Syrah Fermenting

Made a yeast starter last night and added it this morning to the Syrah. The must was very quiet with no signs of fermentation starting on it's own.

Did the yeast starter a little different. Still trying to figure out the best way to use the nutrient. Ran across some information that suggested spreading out the nutrient in the starter and then once fermentation is going. That way the yeast doesn't get over-fed right away. Still want to add nutrient at the beginning of fermentation so you don't have left over "food" for bad bacteria to feed on later.

Using nutrient correctly both ensures a good fermentation, as well as some side-effect problems that can occur such as getting the rotten egg smell from Hydrogen Sulfide. I'm thinking that possibly the grapes we had an issue with last year is because the vineyard has a lower amount of available nitrogen. So adding in some Nutrient will help prevent the hydrogen sulfide problem. Here's an article with some interesting info about yeast nutrients and fermentation.
http://www.grapestompers.com/articles/yeast_nutrients.htm

Started the yeast this time in warm water (103 degrees), as directed on the package. Stirred 5 packages into 1 1/4 cup water. Heated a couple cups of juice up as normal to a steamy level, then let cool until it was tepid. Then combined the yeast and grape juice and added the 2tsp nutrient (need to find out the exact nutrient we got from Debra--Nampa Brewers). Let sit overnight and then added to the must. Will add another 1-2 tsp of the nutrient tonight or tomorrow once it is fermenting well.

Syrah Crushed, Chard is done fermenting.

Got about 260lbs of Syrah from RiverRock vineyard. Good looking, clean fruit. Smaller, sparse berries--likely because it's a second leaf syrah. Great flavor. Added in about 12lbs of Viognier to co-ferment. Got new PH meter today--just in time. Nice to have the auto temp correction feature.

BRIX 27
PH 3.8

PH is a little higher than we would like. We may adjust it down before starting fermentation. Stirred 2tsp meta in 6oz of water into the must.

Also brought back a few nice clusters of RiverRock Clone-6 Cab. It measured 27 Brix as well with a 3.5 PH. Not sure if the cluster came from a sunny side or end-block. Wasn't expecting to pick until late. Will need to watch it.

Chard was down to 994 SG. Transferred it into Bob's 15G barrel to settle for a couple weeks plus carboys. Michele took home the 6G chard from her barrel in carboys. Put fermentation locks on to let it finish. Measured the PH, it was 3.1! A bit lower than we expected.

Chard Fermenting Quickly

Measured the SG of the Chardonnay again today. Fermenting quickly. Expect it to be complete on Thursday.

Stainless Steel: 20SG (5 brix)
60G French Oak: 16SG (4 brix)

Plan to transfer the chardonnay on Thursday:
15G into Bob's american barrel for 2 weeks to settle.
6G into glass carboy's of Michele's
5-6G from SS into carboys (keep seperate to compare tastes).

Plan to crush the Syrah Thursday afternoon at the same time.

Chard A Bubblin

Mike has been stirring the Chard several times a day and checking on the fermentation. All barrels are fermenting well. He reported a good amount of foam at first, and now just lots of tiny bubbles.

We checked the SG and Brix tonight. Looks like we're about 1/2 way there (started at 25.25).

Hungarian: 30SG/12 Brix
American: 46SG/13 Brix
Stainless: 50SG/14 Brix
French: 40SG/10 Brix

Racked Willys Cab to Barrel

Barrel repair completed and dried on Troy's 30G American oak barrel. (Coated leaking seams with Surface Liner / food grade epoxy). Transferred wine back from carboys to the barrel.

26G in barrel. 4G in carboys. 1G in platypus.
Added approx 15ppm Sulfites.

Smelling great, tasting good--but still needs barrel time. Expect to leave in the barrel for another 8 months and bottle in Spring. May transfer to Lee's 30G barrel in November to get a french oak component. (Will have to start topping with Malbec at that point).

Chard PH/Acid Adjustment

PH of chard read 3.85 at crush. We want more like 3.5. Added 12oz of Tartaric Acid to lower the PH. Expect it will be around 3.6. (PH meter went on the fritz so we can't be sure).

Tartaric Acid group calculations went something like this:

Initial goal was to drop PH by .2 (later decided by .3). Did trial run with a 10% soln and added 2ml of acid to 100ml of juice. Checked with the PH meter. It read about .2 lower. Success!

Scale-up to larger amount of juice (36G).

2grams/liter to drop by .2PH
Est 270 liters of juice
Cross reference said that 5grams of Tartaric Acid was 1 tsp.
(http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/measures.asp)
For 270 liters we need 54 tsp or 18 tbsp of Tartaric Acid
1 oz is 2tbsp so 9oz of Tartaric Acid needed. (4.5oz/.1PH drop)
Later determined that PH meter was reading "low", so we increased to 12oz. (Actually would have used 13.5oz, but only had 12oz and store was out. Good enough!)

Grains, grams, gallons, liters, tablespons....OK. Run that by me again?! ;)

Yeast Starter

Started the yeast last night in about 5C of juice Heated it up until there was the slightest bit of steam rising. Then cooled to about 100 degrees. Then added 5pgs of D47 yeast and 5tsp nutrient. Waited 15 min then stirred well. Let sit overnight and then added a couple tsp of bakers sugar.

Added the yeast to the Chard across the 3 barrels (Bob-15G, Michele-15G, Lee-60G) and Mike's SS-15.

2006 Chard Is Pressed!

Bob and Mike picked up the Chard from Wood River vineyard today and we crushed/destemmed/pressed it. We got about 600lbs and about 37G of juice, which is settling in a 60G plastic barrel along with some meta and bentonite. We will innoculate on Saturday with D47 yeast.

PH was 3.85 (last year was more like 3.2) Should we adjust?

Brix 25.25 (last year brix was 24)

Added 3.5tsp of Meta to the 37G of must. Full strength would have been more like 4.5tsp, but we used less this time because we want to try bottling the Chard earlier.

Bentonite was prepared the night before by Debra of Nampa Brewers (thanks, Debra!) 9TBSP of Bentonite in 6C of boiling water. Sat overnight and we put through a blender for 3 minutes. We mixed about 3C of the slurry into the wine.

Syrah Rose + Malbec blend

Did some work on the leaking wine barrel with a food grade epoxy. Painted it onto the top stave joints on Troy's 30G barrel and at the top and bottom of the heads of Ray's 22G barrel. Didn't put any on Lee's 30G--not sure where the leak was.

Checked barrels and Ray's 22 and Lee's 8G again have a VA smell. Troy looking into how to treat. Also need to discuss changing storage mechanism.

Tasted the barrel Syrah against the Syrah that was in Carboys + Oak chips. No comparison. Barrel was much better nose, flavor, finish. Sure shows the value of the barrel!

The Syrah rose is light and has a tartness to it that wasn't very pleasant. We think it would be best to not add it back to the barrel syrah. Discussed how to best use the Syrah Rose. Troy, Lee and Mike tried several blends and think mixing the 10G of malbec and 10G of Syrah Rose together would work.

Chard Update

Mike and Bob are picking up the destemmer at 10:30am Thursday and then going to get the grapes at 11am. Lee is out of town, and Ray is recovering. We'll do the crush/destem/press in the afternoon. We are going to try and fine the wine with Bentonite, before fermentation.

Need to keep an eye on the weather. It could change things....

2006 Chard Plan

Grapes are ready on Thursday. Here's the initial plan.

1. Lee has reserved the crusher/destemmer.

2. Mike (and Troy if I can) will pull Troy's trailer over and we will pick up grapes at 8AM. Lee will communicate the schedule to Dennis.

3. Bob and Lee will get the crusher from Dennis and start the sanitation w/ the pressure washer.

4. Crush/destem once we get back. This year we're holding the juice in the large blue barrel to settle for 48hrs (possibly with a fining agent TBD).

5. Saturday we will transfer the settled juice to the large oak barrel plus the 2 new 15G barrells (Bob, Michele), and innoculate.

2006 Bosique and Magnafique!

Bottled 10 cases of Magnafique and 15 cases of Boisique today. Blends are impressive. Great double bottling line!

Still remaining to bottle is: Malbec, Clone-6 Cabernet and the Syrah. Probably about another 26+ cases. Will post photos after we do the second bottling.

2006 Blends

Group met to wash bottles and decide blends. Set-up a double bottle washing station, which worked very well. We washed 25+ cases of bottles in 2 hours!

Tried several different blends and decided on the following (Yummy!). Meeting on Sunday from 12-4 to bottle the Boisique and Magnafique (and possibly the excess Malbec).

Boisique:
75% Merlot
25% Malbec

Magnafique:
60% WA Cab
26% Merlot
12% Malbec
2% Petit Verdot

Wood River Clone-6 Cab
94% Cabernet
4% Malbec
2% Petit Verdot

Bottling and Blending Plans

Meet at noon - 4pm on Saturday Sept 15th to wash bottles and then do blending. Initial blending starting points to consider are listed below. Meet at noon-4pm on Sunday to do first round of bottling.

1) Magnafique Bordeaux Blend using the WA cab, merlot, malbec and petite verdot.
15G WA cab (50%)
11G Merlot (36%)
3G Malbec (10%)
1G Petite Verdot (3%)
30G Total
12 cases (2.4 cases each)

2) Bosique Merlot/Malbec Blend
20G Merlot (80%)
5G Malbec (20%)
25G Total
10.5 cases (2 cases each)

3) Clone-6 Cab
22G Clone-6 Cab (94%)
1G Malbec (5%)
.25G Petite Verdot (1%)
23.25G
9.7 cases (almost 2 cases each)

4) Syrah
35G 97% Syrah and 3% Viognier co-fermented.
14.5 cases (almost 3 cases each! :)

5) Reserve Cab (Williamson). Leave in 30G barrel for 6 more months, slowly topping with malbec to blend. Add a smidgin of Petite Verdot before bottling, if we want.
30G Clone-2 Cab (94%)
1.5G Malbec (5%)
1G Petite Verdot (1%)
31.5G Total
13 Cases (2.5 cases each)

2006 Winery Activities

2006 Winery Log
9/16/06
Pressed Wood River Chard
Used Mike's 30G new Hungarian, Bob's new 15G American
9/19/06
Innoculated Chard. 3pgs of Lalvin D47 in 4-5C heated liquid + 1 tsp nutrient
Fermentation was quick but non-vigorous. Completed around 9/26 (1 week).
Transferred into Hungarian barrel plus 1 5G carboy for a couple of weeks.
9/30/06
Microbin of Wood River Merlot. Est 500-550lbs About 35G of must est.
Used 4tsps of meta on the must
26 brix. PH 3.2
10/1/06?
We picked 600lbs of Viognier at Williamsons. ($240)
Saved about 25lbs for Syrah co-fermentation.
10/03/06
Innoculated Viognier with 3 packages of D47 yeast in 2 barrels.
Took of slowly. Required another package of yeast and some nutrient to get going.
10/03/06
Innoculated Merlot with 3 pkgs of Pastur Red.
Fermenting well next day.
10/06/06
Larger microbin of Syrah. Est 700-800lbs.
Syrah souced through Dennis. (Thanks, Dennis)
PH 3.67
26.5 Brix
Stirred in 2TBSP meta in 4oz water.
Merlot brix measured same day. Down to 6.5. SG 1023/1024
Viognier brix down to 1.25. SG 1002/1004
Took some of the syrah juice off after a day maceration for Rose. Very dark already.
10/08/06
Viognier fermentation complete (5 days).
Held in barrels, plus some glass for a couple of weeks.
10/13/06
Transfered chard to Carboys.
Merlot at .992 and getting soupy--still some bubbles.
Syrah less dense head. Still fermenting well. Showing .996
10/14/06
Red grapes from Wood River Vineyards ($700)
500lbs Malbec, 26 brix, 3.32 ph. (used 2.75tsp meta)
500lb Clone-6, 26+ brix, 3.21 ph
300lb Tempranillo, 26.5 brix, ?ph, (used 3.125tsp meta)
150lb Petite Verdot, 26.5-27 brix,3.3 ph
Held off some of the Malbec free run to ferment as a rose.
10/19/06
600lbs Williamson Clone-2 Cabernet, Brix 28.5, ph 3.53. ($333.85)
10/23/06
265lbs RiverRock Clone-8 cab, brix 25, ph?
SG on Malbec 998
SG Tempranillo 995
SG Cab-6 995
PVerdot still fermenting some
Williamson cab fermenting strong.
11/06/06
Williamson cab at .996. Pressed into Troy's American 30G barrel.
11/11/06
Bad rotten egg smell in the Tempranillo. Both barrel and carboys. Phew!
WW Cab soggy ready to press.
11/13/06
Racked Tempranillo over copper with airation three times.
Racked Rose Malbec to SS kornilius kegs, blended in some malbec (too much), covered with CO2.
11/25/06
Racked Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot.
12/03/06
Racked Williamson cab.
Racked clone-6 over copper as it had a slight rotten egg HSO2 smell. Added some meta. (4tsp?)
Added meta to Tempranillo (4tsp?). Smelling a little better.
12/22/06
Racked Tempranillo over copper again.
Racked Clone-6 over copper again.
Racked Syrah carboys.
3/6/07
Checked SO2 levels on Viognier and Chard. and racked them.
Viognier was 36ppm. Chard was 30ppm. Left them alone.
(Maybe we should have raised them to 50ppm )
Found 1 Syrah Rose 1G carboy that had gone bad. Lid had popped. :(
A few signs of MLF starting.
3/15/07
Added ML cultures to new barrels and red carboys.
(Assume we put bubblers onto carboys?)
Whites showing some MLF
3/22/07
Racked Clone 6?
Added 15ppm SO2 to 05 Williamson cab (starting to show oxidation color)
Carboys showing bubbles for MLF
5/12/07
Bottled Williamson Cabernet
MLF over. Exchanged bubblers for solid tops. Found several had dried out and wine spoiled in carboy. :(
Added 15ppm SO2 to all reds in barrels.
5/24/07
Bottled Chard and Malbec Rose. Used 2 bottlers at the same time. Worked very well.
Added oak chips to carboys of SRose, Syrah, Cab (which cabs?)
Moved Petit Verdot to carboys (not enough to top anymore).
Everything is inside the cooler now.
6/5/07
Ran out of WW topping wine. Starting to use Clone 6
Noticed a slight leak on the top of Troy's American 30G barrel.
6/10/07
Racked reds. Syrah, Clone-6 over copper.
Racked Malbec into smaller barrel (22G french to 15G French), out of malbec topping.
Started topping Syrah with Syrah Rose.
6/26/07
22G barrel smelled off. Strong aceitic nose. Filled with water and 7tbsp oxyfresh.
Rinsed w/ meta+citric.
8/06/07
Racked Williamson cabernet out of Troy's American Oak barrel into Carboys
so we can send barrel off for repair.(added 1/4tsp meta before racking).
Cleaned barrel with 8tbsp oxyfresk. Then meta overnight. Dried, and light sulfered 3 days later.
Also cleaned Ray's 22G barrel again. Off smell.
8/27/07
While topping we found that some of the topping wine had gone bad in the Platypus. (petit verdot and syrah rose)
Need to clean out Platypus better w/ strong meta soln. Plus increase SO2 in wine in Platypus.