Poppyseed Cellars

I took the day off on Friday to work in the cellar.

1. Bottled the pinot noir! I got about 2 1/2 cases of wine. Not a lot, but enough to enjoy.
2. Erwin showed up, and we bottles the plastic carboy of 2008 syrah. Is is good, but not the best. We will use it to top off the 2010 and 2011. And to drink!
3. We bottled the  15 gallon barrel of 2010 syrah, after adding 15 ppm sulphites to a target of 33 ppm. That resulted in about 6 cases of wine, which Erwin and I split. That should last us a while. And we still have a 30 gallon barrel to go, end of summer!
4. We tasted the 2011 syrah. It is still a little reductive, so we tried a copper fining trial, at 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 ppm Cu. There was a clear difference between 0.3 and 0.6, and a subtle difference between 0.6 and 0.9. We ended up adding  0.75 ppm (70 mL of 1% soln).  We will need to rack in a week or so.

I had many of the wines tested. Here are the results, and resulting actions:

• 2011 Syrah 60 gallon barrel: 28 ppm free SO2. Target is 30 ppm, so didn’t do anything.
• 2010 Syrah
•  30 gallon barrel: 6 ppm free SO2. Target is 30 ppm, so added 24 ppm  (47 ml 10% SO2 solution).
• 15 gallon barrel: 18 ppm free SO2. Target is 30 ppm, but we are going to bottle this one, maybe this Friday, so hold off until we bottle.
• 2011 Zinfandel
•  60 gallon barrel: 10 mg/100 mL = 100 ppm malic acid. Target less than 30, or 300 depending on who you trust! So MLF is complete.
• Added 40 ppm SO2 (160 mL 10% soln).
• Added 0.4 ppm 1% copper sulphate soln (36 ml)
• 15 gallon barrel
• Added 40 ppm  SO2 (40 ml 10% soln)
• Added 0.4 ppm 1% copper sulphate soln  (9 ml)
• 3 gallon carboy
• Added 25 ppm SO2 (5 ml 10% soln). This is all I had left; Once I mix them all together it will be about 40 ppm.
• Added 0.4 ppm 1% copper sulphate soln (1.8 ml)
• 2010 Pinot Noir:
• 5 gallon carboy: 23 ppm free SO2. Added 10 ppm SO2  (3.9 ml 10% soln).
• 1 gallon jug: Added 10 ppm (1 ml 10% soln)
• 2008 Syrah
• 6 gallon plastic carboy: 25 ppm free SO2. Target is 35 ppm, so added 10 ppm SO2  ( 3.9 ml 10% soln)
• 6 gallon glass carboy: Added 10 ppm SO2  ( 3.9 ml 10% soln)

Topped off the ’11 and ’10 syrahs with 2 bottles and a little water, as I have no more of the 10 syrah bottled.

Topped off the ’11 zin with water. The mlf is very close to done. I can barely hear any crackle, and the Accuvin test strips show done.

The ’11 rose is STILL fermenting. The nose is great. Lots of fruit, pineapple. Color is good, a salmon pink color. It is actually still too sweet, but I might let it stay a little sweet.

The ’10 Pinot started showing a ring on the surface in the carboy. I cleaned it, topped it off, and added 10ppm sulphites. It tasted fine. I need to get it bottled soon.

First visit to the cellar  in the new year!

2011 Syrah:

• With my ear to the barrel, I could hear a very slight crackle, so almost done but not quite. We will need to have this tested soon.
• The nose seemed fine from the barrel, but a bit off in the glass. Something not quite right. I attribute this to the MLF.
• The taste was great. Good smooth tannins; nice mouth feel. Pure fruity syrah. Acids are there to keep it crisp. I think this will best the ’10 and the ’09.
• The barrel required almost 2 bottles to top it off. We are done with the extra topping bottles of the ’11 syrah, and I am now using the ’10 Syrah for topping.

2011 Zinfandel:

• MLF still going pretty strong. I could clearly hear the crackle in the barrel.
• The nose is still problematic. There is a definite H2S problem. This will need to be copper fined soon, if not already too late.
• The taste was pretty good. Very much a crisp cool climate zin. It seems like I am far more sensitive to the H2S in the nose that in the mouth. We had stopped in at Balletto Winery on Occidental Road on the way back from the coast on Sunday; they had a similar cool climate zin that I really liked. Very different from the big jammy zins from Northern Sonoma County, which I also like a lot.
• Color is a clean medium garnet.
• This required a bottle and a half; I have no topping bottles, so I am using the ’10 Syrah as topping. it is such a small amount, it won’t make much difference to the taste.

2011 Rose of zin:

• It has fallen completely clear. If not for the sweetness, it would be ready to bottle.
• Nose is great. Citrus, light and fruity.
• Taste is crisp, but sweet. Both carboys are noticeably sweet. I need to make measurements again, and decide if I want a sweet white zin, or if I want to try and restart the ferment. It won’t be an easy decision, as I usually like my wines dry.
• Color is wonderful. It has the light pink, salmon color which I really like. It is a little too light, so as I pull some out of the carboys to taste, I put back in the zin, which adds a little color.

2010 Syrah:

• The 30 gallon barrel took a bottle of topping.
• The taste of this wine was even better than what we have bottled. It is starting to smooth out a little more.

2010 Pinot Noir:

• Tastes great. Need to get this in bottles. Time to start drinking. The sulphites should still be fine. It was at 16 ppm on 9/29/2011; I added 20 ppm 10/3/2011 to get to 36 ppm.

I went back tonight and checked on the rose. Looks nice and settled. I will rack it and start the ferment tomorrow.

I also added 20 ppm sulphites to the 2010 Pinot, to prep for bottling.

I decided to get the ’10 pinot tested one last time before bottling. The results indicate the free SO2 at 16 ppm. Ouch! I was expecting 30 ppm after the last addition. So I need to add 20 ppm more to get it to 35 ppm, and let it sit a little before bottling.

Crush 2011 is very near. I will be making a little over a ton of zin this year. It is going to be busy. The rain next Tuesday might mean we are harvesting Monday…see the harvest numbers. It is almost ready.

I sulphited the pinot to 40 ppm and racked into a new container. After a day or two, it’s going into bottles!

I decided to get all of the  wines still in barrels or glass tested for free SO2. Some of the wines are ready to bottle.

The results are summarized here…

All look great, except the pinot, which is near zero. As it is ready to bottle, I need to rack it into a new carboy and sulphite at the same time. The 2008 syrahs are also ready to bottle. 

I also tasted all the wines. The 2008 syrah is a little light, and would be better with a bit more acidity. The 2010 is crisp and intense, with stiff tannins: maybe a blend of the ’08 and ’10 would be interesting. Something to try with some of the wine.

I tested the ’10 pinot for taste, and for MLF. It still has a ways to go on the MLF, so I have moved it upstairs to the barn, in hopes that it will warm up a little. It tastes pretty good. The nose is a bit closed. We’ll see if it opens up over time. I decided to do a little more oak, as it was pretty fruity without much balance. So in went one new medium toast French oak stave.

I checked the ’08 syrah…yes it still isn’t bottled. This one just isn’t working out. I added 1 g/L tartaric 6 months ago…and was waiting for it to balance out a little. It is better, but is still isn’t quite where I want it. It has a “slick” mouth feel, and I think that is because of it’s low acidity (it was around 4.2 g/L last year; it should be 6 g/L). With this second addition, the acidity should be 6.2 g/L, which should be fine. I’ll check it in a few weeks. This wine also was very fruity; I think it also needed more oak, so I put a stave in each carboy.

I apparently didn’t note it, but I put in 0.5 ppm copper sulphate, at least a week ago, for the H2S problem.

We racked the pinot off of the copper sediment today, after finishing the racking of the syrah. I put two new French oak staves into the carboy.

The pinot doesn’t have a strong nose at this point. We’ll see if it comes later.

I also added 5 mL of Enoferm Alpha malolactic bacteria, to get the malolactic fermentation underway. Now just let it sit for a few months.

I racked the pinot again today after the  syrah crush. I measured:

1. Sugar: 0.4% with clinitest. I think the ferment is finished. The sugar is a little high but OK.
2. pH: 3.5 … it has come up significantly since the must measurment of 3.1.
3. It is losing it’s H2S smell, but now I can smell oak. But if I remember right, that is what happened with the ’09 syrah. And the copper removed it; so it wasn’t oak, but an H2S issue.
4. Because of the racking, I added 30 ppm SO2.

I took the oak staves out of the wine; I will let it sit a week, and then try some copper fining trials.

I checked sugars with Clinitest:

Pinot: 0.4%

Sauv Blanc: 0.1% …it is done. Time to rack…hopefully tomorrow morning.

Also, here are some picures of the pinot and SB…

and a friend who was living in the ceallar…hopefully not drinking any of my wine!

Once again I have a serious H2S problem. The pinot is stinky! This is really frustrating. As far as I know, I am doing everything right!

I racked it yesterday, and again this morning, with lot’s of splashing. It helped a lot, but it is still there. I don’t want to keep doing the rack and splash, as it will eventually get too much O2 in the wine, and then I’ll have different problems.

The ferment is almost done. The sugars were at 0.6%, by Clinitest. My next step is copper sulphate to remove the H2S. I’ll post in a few forums to see if there is any other solution…but splashing and copper sulphate are the only solutions  I have read about.

I checked the sugars…5 Brix.

Because of the intensity of the tannins, and the bitterness, I decided to go ahead and press off the  skins and seeds. I started with about 12 gallons of must, and ended up with maybe 7 gallons of pressed wine, in a 6 gallon carboy plus two 1 gallon jugs.

There is still quite a bit of the ferment to finish, so I will keep the glass up in the wine making room, which is a bit warmer than the cellar.

The bladder press worked great! It is a 90L press, or about 22 gallon. I prefilled it most of the way, so that the 12 gallons of must would fill the press the rest of the way. I was off only by a few inches. I got about 4-5 gallons of free run, the other 2 gallons of press run.

The carboys are topped with airlocks, and are bubbling away as the ferment completes….hopefully within a week or so. I also put in the 4 wood staves into the 6 gallon carboy for the rest of the ferment.

I stopped by the cellar just now.

• Sugar at 7 Brix. it is almost done. I should press tomorrow.
• Temp at 78F. So it never got as warm as I wanted, but not too bad.
• I think I smelled some H2S. I put in the 2nd half of the FermaidK. It should have gone in at 15 Brix. I missed it!
• In tasting in a seperate jar, I got no H2S. Just very yeast must. But there was a distinct bitterness and noticeable tannins. I don’t know if any of this is going to dissipate. I hope so, as it won’t be drinkable if it doesn’t!

Checked on ths Pinot this evening.

• 17 Brix. The ferment is really moving now. That is 5 or 6 Brix in a day.
• 75 F…so it is warming up, as it should be. I am not sure I’ll ever get the must to 80. We’ll see.
• Big cap tonight. Punch down was a lot of fun.
• Smelled great. Taste was good, with a strong sour component. That may be the acidity coming though, but it seemed like it was something more that that. We’ll just have to wait and see. It is funny, but I still don’t get the Pinot character. Hopefully, at some point that will come through.
• Tomorrow I will add the final nutirent addition.

The pinot ferment is well under way. The sugars still measured 23 Brix, so we have a long ways to go. But there was a nice cap to be punched down, and the must smells wonderful. Esteban will be punching down 3 times a day, and I hope to be out there daily for a fourth punch down. The color is really deepening. I wonder how light a wine this will be?

I went out to the vineyard to punch down the Pinot. The ferment has started. The temperature was around 70F, and the sugars measured about 23 Brix with the hydrometer. Everything smelled wonderful.

So far so good!

I brought the cold soaking Pinot up from the cellar yesterday, and it has been warming up fora day. The juice is a gorgeous purple color, with a wonderful flavor. There are some tannins, but at least so far it is a light juice. The fermentation should help.

I am using Assmanhausen yeast, a common yeast for Pinot. It is low H2S producing, medium nutrient requirement, and is supposed to produce spicy, fruit wine. Sounds good!

I mixed up a batch of yeast as follows:

1. Target yeast qty = 12 g Assmanhausen yeast= 1 g/gal Assmanhausen * 12 gal
2. 15 g GoFerm  (1.25 * yeast weight)
3. 300 mL water = 20 * 15 g GoFerm weight
4. Mixed the goFerm and water at 110 F to help dissolve the GoFerm.
5. Let the mix cool down to 104 F.
6. Mix in the yeast. Stir to prevent clumping.
7. Let it sit 15 minutes.
8. Add must juice slowly to bring yeast temop closer to must temp.
9. Mix in the yeast mixture with the must.
10. Add Fermaid at 1/2 g/gallon = 6 g Fermaid to the must. This is to make sure the must has all the nutrients that the yeast need. If it doesn’t, you can get some nasty H2S problems. I have had more than my share.

Now just wait for the ferment to begin!

The sauvignon blanc is being picked tomorrow morning. I am going to piggyback on this harvest, so when I get there the grapes will picked and ready. I gotta drop the kids off at school; I wouldn’t have been able to start until 9AM. They are starting at 2AM. I don’t have the numbers…so I am trusting the winemaker who ordered the picking tomorrow. The guy makes damn good wine…I should be OK.

Also, I brought the pinot in from the cold room to warm up. I’ll start the ferment tomorrow!

Each day since I started the cold soak I have gone out to the vineyard where the juice is soaking,and replaced my milk jug of ice. I have set a stainless bowl on the top of the must, and I put the ice container into it, then put the lid on. I should probably put a blanket over the top also.

The 20 gallon tub is in a cellar at the house that stays in the 60’s throughout the summer. It is a lot easier to cold soak there than in my garage.

I would like to mix in dry ice, which is what the pros do. But this cellar is not vented. How much CO2 do you get from 1 pound dry ice? I got the numbers from a dry ice MSDS…

• Density of dry ice = 97.5 lbs/cu ft
• Expansion ratio of dry ice, solid to gas = 554
• 1 lb / 97.5 lb/cu ft = .0103 cu ft dry ice
• .0103 cu ft * 554 = 5.68 cu ft CO2

It only takes about 1% CO2 in the air to start making you drowsy. If I used 10 pounds, that would be 57 cu ft of CO2. The room is maybe 1400 cu ft. That is about 4% CO2. I don’t want to take any chances…so no dry ice.

The must is currently at 60 F, which is a little warm, but no ferment has started, so I think I am OK. I added three medium toast French oak staves to the juice. I am going to leave them in for the rest of the cold soak, and the entire ferment. I can’t really do a barrel ferment, but putting in oak staves is as close as I am going to come. Wine makers say that you get better oak “integration” if you do a barrel ferment, in addition to getting better color stability, and the removal of “green” or vegetal flavors. I have not made Pinot before; I have no control; so I am just winging it!

My kids and I made it out to the vineyard by 8AM. I would like to have started at 6:30 AM, but getting the kids up and out would have been too much trouble. My in laws also came to help. My wife? She is in Paris drinking the real thing!

Picking the Pinot took about an hour. There was some turkey damage, and a lot of raisins from our big 105F heat spike a few weeks back. So, we skipped the completely raisin-ed clusters, and tried to remove as many other raisins as we could. We’ll see how it comes out.

We ended up somewhere betwenn 100 and 150 lbs, which is what I was estimating.

• Sugars were 23.5 Brix (hydrometer)
• The pH was 3.1

 The pH is a little low, although it will probably rise. The sugar was surprisingly high. I measured a few grapes on Saturday, and got 21.5 with the refractometer. I should have checked the juice with the refractometer in addition to the hydrometer. I’ll check it Monday. I will also check the pH and TA on Monday and see where it is at.

I am going to do a 4 day cold soak. So I will get some dry ice pellets and mix some in, and put a few on top to create a CO2 layer to keep the O2 off.

I think I have around 12 gallons of must. I targeted 6 gallons of final wine. I added SO2 as follows:

• 50 ppm in 6 gallons = 20 mL 10% SO2 solution

The Pinot winemaker is picking tomorrow! Yikes! My tomorrow is already busy…I’ll pick Sunday.

This is going to be a very crazy crush season. The weather sucks! We are far colder this summer than most. So the grapes are not ripening fast enough. And we may have rain this weekend. As long as it is not too much, and it warms up and dries off, we’ll be OK. Otherwise there will be unfriendly organisms growing on the grapes.

I walked the vineyard Tuesday morning, measuring the sugars and picking out the rows I want. This Saturday, the real winemakers are walking the vineyard to divvy up the grapes. My quantities are mice nuts compared to what they are making, which is mice nuts to well known wineries. 

• Syrah: 2 different vineyard blocks: 13 -18 Brix. Almost completely turned. Anything that hadn’t been more  that 50% through veraison last week was dropped. So there was a lot of fruit on the ground. What is left looks pretty good.
• Pinot: 20-22 Brix. Getting close! Everything is well through veraison. Lots of bird damage however. The vineyard has wild turkeys…maybe not for long. Early Thanksgiving anyone? The grapes tasted good. It is amazing how much more tannic the syrah skins are compared to the pinot. The seeds are partly turning brown, which is supposed to be an indicator for ripeness.
• Sauv Blanc: 15-18 Brix. The grapes have a noticeable “cat pee” taste. This somewhat common in SB. It does seem to be dissipating, as I have been tasting for a month or so.
• Zinfandel…I didn’t get up there. I’ll do that this weekend. These grapes are not sold, so I’ll have more than I can handle.

Here is my 2010 Crush Plan. Since I am making 4 wines, planning the containers and equipment is more important. I have no idea how a real winery manages all this stuff. I am glad my living is not on the line!