Poppyseed Cellars

Well, I measured the sugars (using Clinitest tablets) on the rose again. Very confusing.

• First I measured the (still) fast bubbling carboy: 0.6%
• Then I measured the slower bubbling carboy: 1%.
• I stirred both pretty hard, bringing up all the lees.
• Then I remeasured:
• Fast carboy: 0.4 %
• Slow carboy: 0.6%
• Then Shahrokh, who was assisting, read the instructions. If the color passes through orange to brown, need to dilute. That is sort of what the slow carboy did.
• So first I tested just water. It came up 0%.
• Then I diluted the slow carboy by 1/5 (0.1 mL wine, 0.4 mL water): this measured 1%, and did not pass through orange. So my real sugars are at 5%!  Ouch! I have really screwed up on this one.

I will let it sit another couple of days to see if it bubbles any harder, because of my stirring. If not, I will need to add some new yeast and really try to get it to finish. The fast carboy is bubbling along; I just need to let it finish.

Also, I need to try my hydrometer. I should easily be able to measure 5%  with the hydrometer, right in the carboys.

The good news is that the aromas coming off the rose are wonderfully fruity and full of citrus.

Here is the Vinquiry report: 2012-01-23-038_11syrah_malic

We are a 100 mg/L, less than the 300 that Vinquiry recommends for completion. Yay!

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:

I had dinner out at the farm tonight. Khoresh bademjan, which if you haven’t had, you should! Made by my mother in law Mimi. My all time favorite Iranian meal.

I checked the rose, which I had moved up from the cellar to try and restart the ferment. Yeah! It is bubbling!

Even though the temperature was only 68F, the max temp had gotten up to 70F. This must have restarted it.

Also, the wine had expanded, maybe due to temperature, or maybe extra CO2 dissolved in the wine. But it tasted less sweet, so I think it is going again.

I moved it into a small bedroom with a space heater set to 70F, to try and keep the temperature stable. I think it will finish in less than a week.

The Rose is too sweet. I moved the carboys from the cellar into the house to get warm. Let it sit a week and see if the ferment will start again.

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.