Sep 30 2006
Big Bottling Day
Well lots has happened since I last posted about a year ago. Firstly this site is deluged with spam so I password protected it. Now I am going to try to open it up again and keep on the spam comments.
I have a new winemaking partner: Chuck. A few weeks ago he helped me bottle about 11 cases of 2004 Cabernet, 2005 Merlot and various blends and components of each. Here is the breakdown:
7 cases 2005 Merlot
2 cases 2004 PMR Cabernet
1 case of Red Table Win - a 70/30 cabernet/merlot blend
1 case of 2005 Merlot “Petite” - This is the merlot I pulled off the skins early
1 case of Winemaker’s Special Cuvee (it’s a secret)
The bottling went well. I will post final lab numbers and tasting notes later.
The Merlot turned out nicely, but a little over-ripe and chewy. This is mainly due to the late picking of the fruit and my decision while picking to include some raisoned and dimpled fruit. Secondarily by pulling off the 3 gallons of juice, I exacerbated the problem by concentrating these flavors. The fruit I picked this year is much cleaner and lighter. More on this in my next posting.
