Merlot #1 Surface Scum

While topping the barrels we noticed some surface scum on the Merlot #1 in Ray's 22G recoop barrel. There isn't any off odor or taste. We pulled off as much as we could and sprayed the surface with a meta solution.

This was a barrel that had a bad VA smell problem over the summer that we cleaned with ProxyCarb several times. It may also be the barrel that had the original contamination with the 2003 merlot.

We will need to keep an eye on the barrel. We will likely need to rack the wine out into stainless/glass and do another cleaning.

Dominos In Cab Blush

Cleaned the dominos in ProxyCarb and then rinsed in meta/citric. Then put 20 of them into a 5G Cornilus Keg with some Cab Blush. We chose the Cornilus Keg because of it's wide mouth which makes it easy to get the wood pieces in and out. We put a little CO2 onto the container to keep it sealed.

Dominos

Lee got some oak dominos from Dennis, which he had put into some wine. Did a little web searching about the oak dominos. Found the following web page that talks about using them and rate of oak extraction. They recommend 60lbs of dominos for 1,000G of wine. For 30G that translates to 1.8 pounds. http://www.nadalie-usa.com/add-ins_usage.asp They have more info about a study of oak additives that looks like it's worth reading on their web-site. That is at: http://www.nadalie-usa.com/pdf/nadalie_add-ins_alchemy.pdf
The dominos had some mold growth on them Saturday. We put them into a proxycarb solution overnight. Then we'll split them, rinse them and do a second proxycarb solution. Followed by a meta/citric rinse and then put them into some of the older barrels.

Second Wines Racked

Racked the Merlot#2, Idaho Cab and Clone 6 cab last night. All wines smell sound. No sign of rotten eggs...which were detected last year in November and December. The Merlot#2 and Idaho had some slight green unripe flavors, but both tasted very good. The clone-6 tasted super! We're all excited to taste that one after some barrel age. We moved it from the stanless and carboys where it has been settling into the new 20G French Recoop barrel. Topped up the rest of the wines.

Platypus Leak

The 1 liter platypus with the cab blush showed some air on top tonight. Checked it and there was a pinhole leak. :( No aparant spoilage. Transfered to another 1l platypus container. Need to keep an eye on it.

Racking #1 off Gross Lees

Racked the Malbec, Merlot, Syrah and Cab Blush off the gross lees tonight. Put the overflow of Malbec into Lee's 8G barrel and the extra Merlot into Ray's 2nd 22G barrel. All the wine is doing well. Very light HSO2 odors--a normal post-fermentation amount, nothing we're concerned about. We'll rack the Id Cab, Merlot #2 and Clone-6 off their gross lees in a few weeks.

Note: When racking the Malbec back into the barrel we dropped a small rubber stopper into it. We'll get it out the next time we rack.

Used Michele's beeswax on Lee's 8G barrel, rubbed into the crack and spots that were weeping. Worked well. Will need to watch the spots over time.

Clone-6 Pressed

Pressed the RiverRock Clone-6 Cab tonight, got about 25G without pressing too hard. Cap was soggy and ready. Wine tastes wonderful already. It picked up good skins flavor and tannins, but there is loads of fruit there too. It is going into a new recooped 20G French barrel next week, and will be spectacular!

Also transfered the 15G of Wood River cab from stainless into Lee's 15G French barrel, which is smelling much better after being treated.

Next we need to start racking the wines off the Gross Lees to get rid of those dead yeast cells. We will do the Merlot #1 and Syrah first.