Poppyseed Cellars

Why is nothing simple?

Here are the Vinquiry results for the ’08 and ’09 Syrahs:

2008 Riebli Valley Syrah Pre bottling Vinquiry Panel 1

The results are confusing.

1. First the ’09 free SO2 level was measured to be 47 ppm. We measured 27 ppm on3/12/2010. There is no way it could have gone up, as we have not added any more. So I don’t know what happened there.
2. The ’08 clocked in at 54 ppm free SO2. That also seems high. It last tested at 5 ppm on 1/20/2010, and I added 40 ppm more at the time. And it should have dropped from there.
3. Maybe Vinquiry was not well calibrated? I need to call them Monday and see if something is up. Also weird is that for the 2 wines that I had tested, they used different methods. It seems unlikely that both could be wrong. I don’t get it.

The rest of the data on the ’08 Syrah seems correct:

1. The alcohol is 13.4%; seems reasonable.
2. pH is 4.08; this is higher than the 3.9 that I measured, but not far off. It also makes sense with the low TA.
3. TA is 4.2 g/L. This is too low, and is why the wine seems a little soft. It is still good, but I think an acid addition will help. A bench trial is in order.
4. VA is .045%; this is nice and low. The aroma threshold is ~ .06%
5. Sugars at .037%; the wine is dry.
6. Malic is at 4 mg/100ml, or .004%. The MLF is done.
7. Free SO2 is 54 ppm. Discussed above. I don’t think I’ll measure it again; I have enough in there.

1. Took a sample of the ’09 Syrah for SO2 testing. I also tasted it…very good. No problems, nice tannins, very fruity. So far no strong oak. Probabaly won’t get any this time. I also topped off the barrels. Including a 100 ml sample, the barrels took a 375 ml bottle.
2. Took a sample of the ’08 syrah, for a Vinquiry bottling panel. I tasted it, and it was pretty good. Afsi liked it too. It is time to get it bottled.

Topped off this morning before work. The two barrels took slightly less than 375 ml together. I drank the rest!