A few weeks ago (when was it Chuck?) Joe, Chuck and I got together for a day of barrel cleaning, racking of the 2007 Syrah, and bottling of our 2006 Cabernets. Things didn’t go as planned. All of it could have been prevented by a little work done a few days ahead. Here is what [...]
While checking my pants pockets before laundering I discovered a 5g packet of SO2. Oops, that was supposed to go into the 2007 Syrah must with the other 5g packet. So I added it.
I also added 2 grams of EPMS (Effervescent Potassium Metabisulfite) (1g of true SO2) to the 2006 PMR and 2006 “Gardner’s Block” [...]
2006 PMR Cabernet
pH
3.79
Titratable Acidity
0.695
g/100mL
Free SO2
0
Total SO2
0
Glucose + Fructose
163
mg/100mL
Malic Acid
10
mg/100mL
Volatile Acidity
0.106
g/100mL
2006 “Gardner’s Block” Cabernet
pH
3.84
Titratable Acidity
0.624
g/100mL
Free SO2
0
Total [...]
I went up to MR Vineyards on Mt. Eden today with Linus and his family. We pulled a few barrel samples of their own wine (personal consumption). As with my own 2006 Cabernet, theirs is huge and shows great potential for being a wonderfully powerful and complex wine. The 2005 Cabernet showed nice structure, but [...]
Chuck’s parents were in town so we pulled a barrel samples of the 2006 Other Vineyard Merlot and Cabernet and PMR Cabernet. The first two were well balanced and close to accessible, they both have a the subtle raison flavor found in the 2005 Merlot that is overpowering to some, loved by others.
The PMR Cabernet [...]
Monday night I picked up a bladder press from Fermentation Frenzy and we started pressing around 7:00 or so. The pressing system worked very well. I put my old stainless homebrew lauter tun under the press to collect the wine. The false bottom was intended to filter out any large solids, but there was really [...]
Chuck, Lewie and I Crushed approx. 200 lbs each of: “Gardner’s Block” Merlot, “Gardner’s Block” Cabernet, and Peter Ray Cabernet. We used a motorized, auger driven crusher/destemmer from Fermentation Frenzy. It was fast, much faster than us.
Note: Don’t rinse out the hopper when you are standing in front of the chute.
After everything was clean I [...]