Muscat yield, pectic enzyme?

Yield might be a little better this year than last, but it's still close to only half our red yields.  Lori's going through some back issues of Wine Maker Mag and has found an article on Muscat where they hold they add pectic enzyme to the destemmed grapes and let it sit for 8 hours before pressing.

(Author: Alexis Hartung Issue: Dec 07/Jan 08 Online Date: Thursday, 29 November 2007.)

2010 readings chart

Here's a link to a 2010 chart of our daily wine measurements - temp, Brix, occasional acid, etc.  Entries will lag a day or so, I'm guessing.  I've also added the link to our sidebar re 2010 timing.

2010 Muscat Alexndria day 1. It begins.

The group decided to go ahead and make another Muscat Alexandria from Central Valley grapes this year while waiting for Beckstoffer or Lanza or other reds to be harvested and shipped through M&M.

(Our neighbor, Michael Hearst, snapped this while we were culling bad grapes in the destemmer hopper)

So, yesterday morning at about 8:30 Steve & Mike headed to Terminal Market and picked up 8 42# lugs of Pagnini Muscat Treasure - same grapes as last year, but double the quantity and much more expensive than last year - $40.  (I have last year's Muscat recorded at $34.  A result of this year's late harvest?  Are we getting grapes from small early shipments?)  Brought a refractometer with us, and the grapes looked to be just above 21 Brix - about the same as the sugar content of last year's Muscat (started on Sep. 27, 2009).

I couldn't stop myself from also buying the 100 liter Poly Graf fermenter Lori and I have been eying over the last month.That has to be the end of this year's gear lust.  No?

A quick unload of the grapes at the house, Mike went off to get Pam & Carmello, Peter arrives, S & Pe and L start setting up the works.  We decide to do everything we can out of doors this year, so the new destemmer and the press both wind up in front of the house, and only the Poly Graf goes downstairs.  We get to use the hoses to our hearts' delights (thank you, Jimmy, for the plumbing work).

The work takes on a nice flow - lugs get opened and dumped into the destemmer hopper, 2, 3 or 4 of us pick them over and chat, the destemmer gets fired up, the grapes get transferred to the press where someone futzes with them a bit while the next lug gets loaded into the hopper for picking over.  As free run or press juice reaches a couple of gallons under the press it gets carried downstairs to the fermenter.

The grapes were delicious.  (Some of them wound up on our late lunch cutting board.)  I think condition was better than last year overall, but some of the lugs where better than others.  Raisins and broken grapes, a leaf here and there, a fair number of browned broken grapes.

The destemmer worked incredibly well, which is maybe counterproductive for pressing this white but you can see that it's going to save us hours of work on our reds.  I think destemming was way over 90% and much of the fruit was whole.

Pressing was just as disappointing as last year in terms of yield.  I think we got about 60 liters from the 8 lugs.  After we pressed the first four lugs we got into the habit of a couple of us crushing the grapes by hand in the press basket, and I think this made a significant difference.  We also crushed each full basket twice - redistributing the grapes and starting again.  We also added about 4 inches of blocks to our collection to get a little more oomph.

At some point Mello stopped enjoying himself, Mike took him and Pam home, we started the cleanup (Peter and Lori were heroic), Mike returned, we got the press stowed downstairs and the destemmer out back.  Unless we have real bad whether, the destemmer will get used out front again when we do the reds, but the press will likely be used downstairs, next to the primary fermenters for the reds.

Late afternoon now - Accuvin TA test put the acid at about 7.5, where we want it to be - and the must measured at something like 21 or 21.5 Brix in the hydrometer.  I added about 1/4 tsp. KS02 per 10 gallons - so about 3/4 tsp. in total, to get us to about 50 ppm.  This is part of my fixation in 2010 that we pay more attention to oxidation and try to retain more of the fruit character and stop being the only home wine makers in the world who don't add brother sulfur at this point.

We prepped the yeast (Red Star Montrachet - really wanted to use a white-specific yeast, but didn't get it together in time to do so and this is the only yeast Lapide carries year after year):  used three 5 gram packages, which is what the manufacturer would recommend.  Thinking about it now as I'm writing, I think it would have been better to use a good deal less and let the fermentation start a good deal more slowly.  Next year.

Popped open one of the last three bottles of the 2009 Muscat with lunch.  Then popped open a second.  It's possible that only Peter and I drank the second one, after which I added the yeast to the must and Peter fell asleep on our couch.  Then a wash-up and change of clothes and it was 5 PM - a full day of very sticky white wine making.

At 11:30 PM tested temperature in the ferm, and it was low 70's and the yeast action seemed to have taken hold all across the very broad surface of the tank.  Will start icing it down this morning.

Backyard Brix

Birds and bees have been rollicking in the back yard Concord grapes.  Decided to put one on the refractometer, for yucks.  +20 Brix.  Potential alcohol of just under 11%.  Might be fun to try to gather enough to let go with the wild yeasts that are on them.  (Except no one likes the taste of on Concord wine.  Maybe mulled?)

Corrado? Another possible grape supplier

Ran into big David from up the block.  They just crushed yesterday morning - 26 crates - down on 4th Ave.  Got a direct delivery there from Corrado out of Clifton New Jersey, 30 bucks.  Said they have all sorts of varietals out of CA and that the quality of the grapes was much better than what they got last year from Terminal Market in BKLYN.  (Don't know if they bought from Lapide or Pagano last year.  Do know that in any given year we've had grapes of one variety look great and another be badly molded on the same day.)  Anyway, David is high on Corrado, thinks they move a lot of grapes, knows they deliver t the home cheaply.  I'll call them.  If they have Paso Robles or WA grapes we might be back to a weekend delivery schedule and no drop-ship pickups.

Web presence is not helpful.  Don't think they advertise in Wine Maker Mag. 
Corrado's Wine and Beer Making
600 Getty Ave, Clifton, NJ 07011-2161 (973) 340-0848 ()

corradosmarket.com

Quick test of the destemmer

Wanted to make sure the big thang works before crush day, so clipped a quarter bucket of the concord grapes over the patio and fired the sucker up.  It is not quiet.  It works.  I think.

Destemmed for sure, but it's hard to say if the grapes were treated gently.  They were in bad shape going in, and were in worse shape coming out. 

Also built a rolling cart from the skid it arrived on so we can move it around the cellar during the winter.  (Pics later this morning.)

Paso Robles at M&M

Lori's been hungering for grapes from Paso Robles.  It's becoming a little more clear that M&M will have these grapes from Paso Robles:

1. Cab. S.
2. Merlot
3. Petit Verdot

Also looks like the only Gewurztraminer is as juice - bummer to Mike.

Destemmer arrives, weekend at Shinn, and, oh yeah, total unsought for validation

The destemmer and stand arrived Friday the 10th from St. Pats.  We've got it assembled out back and under tarps, and hope to use it out doors on crush day.

Then it was off to Shinn for the weekend (including a vertical Merlot tasting, their first - 2002 - through 2007, plus the reserves).  Friday late afternoon we were talking to Barbara Shinn and I pointed to the destemmer on their crushpad and I said that we'd just had a new one delivered earlier in the day.  Barbara launched into questions about it and a mini-lecture, the point of which was DON'T CRUSH!  Just destem.  Be gentle.  Wella, wella, music to Lori's ears and all the validation we need.

Yeast / Grape pairing manual

I'm ordering supplies and came across More Wine's yeast / grape pairing manual.  Good ref.

Wine Library TV Vin de Pays

Really, I just couldn't resist.

And the ancestral equipment migrates to Staten Island

Bernardo and Laura just carted off the old press, crusher, bottler, washer, carboys and assorted gear.

We salute you, vintners of Richmond County!

Shopping list, 2010 pre grapes

(Yeah, this is like my Aug. 1 post, only with a little more urgency.)
OK, destemmer and stand already ordered.
Much of our other equipment will be going to B's new place on Staten Island, so here's a list of what we're looking to acquire, with notes. 

Primary fermentation tanks,

• at least one 44 gal., one 32 gal.,  one ten gal.  James Guido thinks he can get them for us at a commercial restaurant supply here in NY.  We'll know on Monday, Aug. 30.  Food grade: would like to avoid plain trash cans.  Lids yes, dollies no.
• one 50 gal purchased @ Lapide, 8/29/2010
• another 50 gal @ Lapides, 9/4/2010
• We have plenty of 5 gallon buckets already on hand.  
• We'll want additional large fermenters if Mike and Pam want to make a different wine than S&L&P.

Bottling:

• corker, 
• Portuguese floor corker @ Lapide, 8/29/2010
• bottle washer, 
• @ TP&S, 8/29/2010
• large plastic funnels (2), 
• @Bowery Restaurant Supply, 8/30/2010
• 12 feet of 3/8" tubing, 
• @TP&S, 8/29/2010
• 150 colmated corks (for the remainder of our productions still in carboys).  
• 100 @TP&S, 8/29/2010

We can get this either from Presque Isle or one of the other houses we've used, or from Terminal Market.

Secondary fermentation, aging:
another stainless steel variable capacity tank is what we would really love to get, but it's a little too rich for us this year after the destemmer, so

• just more carboys.  M&P own four, S&L own two, but two have P's 2007 Cab. S. in them, and three have 2009 wines in them.  I think we're going to want to have a total of 10 empty at press time at the end of next month.  Probably best to buy these at Terminal Market.  
• one 5 gal cb @ TP&S, 8/29/2010
• 3 more 5 gal cb @TP&S, 9/4/2010 
• 6 more 5 gal cb @ TP&S 9/18/2010
• We'll also want new caps and bubblers for these, which I'll order from P.I.
• 6 caps & bubblers @ TP&S, 9/4/2010

Chemicals, additives, tests:

• KS02, 
• 2 # ordered 9/6/2010 from MoreWine.
• malolactic bugs.  
• ordered 9/6/2010 from MoreWine - enough for 66 gal. 
• Anyone want any extracting enzymes?  (I'm willing to pass on these this year, though I've been the one who's suggested them in the past.)
• Clinitest (which I think I might like to use for the white wine)
• Accuvin acid tests
• Tartaric acid ordered 9/6/2010 from MoreWine.

Stemmer, no crusher, it's official

Laddies and lassies, it's official.  After much back and forth the House has decided to go with destemming and no crushing.  The final nudge came from Alison's Crowe's entry on the topic in the Wine Makers Answer Book.  So, we're there.  We've ordered the Eno 10-S (pictured above) with the standard height stand, which will accommodate a 5 or 10 gal bucket under the chute.  We'll destem and not crush, trusting that there will be enough gentle damage to the grapes in the process to put the juice into contact with the yeast.  And if we're wrong, Lori goes into the tub with the grapes. Purchase was from St. Pats.

2009 yield notes for the Merlot blend

As we're getting ready for 2010, here's a red wine yield guideline:

2009:

• 7 x 36# Merlot +
• 2 x 36# Cab S. +
• 1 x 36# P. Syrah
• ------------------
• 25 gal. pressed, fermented juice
• - 1.5 gal. in 1st rack
• - 1.5 gal. in 2nd rack and carelessness
• = 22 gal. finished wine
• = 100 to 110 bottles

10 cases require five 5 gal carboys plus smaller vessels.
10 cases require either a 50 gal primary, or two smaller primaries

Field trip: North Fork

Might as well mention here that we spent some time on the North Fork earlier this month, visiting the Shinn Estate, Sherwood House (right next door to Shinn in Mattituck), the Tasting Room in Peconic, and then dipping down to the South Fork to visit Channing Daughters.  We bought wine everywhere (Comtesse Thérèse at the Tasting Room). 

We spent two nights in the farmhouse and Shinn, and were blown away by how much farmland is still there - OK, now that's where we're moving.  Chatted with Barbara Shinn and were free to walk the vineyard which we did a couple of times (and sat out by the vines all dark and starry one night with a bottle of their 9 Barrels.  Be there).

Also loved Sherwood House.  The vineyard is zoned for agriculture only, no permanent structures, so the tasting room is a shed on blocks and a bunch of rustic (ahem) furniture in the field and under a tent.  Walked in from Shinn. (Sherwood's built a 2nd tasting room, a real one with walls and floors and all that somewhere else: we ain't going.)

We're going back to Shinn 9/11 for a vertical tasting of their Merlot.  And staying again at the farmhouse.

A funny thing happened on the way to dumping the 2008 Cab. S.

Prepping the cellar for the 2010 production.

We have a plumber coming in (Jimmy) who is going to put a spigot in the front of the cellar so we can have a hose more easily up front, replace a few valves, extend some pipes to the back cellar well so we can turn things on and off from out back, and put in a slop sink.  The sink should save a hell of a lot of trips up and down the stairs.

I bottled another cb of the 2009 Merlot blend, and it's tasting very nice.  Will be the main red for next year's party.

And then came the biggy:  the dumping of 60 liters of the 2008 Cab. S.  Lori said, Let's just taste it once more before we dump it.  Because, you know, stranger things have happened.  I mean, if the British secret service could plot the death of Princess Diana...

And guess what?
It's wildly improved.  All the aftertaste issues are gone.  The taste is almost OK.  Color is good.  Alcohol is good.  So we're not going to dump it.  I cleaned the tank, added a very little KSo2 and sealed it back up.  Maybe we'll taste it again on it's 2nd birthday, about 40 days from now.

Cellar prep, decisions

Lori and I have decided on a stainless steel hopper crusher destemmer, with an appropriate stand.  (I nearly swallowed my tongue when Lori started leaning toward stemmer crushers with must pumps...)  Not yet decided on manual or motor - I'm leaning toward manual.  (Aside from the motor, many of the powered versions have screw augers rather than the agitator paddles like we have on our plain crusher.)

B will be making wine on SI, so for sure we'll be moving equipment there and ordering more for 11th St.

Will also order two 32 gallon and one 10 gallon food grade primaries (or look to see if the same can be had locally).  Carboys I'll wait on until I know who else is in and out.

I've set up a 2010 Timing sidebar.  The 18th is out for Lori, so it looks like the September 25th is our crush date.  I've thrown in other dates based on that.  (Track the grapes you want at M&M's harvest pages.  The 11th could turn out to be a better date, though not likely.)  Of course, if our dream comes true and we can get premium grapes dropped shipped here, we'll work whatever date the grapes arrive.

In the cellar...
It's damned crowded and dirty down there.  Spent a part of yesterday cleaning things out.  Will bottle another CB of 2009 Merlot blend today, to make a bit more room.  Need to repaint the floor and the ceiling over the winemaking area.  We'll be calling a plumber tomorrow to see if we can get new valves and a slop sink installed before crush date.

Time to be seriously thinking and prepping for the 2010 production

(For anyone looking in - I'm going to refine this over the next couple of days.  Shout if you want something included - fact or opinion.  S.)

Well, it's not shocking, but we haven't done much in the way of prepping for this year's production yet.  Here's what I've been thinking.

Who's in, and how far in?

• Pietro?
• Bernardo and Laura?
• Pam and Mike?
• Sebastian?
• Len and Annie?

Is every one wanting to make their own wine, or just wanting to get wet?  If making your own wine, how much and red or white?  I'm assuming that Lori & Peter and I will pool our grapes again.  I'm guessing the House will make a red and a white, hopefully much more white than last year, but still will likely do the white primary fermentation in carboys, unless we use the steel tank.  I think the max number of primary fermentation barrels we've had going in the cellar at one time is three.  Lori, can we fit four?  It's not obvious.


Where will be be getting our grapes from?
We need to decide whether we're going with Central Valley grapes (from the terminal market here in Brooklyn) or whether we want to choose from other parts of CA or from WA or OR.  For the latter three we would have to go to M&M in Hartford or find another supplier (and there is one in southern Jersey, I think.)  Hartford adds either an over-night and 2.5 hours, or 5 hours to day 1.  Unless we can get the grapes shipped here.  I'll start researching.

When is day 1?  When is day 8?
Saturdays in September are the 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th.  If we go with grapes from outside the Central Valley, then the date might get determined by harvest, but if in the CV then certainly there will be grapes at terminal market on the latter three weekends, and probably the first, too.  If we get to set our own date, I'd suggest the 18th with the 25th backup date.  For red wine makers, that means pressing on the 26th or October 3 (Sundays) or possibly 1 to 3 days later, mid-weeks, if fermentations go slowly.

What equipment do we need to purchase?
Depends. 

We have our press (and need to bet Bernardo's press to S.I.)

We have a crusher, but Lori and I have been talking about buying a new crusher / destemmer to save an hour or two of labor each year.  Pricey, but it is backbreaking labor.  Lori and I need to decide this week or so.

If B wants to make wine on S.I., we need to get the existing primary tanks to S.I..  And, even if he doesn't, since they aren't stored at 11th Street, we might find it good to purchase.  Research time.  Food grade, or 32 gal heavy duty trash?

There are lots of carboys, but again we need to figure out if B wants to move them, or some of them, to S.I. for wine making there.  We won't need any for day 1 except for white wines.  We can figure it out as we go (and visit terminal market on day 8), or work it out before hand.  What I think we'll definitely need to do in the next few weeks is bottle some of the 2009 reds to free some carboys and to make some room.  (And pitch the failed Cab. S. from 2008 to free up even more room.)  We have 4 1 gal jugs and a couple of 3 gal carboys: need more?

Funnels, buckets, masher, thermometers, refractometer, regular and low-scale hydrometers are all in hand. 

Test kits, chemicals, yeasts
I'd like to order everything in mid August and not sweat any last minute needs.  I'd like to test total acid, ph, sugar, free SO2.  Depending on the reds we buy, I'd like to force malolactic fermentation, and will buy appropriate bugs whether we use them or not.  Maybe enzymes for extraction.  More meta.  Maybe yeast nutrients.  Anything else anyone wants?

Need to 2x check whether a ph meter seems worth the cost.

Welcoming Len into the group...

Laddies and lassies, I've just sent an invite off to Len Rubin.  Looks like he'll be making wine with us ths coming year.  Howdy, Len.

Sour cherry liqueur

Lori's started a sour cherry liqueur with about a pound of sour cherries from this Saturday's G.A.P. green market, and 3 cups of Titos.  When the time comes it'll be sweetened with sugar rather than simple syrup, so the only dilution of the alcohol will be what comes from the cherries.  Gonna be closer to 40% than 30%, I'm guessing, but we'll be able to tell from the final volume.

Very long maceration and settling times.  (Maybe we can fill it in here later.)

(Mike's June notes)

Pamela and I had been tasting both our Grenache and Syrah. I like the Grenache but think the Syrah leaves as awkward aftertaste. Pam doesn't like either. The Syrah was made from juice rather than fruit so who knows. We used a medium toast on the Grenache but I decided to use a heavy toast on the Syrah. Nothing like a little makeup! Anyway, we bottled some of the Grenache over Memorial Day weekend so that we might serve some at the June 5th party. Notice the copper color below. Pam hates it but I think it has character.

One guest suggested we give it a slight chill and pass it off as a rose and viola', success! Nothing like a little packaging.

Let's dump the 2008 Cab

Or label it Death Cab.

I have theories.  And I vow to be cleaner.  I vow to test sooner and more often.  But right now I'd like to just get the 2008 as far away from our good wines as possible.  Nu?

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.

Post-party comment on the wines

This is inventory, not tasting notes.

The Muscat Alexandria was a hit and I'd like to make easily twice as much of it again next year, maybe doing a little of it on the leas an experiment.  Nice to have something that feels complete in its first year.  We used all of it except for three bottles I put away.

Big Dave had us re-market the Savino Grimaldi Grenache as Merlot, and just as he predicted, it started pouring quickly.

The 2007 Barbera was the red backbone of what we offered, and all of what I bottled went.  I had a little bit.  If we have any more it'll just be onsies or twosies from the shelf, where there might also be a couple of bottles of 2007 Sangiovese.  So maybe we have a case or less left of the 2007 production.

During the party I also pulled up some of the 2006 Zin blend.  Don't think I tasted any.  We might have close to a case of it left. 

Maybe I'll update this post with a full inventory, so we'll have it handy for next year.

More party prep: 2009 Merlot labels

Hadn't realized that there were no Merlot labels made - what was I thinking?  The above is based from the sheet music for the Merry Widow - below.

2009 Muscat bottled

Bottled.  Tastes right for the grape, very clear without fining.  Two cases.  Labeled and ready for the party.  Mike & Pam had a taste, too, when they came over today to check on the grenache and syrah.

Liqueurs started for the June 5, 2010 party

Double batch of the lemon sage (Juju Pongo's Love Balm), this time using a Torrentes for the white wine portion.  Single batch of the pistachio, this time using whole cloves and cinnamon bark rather than ground of each.

Oaking the 2009 blend

Very late, we've added 3/5 of the total oak to the 4 carboys of Cheatle / Lewis / Sclafani blend.  French medium toast.  Will add the remaining needed 2/5 within a couple of days, unless I totally spaz out. 

No oak to the Muscat - if one of the partners wants to experiment with this we need to break down the carboy to a 3 gal and two singles.  Might be fun to try a little light oak there.

(Mike and Pam oaked their Grenach last week with medium French, and the Syrah with heavy French.  Pam's not at all happy with the Syrah or what she said was it's pukey aftertaste.  So Mike is nuking it. )

Bottled the last of the 2007 production

The last carboy from 2007 - Peter's Sangiovese free run, got bottled today, and we'll use it for the June party.  24 bottles plus a half bottle for the cook.

Close examination of the blue tape that was on the CB shows faint ink saying that it's Barbera,  Then there's Sharpie over that saying Sangiovese.  We'd better query the cook's half bottle pretty closely...

Tags

I've become really fond of the tags we've been creating the last few years for both the wines and liqueurs  we've been making.  I think I'll start posting them to a sidebar.

TA, spinning my wheels

And then I decided to test a bottle of Ca’ del Solo Muscat for acid - 8+, compared to our wine's 7.  Also further reading (Iverson, Crowe, Warrick) says some of them think the range should be a little hoogher or lower than Accuvin's guidelines, but almost everyone talks about must, not finished wine - fermentation slightly drops TA. 

Anyway, the commercial wine has higher TA by about 1 g/L.  Crowe has a straightforward formula for acid adjustment:

1 L = 0.2642 gal.
So, 1 g/L = 
3.8g tartaric acid/G
or
18g/5 gal carbouy.

of course, Crowe desn't think you should change the acidity of finihed wine, because it might affect the long-term stability of the wine.  Iverson thinks it's fine any time during bulk aging.  Warrick - I can't figure out what he thinks on the topic.

So.
Not likely to make an adjustment now (I think), but added to the list of procedures for next year - Test TA in the must.

2009 Muscat 2nd racking

Second racking this morning, + KSO2. 

Tasting - much relieved, color great, taste right where you'd hope, adjusting for it being 10 AM and still a little dog-mouthed.  At the end of the first racking we topped off with a 750 of Muscat that we set aside as overflow at pressing, but didn't taste that 750 before using it: the tail end of it was very tart, very fizzy, and I worried I'd squirreled the carboy.  Plus intermediate tastings weren't comforting.  But this morning's wine was all happy.  Lost less than a liter in the racking, and will cold-stabilize another of the 750 set-asides and use it to top up this afternoon - unless the partners would rather use part of a commercial bottle.  I'm happy either way.

So, excellent color, good acid (by measure and taste), taste where I was hoping it would be.  Not all that much nose - not nearly as much as the just fermented juice.  Clear enough so that we might skip bentonite?  Definitely imagining it all going in the summer party, chilled and saving lives.

2009 Muscat titratable acid: 7 g/L

Used the Accuvin titratable acid test this evening on the Muscat.  7 grams per liter as tartaric acid - which means that we are in the target range for whites - 7 to 9 g/L. 

Last wine making supplies purchase of 2009

Just put in an order at Presque Isle for:

• 3/8th inch tubing - 10 feet of it and we can cut it to size as we want.  Some of the last tubing we bought got left in a bucket of water, and while it's still fine to use, the clear vinyl has turned cloudy.  Yuck;
• Solid rubber stoppers in sizes 6.5 and 7, 4 each.  It's finally occurred to me that the 2 year old Sangiovese and other old carboys really don't want a gas-lock on them any more - they want solid stoppers to hold off evaporation.  Got the two sizes because it seems that the 5 gallon carboys have changed in recent years.  Who knew?
• Titratable Acide tests from Accuvin.  This is a splurge, especially since the shelf life of the tests is only 6 months and I'm buying them now, after fermentation.  But it might be an interesting learning experience for us to match acid measurements against what we taste.  I'm betting Syrah the juice Mike & Pam have fermented will measure very low and, who knows, maybe can be touched up with just a bit of tartaric acid.  (Smart money might be against me.)
• Bentonite: the Muscat wants fining.  Whether now at 2nd racking or at a third racking, I dunno.  
• Narrow gauge hydrometer.  This will be fun for next year.  Measures from 5 to -5 brix.  Might even be interesting to look more closely at the Muscat to see how dry it really is.  I don't see it changing anything we do, just knowing a bit more.
• Corks, 1.75 inch amalgamated.  These are the cheapest natural corks PI sells, and just fine for a few years or more.  If the Grimaldi Savino gang wants to shoot higher, go for it.  I did in the 2nd year of our winemaking.  Only bought 100, at about 26 cents each.  

That's it.  Still need to make oak decisions pretty soon, and a bunch more corks later.

Feb. 2009 Amaro, 5th & final step

I filtered 200 ml. of the Feb 2009 amaro last evening.  10th months old.  Perfect amber color.  Really interesting, citrus hinting nose.  Taste - whoah!  That's no wussy drink.  That's the kind of amaro you feel smug abut ordering at a bar.  As the Who said, All the people, they stand back, when amaro walks by.   Or something like that.

Peter came over and tasted it with us.  I see Lori didn't finish hers.  (I had a second before beddy-bye last night.)

Xmas liqueurs, errors and omissions

We have an Anisette and a Ginger Cardamom batch going.  The Anisette is from Meilach and the G/C from Rathburn (or it's Rathburn's Ginger plus a couple of Cardamom pods suggested by Meilach).

I was putting the simple syrup together last night and I realized that Meilach and Rathbun use different proportions.  Meilach is 2 to 1 sugar to water, and Rathbun is 3 to 2.5.  I automatically made the Meilach syrup, and now have to decide whether to make the ginger a little sweeter than it's author would, or make another batch of syrup.  Plus I misremembered the final volumes - I forgot that the final volume = the sugar content, not the water, so I would up making double the amount I need.  Yo, I have a lot of syrup right now - anyone need any?

Time to start thinking about the 2nd racking

Kids, it's time to think about the second racking.  It's already been a month since the first racking.  How much longer to we want to go?  Xmas week?  A full two months to the 9th or 10th of January 2010?

And for the Syrah - do we need to do a second racking at all?

For the Muscat, when do we fine?  Before 2nd racking?  Before 3rd?

With the second racking, it's also time to be looking at oak for the reds: Barrel Mill spirals?  Stavin cubes?  I don't think any of our batched are big enough for a half-barrel, and would we go smaller?

1st Racking - Rhone Blend

We started by racking the free run Grenache. Tasted vibrant and I am thinking of making some Rose to drink next summer. Needed to top it off with a 750 Rose 100% Grenache from Tavel. That still left the carboy a little short so we topped it off with the Pressed Grenache/Syrah juice.

Next we racked the remainder of the Pressed Grenache/Syrah juice. Between what we used to top off the free run Grenache and this racking we were short probably about a magnum. Topped this carboy off with the 100% Syrah juice. Steve seems fascinated and off balance by the fresh juice start.

That left racking the 100% Syrah juice. This didn't taste a vibrant as the Grenache but had some nice depth. Rather than top it off, we chose to transfer this to one 3-gallon and one 1-gallon carboy. Hopefully we can get a few bottles of pure Syrah to experiment with.

Pictures from 1st Racking

1st Racking, 2009

(Merlot blend lees on the left, Muscat on the right.  You lose the pop art sense of things when you save to web-safe colors.)

About 5 weeks after pressing, 1st racking.

I started puttering around and getting ready early.  Lori joined me & we started with the Muscat.  (Peter's out at Montauk.)

Muscat lees were pretty firm and the wine clear enough to watch through.  We used the racking wand and a clip on the neck of the carboy to ease things.  Lost very little volume in the process, and were able to top off with a single 750 ml overflow bottle.  But - doh! - we never even tasted the 750 when we opened it, and didn't realize until after we'd poured it in that it was not fresh and had a pretty heavy tingle.  Will taste the combined wine every couple of days for a while to make sure we don't have a problem.  (I knew I smelled something off as we were ending the work - I just didn't react to it.)

Added 3/4 tsp (1.5 g) KSO2 to get to 40 parts per million in the 5 gal. Muscat, and to all the other wines we worked with today.

Moved on to the Merlot blend.  Of the 25 gallons, we lost about 1.5 gal. of volume.  Beautiful, psycho-purple lees.  Some taste variation from carboy to carboy, but generally very happy stuff.  Ended with four 5 gal. carboys, one 3 gal carboys, and a couple of 750's (which need airlocks or will go bad - had no more small bored plugs).

Mike and Pam came over after we had finished with the Merlot.  Hopefully Mike will post about the top-ups to the Grenache.  Pam tasted the Grenache and seemed pretty happy.  End result was one 5 gal. carboy all Grenache, one 5 gal carboy Grenache + a 750 of commercial Grenache rose, and a little topping from the Syrah, one 3 gallon carboy of the Syrah and a one gallon jug of the Syrah.

And somewhere along the way while I was cleaning things today, I broke an empty carboy.  Sad.  It made me wonder how I got into a fourth year of doing this without having already broken one, but still, an ugly waste.