Poppyseed Cellars

We started at 8 AM. Cleaned for an hour, and we were bottling by 9AM.

We first bottled the 30 gallon 2011 Syrah, then the 60 gallon 2011 Zin.

We finished bottling at 3:30, and cleanup took until 5PM.

Long day!

Some learnings:

• The bottles should be a lighter color so that we can see the wine level as we are filling.
• Buy a better quality cork than BevPeople is selling. We had some recorking to do because the corks would break down.
• When corking, pull down the handle partway twice, pre-compressing the cork. Then cork it in the third pull

Vinquiry sulphite test:  2013-12-02-006:

• 60 gallon barrel:
  • 15 ppm:   added +20 ppm (79 mL 10% SO2) more to reach 35 ppm for bottling Friday

Here are the tasting notes ffrom the Harvest Fair.

We were the only gold given for zins. Tough judges!

HarvestFairtastingNotes2011Zin

Topped and sulphited the following wines:

• 2012 MV Syrah: +20 ppm sulphite
• 2012 MV Late harvest syrah, both barrels: +20 ppm sulphite
• 2012 MV Fortified syrah: +15 ppm
• 2011 MV Syrah: +20 ppm sulphite
• 2011 MV Zinfandel: +20 ppm sulphite

Wow! Our 2011’s did well in the 2013 Sonoma County harvest Fair Wine Contest.

Erwin and I both entered the 2011 MV Syrah into the fair. Erwin got a double gold, and I got a double gold, plus Best of Class!

We also both entered the 2011 MV Zinfandel into the fair. Erwin got a silver, and I got a gold, plus Best of Class!

Can’t ask for much better results than that. Except maybe win the sweepstakes award!

Here are the results:  2013AmateurWineWinners

We have drank most of the previous 15 gallons…need to bottle the 60!

Sampled the 60 gallon barrel for SO2 testing.

Results here:

• 19 ppm; added 16 ppm to 35 ppm

Plan is to use new Enolmatic bottler + N2 bottle flushing to bottle the 15 gallon syrah barrel first. We will see how that goes before moving onto the zin!

• Topped
• sulphited +10 ppm

I went out to the cellar before work.

Topped all wines, and sulphited the Zin to 30 ppm:

• 60 gallon barrel: added 16 ppm (60 mL 10% kmeta solution)

Had the sulphites checked 2013-04-26-011:

• 60 gallon barrel: 14 ppm

Lower than I expected. Need to bump it up to 30 ppm.

Topped off all wines!

And tasted, with spitting. Very enjoyable morning!

Erwin and I bottled today…

• Re-hydrated the empty 30 gallon barrel (overnight).
• Bottled the 15 gallon barrel of ’11 zinfandel.
  • Struggled big time with the bottle wand on our new zin bottles. The punt on the bottles prevents the wand from opening. The want must be held precisely on the top of the punt and held there while filling. I am done with the wand after today! next time we do something much better.
  • We got about 6 cases of wine. 3 for Shahrokh, 1 1/2 each for Erwin and myself.
  • Cleaned the 15 gallon barrel
• 2011 Syrah 60 gallon barrel
  • Bottled 4 cases of ’11 syrah (from 60 gallon barrel). This went fast, as the syrah bottles that we used caused no problems with the bottle wand.
  • Pumped into 15 gallon barrel.
  • Pumped into 30 gallon barrel.
  • Bottled 2 more cases of ’11 syrah (from 60 gallon barrel). This went slow, as the siphon could not be started with the siphon pump. We ended up using my electric pump to start the siphon, and then bottled using the wand. It was also slow because we were at the bottom of the barrel, so there was not much height difference.
  • Got ~6 cases of the ’11 syrah, 3 for Erwin, 3 for me.

2011 MV Zinfandel:

• tasted: Nose was wonderful. Kept getting better and better in the glass. Nice smooth finish. Clear strong zin character, but in  lighter fashion.
• Sulphited +25 ppm
  • 60 gallon barrel: 100 mL 10% kmeta solution
  • 15 gallon barrel: 25 mL 10% kmeta solution
• Topped both barrels with the 2010 MV zin/syrah blend
• See previous post for bottling plan

2011 MV Syrah:

• Tasted: the oak is getting quite noticeable. Not sure why. this wine is in one of the 2010 Bevan Cellars barrels that we got. Shouldn’t be this strong, as it has been used at least one year, or so we believe.
• We decided we have to get it out of this barrel soon. Maybe next Friday, in the morning. Tentative plan:
  • Bottle the 15 gallon barrel of ’11 Zin
  • Transfer 30 gallons of ’11 syrah to unused 30 gallon barrel (also a 2010 barrel, but held the 2010 syrah for two years).
  • Transfer 15 gallons of ’11 syrah to just emptied Zin barrel 
  • Bottle 15 gallons of the ’11 Syrah (whatever is left after filling barrels)
  • Bottle the rest of the 2011 syrah (45 gallons) at end of summer.
  • Bottle the rest of the 2011 zin (60 gallons) at end of summer.
• Need 60 gallons * 5 = 300 bottles = 25 + 1 extra = 26 cases burgundy bottles for 2011 MV Syrah
• Need 60+15 = 75 gallons *5 = 375 bottles = 31.25 + 1 extra = 33 cases bordeaux bottles for 2011 MV Zin
• Sulphited +25 ppm
  • 60 gallon barrel: 100 mL 10% kmeta solution
• Topped off the barrel

Tasted and topped everything…

2011 zin: both barrels good. Still slight difference, 15 gallon better, richer, but don’t know why.

2011 Syrah: very night; deep dark fruit; light tannins; great color

2012 Syrah: still something funky; I don’t think just a young wine, but maybe; cu did not help

2012 LH Syrah: definitely off nose; cu helped; need to rack, and see if cu still needed

2012 port: very nice; alc a bit harsh; needs a lot more time

We haven’t sulphited since November, when we brought it up to 30 ppm.

20 ppm addition

• 60 gallon barrel: 80 mL 10% SO2 solution
• 15 gallon barrel: 20 mL 10% SO2 solution

Paul, Erwin and I went out to taste everything in barrels. Based on some tastings over Christmas with the family, I am worried we are over oaking the 2011’s.

• 2011 Zinfandel: Started with a side by side tasting of the zin barrels:
  • 15 gallon barrel: Clean clear fruit. Light tannins.
  • 60 gallon barrel: Similar to the 15, but something else also. I wondered if it was brett, or maybe the beginnings of two much oak. We had lots of discussions, but could not positively ID the extras in the 60 gallon barrel. Decided a good future plan is to leave the 15 gallon barrel alone until summer. Transfer 30 gallons of the 60 gallon barrel to an older 30 gallon barrel, and bottle the other 30 gallons.
• 2011 Syrah: Generally happy with this one. Tannins much lighter than the 2010. Aromatics very nice; clearly syrah.
• 2012 Syrah: Something funky going on. Nose was off putting. Cu didn’t seem to help it. Hopefully just stuff from the MLF. Plan is to sulphite (if MLF done), let it sit for a month, and rack.
• 2012 Late Harvest Syrah: Much better nose than the earlier 2012 syrah. Not sure why. But still not clean. Same plan as for the early syrah.
• 2012 Syrah Port: Coming along nicely. Need to get the numbers to see what we have.

Free SO2 measurement results:

Rose:   7 mg/L

10 Syrah: 13 mg/L 

11 Zin-60:   26 mg/L

11 Zin-30:  34 mg/L

11 Syrah:   25 mg/L 

We topped off and added 20 ppm sulphites to 2011 Syrah; 2011 Zin both barrels; 2010 Syrah.

• Zinfandel 15 gallon barrel: 25 ppm; added 5 ppm (5 mL) to get 30 ppm
• Zinfandel 60 gallon barrel: 21 ppm; added 9 ppm (36 mL) to get 30 ppm
• 2010 Syrah (30 gallon barrel): 8 ppm; added 22 ppm (43 mL) to get 30 ppm
• 2011 syrah (60 gallon barrel): 16 ppm; added 14 ppm (55 mL) to get 30 ppm

Additions performed June 20.

I also racked the rose into a 5 gallon and 3 gallon carboy. I wanted to get it off the  lees. There are still some bubbles being produced. I sulphited both carboys with 30 ppm. Hopefully that will stop it.

Stopped by the farm today and topped off the barrels. I also took samples for so2 testing.

2010 syrah tasted great with the same wonderful nose.

2011 syrah is good, with a more complex nose. Tastes fine; is not as intense color or taste.

2011 zin has an intense flavor. And a good nose. Very strong zin character, but not ultra fruity.

2011 rose may not make it to the bottle. It is a bit yeasty. I think I left it on the lees too long ( still on them, slowly fermenting still). It seems a bit like champagne with the breast yeasty result from autolysis.

Erwin and I went to the farm over lunch.

We topped off the ’10 syrah and the ’11 syrah and the ’11 zin.

We also sulphited all with 20 ppm.

Finally we tasted all of them!

’10 syrah: killer nose, as always. Chocolate, fruit, slightly spicy. It is really smoothing out. The tannins are not nearly as grippy as they were a year ago. The wine is well balanced.

’11 syrah: nose is improving. The funk that I thought might still be h2s is gone. Maybe it was just leftovers from the mlf. It is lighter in color than the ’10, but a nice elegant wine.

’11 zin: turning out to be the surprise of the vintage! I did not have high hopes, but it is really coming along. For a 15% alc wine, it works well. It doesn’t seem hot to me. Has some tannins, nice zin fruit. This is going to be a good wine.

Erwin and I made a Saturday morning of wine tasks…

First we racked the zin off the CU sediment. I lost about 3 gallons in the racking, from a total of 79 gallons. I had already sulphited the wine when we

I stopped by to see if the rose had stopped bubbling…it hadn’t! Esteban had reconnected the space heater that I had disconnected when we racked the  zin and syrah. So it was still at 70F instead of in the 50’s.

So I moved the rose next to the barrels. I added 40 ppm sulphites. Hopefully the colder temperature plus the sulphite will put an end to the ferment. I wanted to leave a little sugar, and it is under 1% at this point.

I will rack it in a few weeks, and put in some stuff to ensure that the yeast cannot reproduce. I don’t have the equipment to sterile filter, which is the best method to make sure it doesn’t continue to ferment.

Also topped the 11 syrah and the 11 zin. The zin is tasting pretty good. The syrah still has something odd on the nose. Not sure what is going on.

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.

2011 Syrah:

• We decided to add 40 ppm sulphites. This came to 160 mL of 10% SO2 solution for the 61 gallon ReCoop barrel. This will drop quickly (our first addition), so we will check it in a week to see how it is doing.
• Nose: slight funk going on; probably leftovers from the the MLF finishing.
• Color is deep red, inky garnet. Lighter than the ’10.
• Taste: Light tannins; much less than last year. Fruit.

2010 Syrah:

• We added 10 ppm sulphites: 20 mL for the 30 gallon barrel;  10 mL for the 15 gallon barrel
• We compared the bottled to the two barrels. The nose was pretty similar on all three, but the barrels were noticeably smoother tannins than what we have bottled. More time in barrel is really helping.

2011 Zin:

• Still crackling; still reductive on the nose, but pretty good in the taste. I wish this would finish it’s MLF.

2011 Rose of zin:

• I measured with a hydrometer. One carboy measured 1.5% (the one this is bubbling slowly), and the other carboy measured 3%! It still has a long way to go. Still trying to decide if I should dump in some yeast, but since it is going, I think I’ll just let it finish. I really want to drink this come summer! Hurry up!

This time my second favorite Iranian dish…khoresh fesenjun.

Back to the wine. Topping off of all the syrah took 2 bottles.

• ’11 Syrah:
• Stirred the wine.
• Nose: good, still a little off, but settling down since last time.
• Taste: mouth feel good. Less tannins than the ’10.
• No sound coming from the barrel.
• I did an Accuvin Malic acid test. Came out completely clear, implying that the MLF is done. I took a sample to drop off at Vinquiry tomorrow.
• It took more than a bottle to top off.
• ’10 Syrah
• Nose was wonderful.
• Tannins smoothing out. Definitely better mouth feel than the ’10 in bottles.
• Between the 30 and 15 gallon barrels, topping off took almost another bottle of the ’10.
• ’11 Zin:
• Still hear a little crackling going on.
• Accuvin malic tested clear, so the MLF must be close to done. But I will wait for the Vinquiry test until I don’t hear anything any more.
• Nose is still off. Definitely need to copper fine.
• Taste was still pretty good. Lot’s of fruit.
• ’11 Rose
• Bubbling away still.
• Nose was citrus and fruit.
• Color is gorgeous; salmon pink.
• Taste was crisp. I am pretty sure less sugar in both carboys.
• My sugar test tablets had gone bad. They were all black. I wonder if I spilled some liquid in them last time I used them. Need to get more in the next few days.
• I tried the Accuvin on both carboys. Both tests maxed out showing lots of malic left. I would like to be sure that it is the sugar fermenting. Here is what the test strip looked like:

Did a copper fining bench trial on the zin. I tried 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 ppm trials.

The difference between the untreated and the 0.3 was clear. Lots more fruit on the nose. Clean and crisp. The 0.6 was almost the same as the 0.3, except less fruit. I have heard that the cu can strip flavored in addition to the H2S.

In the end I decided to go with 0.3 ppm. I will wait for the MLF to complete, then sulfite and copper at the same time, with racking a couple of days later.

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 tasted both the ’11 zin and ’11 syrah:

• Zin: most of the H2S was gone, although I think there was still a little. Something blew off in the first few seconds, and then everything smelled great. The taste was bright and zin fruit. I will need to keep checking this. I could hear the crackle of either the ferment finishing or the MLG going or both.
• Syrah: smelled and tasted good. Much less tannic than last year, although you can feel it. We’ll see what the barrel adds. I could easily hear the crackle of the MLF. This one was totally dry, so it has to be the MLF.

With many of my wife’s family in town,  I “hosted” a barrel tasting of what we have in the cellar.

The ’11 Syrah was very popular. It is now crisp and fruity, with slight tannins. There is no sign of the H2S issues that it had. It will be interesting to see how the tannins develop, compared to the ’10 syrah.

The ’10 syrah is a bit too tannic  for some, although we probably drank half a case over this past week. We have only bottled a quarter of it. Maybe I can try some blending some of it with the un-bottled ’08, which has nice fruit, but too little tannins and acid. The stuff we have already bottled will most likely age very nicely.

The zin was good once it had some air. It still has some H2S. It is possible that I will have to use copper on it. I really like it’s taste and mouth feel once it opens up. It is a deeply colored, bright zin. Not super ripe and sweet.

I stirred everything (I will try and stir twice a week) to help along the malolactic fermentation.

We also tasted the ’10 syrah from the barrel. It was much better  than from our bottles. I am not sure why; maybe there really is such a thing as bottle shock! We have only been bottled for less than two weeks. The aromatics are so much better out of the barrel.

Here are the Vinquiry post fermentation panels.

I took the day off from my regular job…

I racked the  ’11 zin Rose into two 5 gallon carboys. Still a strong citrus taste. If this goes like the sauv blanc goes, that citrus will fade. It is still very cloudy. I measured the sugars after racking, and the Clinitest says 1% !  It seems high, but maybe. It should finish the ferment in the next month or so.

I racked the ’11 Zin from barrels into the white tubs, giving it some aeration. Then racked back, and inoculated with ML bacteria, 1 package of Enoferm Alpha. Zin smells and tastes good. Very much like zin; but it won’t be a “big” or sweet zin. It is going to be more crisp and fruity, like a syrah. At least I hope so. I forgot to measure the sugar.

Finally, we racked the ’11 Syrah into the same white tubs, with heavy splashing to try and get rid of the H2S. It wasn’t enough, so we did a copper fining trial with 0, 0.5, 1.0 ppm of copper sulphate. Just like last year, we decided to with the 1.0 ppm. 1.0 ppm = 1.5 mL 1% solution/gallon = 93 mL 1% copper sulphate solution into the barrel. We also put copper into our topping containers, a 1 gallon,  3/4 gallon jugs.

I started at 10AM, and we finished about 4:30 PM, no lunch. I am tired!

Decided we need some final tests on the SO2 on the 2010 Syrah before bottling. Shahrokh and I tasted it again, and once it again it was really good. The nose was clean and crisp and intoxicating; very much a syrah. I grabbed a sample from each barrel to drop off at Vinquiry. If we have to add sulphites, we can rack the barrels into a third container with the sulphites, and then directly bottle. We do not want to stir and have to let anything settle. We also topped off with half a bottle of the ’09 Syrah. The other half accompanied our pizza dinner that evening.

We also tasted the ’11 Zin: Slight whiff of H2S that blew off with a couple of swirls. When the sugar and MLF’s are complete, we’ll rack it with a little splashing. It also tastes great.  A little light on tannins, but that should pick up in the barrel.

The ’11 syrah needs to be aerated. It still has a solid H2S smell. As soon as the ferment is done, we’ll rack it and possibly use the copper on it.

I checked the sugars on all the ferments:

• Rose of zin:
• Free run: 0.4%;  taste of citrus, fruit, some bitterness; great fruity nose.
• Press run: 0.6%
• Zin (60 gallon barrel): 0.6 -1.0 %  (somewhere in between…); slight whiff of H2S dissipated with swirling; may need aeration racking to clean it up; some tannins, nice fruit, great color
• Syrah (60 gallon barrel): 0.2 – 0.4%; still strong H2S. It took a lot of aerating to get it good. Will need to copper.

After settling for 48 hours, we racked off to a barrel on Tuesday morning. Attendees: Esteban, Shahrokh, and myself.

• We racked into 14 gallon demijohns to transport the wine to the cellar, then pumped into:
•  62 gallon ReCoop French oak barrel (started out as a 59 gallon barrel).
• 15 gallon used French oak barrel (took almost all of the press wine, both medium and hard press)
• 3 gallon glass carboy
• 1 gallon glass jug
• 3/4 gallon glass jug
• Total of 81 3/4 gallons, so we lost about 10 gallons to gross lees.
• Very slight H2S. We may want to aerate at the first racking. Otherwise wine tastes and smells great. Very fruity, mild tannins at this point, although the press wine was more tannic than the free run. Out of the barrels, the free run wine tasted better

I got to the wine room at 5:45 AM, hoping to get head start on the zin pressing. I was able to setup and clean all the equipment, and actually start pressing by the time Esteban showed up at 7AM. Then Shahrokh and a friend Ali showed up. Three  people are optimum given my equipment; a fourth person allows breaks!

The stats:

• Pressed off at 1.5 brix sugar
• We pressed into the white food grade tubs, just like the syrah.
• It required 4 press runs, with the 4th needing some pomace from the previous run to fill the  press.
• We did a final pomace only hard press, and got maybe 3 or 4 more gallons. It actually tasted pretty good, but we will keep it separate.
• 91.9 gallons of wine + gross lees.
• Free run:  60.9 gallons = 8.9+15.1+15.1+21.8
• Medium press run: 16.4 G
• Hard press:  14.6 G
• The nose on the wine was very good, with occasional whiffs of H2S. It really smelled like zin in the room. Everyone liked the taste, even at this early stage.
• Finished by 9:30 AM.
• We plan on racking into the demijohns, and transporting to  the cellar, to go into a 60 gallon French Oak ReCoop barrel on Tuesday morning. There is enough free run to fill the barrel I think, so the press run will go into glass or a second barrel. We’ll see how much we have Tuesday.

We have 120 gallons must.

This is 72 gallons wine. (120 * 0.6)

A full barrel is 59 gallons. We will have 13 extra gallons; we will keep this in glass for topping, probably two large carboys. We can swap this in and out of the barrel over the next year.

We purchased a 59 gallon re-coopered French Oak medium toast barrel for ~$250 from ReCoop in Sebastopol, CA. They take used barrels, clean them, remove 1/4″ of the interior staves, and re-toast the barrel. The oak in this barrel will not be as strong, so we may be able to leave the wine in here until we bottle in a couple of years. If we do need to get it out of the barrel, we can buy a used 3 year old barrel when we need it.

I heard an interesting rule of thumb today: How long can you leave wine in a new oak barrel without it being over oaked? 1 week per gallon. So a 15  gallon barrel gets 15 weeks, and 60 gallon barrel gets over a year.

I just went out to check on the fermenting wine. In  the room I got a slight whiff of H2S. I punched down both the zin and syrah. The H2S smell dissipated.

• Zin temp ~ 70 F
• Zin sugar ~ 20 brix
• Syrah temp ~77 F
• Syrah sugar ~ 16 brix!  Wow that is going fast. It dropped 7 brix in 1 day. It will be down to 8 brix by tomorrow night if it keeps going.
• I have enough FermaidK for the zin and the syrah if need be. I will definitely add it to the zin when it gets to about 17 brix (1/3 done)
• The syrah is already past 1/3. I’ll check it in the morning, and if the H2S is stronger, then I may add a dose to the syrah.

Zin calcs:

• 121 g yeast = 121 gallons * 1 g/gallon
• 152 g GoFerm = 121 g yeast * 1.25
• 3 L H2O = 152 g GoFerm * 20 = 3040 g H2O

The zin was picked and crushed on Monday, Oct 17. It was sorted on a sorting table, then crushed into 20 gallon buckets, then transferred to a t-bin.

After completion, the height of the must in the bin was 14.5″. Inside dimension of macro bin = 44″ x 44″.

•  121.5 gallons must = 14.5in * 44in * 44in *0.00432900433  gallon/in^3
•  1243 lbs grapes = 121.5 gallons * 10.23 lbs/gallon ( based on last years must weight measurements)
• 401 mL 10% SO2 solution = 50ppm = 3.3.mL/gallon * 121.5 gallons

This is the craziest fall ever…

I was away in MN for almost two weeks on family emergency. My Mom passed away after complications from falling. I will miss her terribly. She was 85, and has had a long great life. 2011 will go down as a tough year for our family.

Maybe it can be a good year for wine…

While I was gone, my partners in crime, Erwin and Shahrokh picked a half ton of the zin, and a half ton or so of the Alban syrah. They crushed it, sulphited it and it has been cold soaking.

I will be adding lots of notes, getting caught up with all the details.