I looked at several references on how to handle the lower brix (21.5) of the WA Sangiovase. In general the minimum acceptable is 21-22 Brix, so we are in that range and are OK. We have several options.
1. Do nothing. The wine will get blended with more ripe cabernet when we make our Super Tuscan, and that will balance everything out.
2. Mix in a couple of 5G buckets of the Clone-6 cabernet into the Sangio for fermentation. That will raise the sugars some now and give extra co-fermentation advantages. The wine will get blended with more cab when we bottle the SUper Tuscan, which will round out the sugars and acids.
3. Mix in some sugar water. This raises the brix, which doesn't add any flavor just increases the alcohol level.
Option #1 is OK with me, but I think option #2 is better. The Clone-6 cab has high sugars (27 brix) and the co-fermentation with the cab skins will have some added benefits to the super tuscan flavors (co-fermentation is common for Super Tuscans). I'd rather avoid adding sugar. The alcohol level will be plenty high by the time it's blended.
No matter which option we do, we need to press early because the sangio seeds are partially green, so we want to avoid extended contact with them. A faster fermentation and earlier pressing would help limit contact. So we should switch the yeast to Pastur Red and plan to press after a week.
We can talk about the options tonight and make a decision.
Troy
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