Day 1

Posted in 2007 Sonoma Valley Merlot on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 by admin

Picking day with the family at a Sonoma Valley organic vineyard:


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All 4 of us went picking, although some ate more than picked! It was extremely enjoyable…the start of a family tradition, I hope.

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 By 10 AM we were home. I was unable to rent a crusher/destemmer, so I tried it by hand. I used milk plastiic crates to crush and destem the grapes. NEVER AGAIN! It took forever.

BRIX = 26
TA = 5 g/l
Grapes seem overripe, or at least low in acid. The plan is to cold soak the grapes for a few days. I will wait until I have a PH meter and the end of the cold soak to add any acid.

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Fermenting

Posted in 2007 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc on Monday, September 24th, 2007 by nielsj

6AM:

  • Lot’s of foam
  • Added 1 tsp Fermaid K
  • 66F
  • smells good, no H2S

9:30 PM:

  • Fizzing away
  • 17 brix
  • transferred to 6 gallon and 5 gallon carboys
  • Looks like 3.5 and 2.5 = 6 gallons total
  • Bubble rates in carboys
    • 6 gall0n: 34/minute
    • 5 gallon: 18/minute

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It’s going

Posted in 2007 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 by nielsj

8AM:

  • No bubbling still.
  • Added a heat lamp to bring up the temperature.
  • Smaller carboy has pockets of surface scum. Could that be the start of fermentation?

1PM:

  • Transferred both carboys to 20 gallon pail.
  • Added rest of yeast.
  • Aerated heavily
  • 72F
  • 23 brix

7PM:

  • It’s going! Yeah!

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Nothing

Posted in 2007 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 by admin

7AM:

  • Measured SO2 at 50 ppm using Titret
  • No signs of fermentation
  • Added more yeast starter

12PM: No bubbling

2PM: No bubbling, added more yeast starter, 68F

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Rack

Posted in 2007 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc on Friday, September 21st, 2007 by admin

12:30PM:

  • racked the juice off the lees. Trying for light fruity wine.
  • Added 10g Epernay2 yeast to 1/2 juice, 1/2 water mix.
  • Once bubbling, I added the  starter to the carboys, and stirred it in.

6PM: No sign of bubbling

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Crush

Posted in 2007 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 by admin

I went out to pick. The grower helped me. He lent me some nice clippers…and warned me not to cut myself. No problem…I cut my finger badly. He fortunately had lots of band aids.

I was home by 8:30AM with ~150 lbs of grapes…6 5 gallon pails. The grower said that a 5 gallon pails weighs 25 pounds.

  • De-stemmed and crushed into 20 gallon pail.
  • Ended up  with 15 gallons must.
  • Sugars: 23 brix
  • TA: 8 g/L
  • Added 6g Kmeta  (2g/5gallons * 15 gallons = 6g…from Jeff Cox book)
  • Measured SO2 using titret 70 ppm
  • Could easily taste the SO2 in the juice, but couldn’t smell it.
  • By 10AM, pressed into 2 carboys, 2/3 full
  • ~9 gallons juice
  • Returned the rental equip to BevPeople
  •  1PM: poured juice into full carboys to sit over night before adding yeast
  • Lots of settling going on

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Sauv Blanc for sale

Posted in 2007 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 by nielsj

Found on craigslist…

“Approx. 600 lbs. Sauvignon Blanc. You pick for 80 cents a pound; minimum 150 lbs.”

Grapes are from vines being grafted over to pinot…these cordons haven’t been grafted over yet.

  • Grower measured 22.5 brix

The grapes came from a Russian River Valley vineyard:


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