollars we paid for the grapes?

Take 2 on victory label

Take 2 (on the right) is mo better. Less busy. Easier on the eye. The wine tastes better.

Super Crusher!

Crusher vs Crusher-Destemmer vs Destemmer-Crusher. Makes the head swim. Daniel Pambianchi weighs in at Winemaker Mag.

Vessels

Well, S&L are chatting about a small barrel. Seems like so much work & maintenance, and a 15 gal. barrel sounds like it may be too sharp and evaporate too much, but... It's fun to think about.

Wikipedia article on winemaking

2008 label, victory

Another great LOC image, a little depression, a couple of wars, and Barry's victory.

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?

Destemmer

Hi all,

Let's talk to Doug at PIWine about the destemmer. I'm wondering how much fruit is lost in the process.

As for the press, let's give it a tune-up. Let's take the polls apart and let's consider buying new hardware. Some lockwashers down at the bottom beneath the plate, for instance, might keep those poles from wiggling. I know at the very least we need to rachet it down with some wrenches. It's never been so wiggly.

Best,
Bernardo

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.

First 2008 label ideas bubbling up

Well, really, is it ever too soon to start thinking about labels? No. No, it is not.

Oaking the last of the 2007 production

Thursday evening (Nov. 6) finally oaked Peter's last two cbs from 2007 - one each of the Barbera blend and the Sangiovese. Used American oak medium toast infusion spirals from Barrel Mill (purchased from piwine.com). I was interested in the format - very easy to use and will be very easy to remove: if we like the oak itself it's a good format for using in the steel tank.

The spirals are designed for 6 week infusion. So, a few days before Christmas Peter should taste and decide to re-oak or not. (This really was the first oaking of these two cbs.)

Less tarts (the Eliot Spitzer saga)

I sampled some wine yesterday and the day before from the overflow bottle I took away. Red-purple to garnet--really pretty stuff, and there's some nice fruit trying to talk it's way through the green blur of a new wine.

Let's monitor the tartness--Spitzer's on his own--but it's already a whole new ball game.

Thread re ratchet / basket vs. bladder

More GAS. See here. A little hard to imagine using the bladder press indoors. But still, one can imagine...

All I want for Christmas is...

• The Marchisio Crusher & Destemmer, [FP170].
• A nice double-ratchet press, with no life threatening folk-hacks, like the R-30 or R-35.

Guitarists call this GAS. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).

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.

Status?

How does everything look, Lori and Steve? Any bubbling? Have sediment lines begun to form? What's the political mood down there, very Obama? B

A few small supplies ordered

Ordered a handful more of those sassy orange carboy caps (in case B & L want to switch to them), some new bubblers to insert in them, more K2S2O5, and oak for Peter's 2007 Sangiovese and Barbera (medium toast American, in spiral form). Should be here in a few days.

Pressing update (2008)

Hokiedoke. S&L pressed early. 2 free run carboys, and two mixed - the last one we went back and recombined the cakes so we could squeeze out that last liter or so, and that last tastes a bit tart. (We let some of this stand a few hours and tasted again, and it seemed less so, but who knows?)

P pressed an hour or so after S&L. Very fast. Got two full carboys and maybe a liter and a half of overflow. One of the S&L carboys pushes to P.

At three, B&L pressed theirs, and finished with about 3 carboys and a jug (5 l.?)

All in all, less then we were mentally set on, but maybe not less than we should have expected by looking at the fill lines on our barrels. And MEK did charge us for 700 lb of grapes, not 750.

So, we're cleaned up, the barrels have migrated to B's place, and the watching begins until the first racking. Will purchase more K2S205 and some more of those sassy orange cb caps.

Election Crazed Wine

Obama Sauvignon 08 for president.

2008 malolactic bugs have been added, day 9

The 2 chapitalized barrels had small cakes and some initial fizz on punching down, but get hydrometer readings of abut zero, so we've added (at about 8:15 AM) the freeze dried Chris Hansen malolactic bacteria. Divvied up the small amount in the pouch (1.5 g.) as best we could to match the relative volumes of the barrels.

Day 8, 2008

Good fermentation through the day in the two sugared barrels.

Peter has decided not to add sugar, and not to ad S02 - he'll take the chance on spoilage and shoot to pres the same day as the rest.

10:00 PM and the brix is under 1. Tomorrow morning is probably when we want to add the malolactic bacteria. Once the pouch is open, everything should be used the same day. That gives Bernardo, Laura and Peter a bit of time to decide.

When to press?
Sunday, Peter is @ Toto for brunch & Tano for dinner - might have some mid-day hours. B&L? Lori & I will not likely go to Philly (but that can change). Still, and even though it may be MLF time, we might not be quite still.
Monday? Tuesday would be the latest we can go without getting dicey, especially Peter's barrel.