Wise Acres Winery » 2006

Racking and Attempted Bottling

gardner — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:19:18 +0000

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 happened [...]

Bottled 2006 Merlot

gardner — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 16:00:54 +0000

Chuck and I bottled about 15 gallons of Merlot in the morning before pressing. We ended up with 6 cases, 9 bottles and [...]

2006 Merlot

gardner — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:04 +0000

I just got the rep-bottling lab results on the 2006 Merlot:

Free SO2: 17 mg/L Total SO2: 33 mg/L

I added another 2g to bring it up to a target of 40 mg/L

Oh and I racked it into the beer keg, ready [...]

Press Prep

gardner — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:52:35 +0000

I soaked the barrel overnight in ProxyClean, rinsed it out and am nnow letting it sit with 5 gallons of citric acid to keep it moist. No leaks at all.

I did a dry run with our filling system and it worked perfectly with complete flow control from the output end.

I still need to sanitize the bottles, [...]

2006 Cabernet May Recover

gardner — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:49:20 +0000

I spoke with our winemaker friend about the 5 gallons of Cabernet we lost to acetobacter infection. One of his solutions was to save it until next year’s crush and throw it into the must when it at it’s peak fermentation (15 B). In his words,

The yeast of the new fermentation will decimate [...]

More SO2

gardner — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:03:59 +0000

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” Cabernet.

Plus [...]

2006 Cabernet Vinquiry Lab Results

gardner — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:16:27 +0000

2006 PMR Cabernet

3.79

Titratable Acidity

0.695

g/100mL

Free SO2

Total SO2

Glucose + Fructose

163

mg/100mL

Malic Acid

mg/100mL

Volatile Acidity

0.106

g/100mL

2006 “Gardner’s Block” Cabernet

3.84

Titratable Acidity

0.624

g/100mL

Free SO2

Total SO2

Mourning: 2006 “Gardner’s Block” Cabernet

gardner — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:43:17 +0000

Microorganisms have wrecked about four gallons of the “Gardner’s Block” Cabernet. It’s a sad day. I opened the keg to take a sample and saw a rainbow-colored slick on the top. The smell confirmed my fears. I tasted it from the top and the bottom; the infection is all the way through. Oh well, we must [...]

Vinquiry Lab Results 2006 Merlot (Update)

gardner — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:03:13 +0000

9/21

Here are the real results from Vinquiry:

pH – 3.70 [...]

2006 Merlot Lab Tests

gardner — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:22:52 +0000

I pulled off 300 ml to send to Vinquiry today. After racking I took the left-overs and ran my own lab tests on it. Here are my numbers, they seem a little weird.

TA = .65% pH = 3.66 SO2 = 45 +

The acid should be higher considering the pH and SO2 seems high as well. Now we get [...]