Wise Acres Winery » Zinfandel

2008 Zinfandel Lab Results

gardner — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:55:01 +0000

Here are the results of the latest lab test for the 2008 Zinfandel:

2007 Zin Post ML

Malic Acid 83 mg/100mL

pH 4.16

Titratable Acidity 0.605 g/100mL

Free SO2 None detected

Total SO2 3 mg/L

I fear ML is stuck as it needs to get down to 15-30 mg/100ml. I am going to try adding some fresh cultures. Also the pH is too [...]

2008 Pressing Day

gardner — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:36:36 +0000

It started Saturday night with some steaks, sausages and bottles of Road31 Pinot and Arns Syrah. Overall a very good way to start things. Events lead Joe and I down the street to a wine tasting party held by the owner of a wine storage company. It was a school auction item party, but we were [...]

0 ºB

gardner — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:57:26 +0000

Hydrometer reads 0 on the 2008 Zinfandel. Ready [...]

2008 Zinfandel Juice Lab Results

gardner — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:54:49 +0000

AC24581

08 ZINJUICE

pH 3.84

Titratable Acidity 0.555 g/100mL

We will need to add acid at some point, probably Tartaric. I am researching how much and when [...]

Pressing Sunday, 9/28/2008

gardner — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:25:44 +0000

This Sunday we will be pressing the Zin/Petite. TO DO:

Swell Hungarian barrel Rack Syrah into Hungarian barrel Clean kegs Clean [...]

gardner — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:09:11 +0000

I am updating a graph of the sugar level of the Zinfandel. It is on the left sidebar and I will try to keep it up-to-date. I can only post one variable, but I am tracking temperature as well and it is a classic inverse curve relative to the Brix. We have a vigorous fermentation going [...]

Conflicting Brix

gardner — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:37:58 +0000

A day after pitching the yeast I check the temp and gravity. There is activity already, temperature was up 3ºF even though it was a cold night (46ºF outside). The weird thing is that I am getting a higher reading of 26ºB as compared to the the two other readings both coming out at 24.5ºB. I [...]

2008 Crush

gardner — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:21:03 +0000

Crush was great success!

Chuck’s timing was perfect, he arrived at the vineyard just after we transfered all 1,365 lbs of grapes from one bin to the other, by hand. After a brief stop at the tasting room we trundled off to Palo Alto. We had one brief stop for a reconfiguration of the straps and used [...]

Tentative Crush 9/14/08

gardner — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:38:49 +0000

Looks like we will be crushing Dry Creek Zin/Petite a week from today. Phoebe and I will probably pick the “estate” grapes this week after school sometime and crush/press it into the house Rose Magnum. Last years sucked, but I will pay more attention to [...]

Dry Creek Zinfandel/Petite Sirah Blend for 2008

gardner — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:42:25 +0000

We have decided to go with G&M Vineyards again for our half-ton of grapes this year.

I just hung up with Levi and last week the Zin was at 19, the Petite a little behind. He is predicting harvest third or fourth week in September.

He also suggested we either get a year-old barrel or use the existing [...]