Port Racked

We racked the port off the gross lees tonight. It had significant sediment from the grapes that were dissolved by the higher alcohol levels. The port is clearing up nicely and tastes very good. A nice amount sweetness--but not too much--with solid flavor underneath.  We mixed it up well and moved it into the 15G Hungarian barrel plus some glass carboys.

We also racked the Chard again as it had quite a bit of sediment. This year's Chard has more color and flavor from the time on the skins.

Presto Porto!

We pressed the port tonight. It was still fermenting some and the sugars were as low as we wanted them to go. Brix read about 6.5+, which adjusting for the alcohol added is probably more like 8-9 brix.  After pressing we mixed in another 1.75 liters of 75.5% Everclear to whack the yeast a final time.  We pressed hard and got 24+ gallons that are settling in a SS keg and glass carboys.  We'll let it sit for a couple of weeks and then rack it off the gross lees into a neutral barrel.

 

We're pleased with the port. I tastes sweet and rich....heck, it tastes like a damn good port! :-D   We compared it to the Bogle Ruby-Style Petite Sirah port and it tasted very similar. It will be interesting to see how it evolves over the next year.

Ready To Press

We tasted the port tonight and it's ready to press. The sugars dropped another point, although it is still plenty sweet. We compared it to the Bogle Petite Sirah Port and it has very similar flavors. We're very pleased with the results.  We will press Wednesday at 7:30pm.  We also tasted a couple of ports Lee shared, including a vintage 1994 port that was excellent.