Poppyseed Cellars

2012 Fortified LF syrah:

• Tasted: definitely getting smoother; less harsh alcohol. 
• The sweetness seems less noticeable. If I look back at the sugars, they were at about 6%. Ports usually run around 8%. I may bump the sugars up a little.
• Sulphited +25 ppm
  • 13 gallon barrel: 21 mL 10% kmeta solution
• Topped off barrel

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

Erwin and I tasted through the wines today.

’12 MV Syrah:

• Nose was good
• Tasted fine; didn’t take notes
• Sulphited 25 ppm:
  • 60 gallon barrel: 100 mL of 10% kmeta solution

• Topped it off

Shahrokh and Esteban racked the ’12 LH Syrah, post Cu fining.

They ended up with the following. Each was sulphited 20 ppm:

• 60 gallon barrel: 80 mL 10% sulphite solution
• 15 gallon barrel: 20 mL 10% sulphite solution
• 3 extra bottles: 1 mL 10% sulphite solution

Erwin and I will be out there Friday, and we’ll do another tasting on this, along with the others.

I went out to top off all the wines.

I also checked out the ’12 LH syrah. There is still a little reductive nose going on, but a lot better after the splash racking.

I did a bench trial of CuSO4: 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 ppm. There was a noticeable difference between 0.0 and 0.5 ppm, but  I could not tell any difference between the 0.5 and 1.0 ppm.

I added 0.5 ppm Cu to all the containers:

• 60 gallon barrel: 44.7 mL of 1% CuSO4
• 15 gallon barrel: 11.3 mL of 1% CuSO4
• 1 gallon jug: 0.7 mL of 1% CuSO4
• 1 gallon jug: 0.7 mL of 1% CuSO4

We will let it sit a week while in Disneyland, and rack when we get back.