Harford Vineyard Chilean Grape/Juice Pickup

Boatboy, you noted in another thread that you purchased Lafitte's 1+1 corks. Did they happen to mention how many years those corks are rated for?

My "like" on your post above is for your not losing any significant amount of wine!

balassley said:

Boatboy, you noted in another thread that you purchased Lafitte's 1+1 corks. Did they happen to mention how many years those corks are rated for?

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I don't know how many, but they are intended to go a while. There is a thread or two in the "Bottles Labels & Corks" section that might have that info. If not, a quick call to Lafitte should get you there. My experience was they are very responsive - even to the little guys like us.

I'll probably need to make my second order later this year.

Well, well, well! Did a chromo tonight and zip, zero, nada has happened in the way of MLF. That is at least a partial explanation for how harsh these wines are. I'm over two months in and no SO2 so far. I'm topped up. Gonna re-test pH in a day or two and order some more MLB I guess. It's almost time for these to go into the barrel rotation, so I guess I'll hope to get MLF completed in the barrel. Frustrating.

Boatboy24 said:

Well, well, well! Did a chromo tonight and zip, zero, nada has happened in the way of MLF. That is at least a partial explanation for how harsh these wines are. I'm over two months in and no SO2 so far. I'm topped up. Gonna re-test pH in a day or two and order some more MLB I guess. It's almost time for these to go into the barrel rotation, so I guess I'll hope to get MLF completed in the barrel. Frustrating.

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I'm in the same boat, boatboy. You gonna add any SO2? My zin has been 4 months, no so2, was thinking about hitting it with 25ppm, half the tolerance of vp41. Guess I'll have to take a barrel out of the wine room to try it in the barrel.

I was thinking about 1/8 tsp of SO2. I'll wait on that decision until I've confirmed pH. Pre-fermentation, the pH on all 4 was between 3.44 and 3.7. I used Enoferm Beta the first time around because it was all I could get my hands on. I'll be going back to VP41 the second time around.

My Zin is 3.49, pitched vp41 on 4/20, rehydrated with ActiML, OptiMalo in the wine. Hit it again with the same regimen a month ago when I MLF'd the Chileans. When I get back from the beach in 10 days, I'm going to run a chromo on the Zin, Chilean Cab and Malbec, and the Cab/Malbec blend. I'll decide what to do with the zin when I see the results, little early yet on the Chileans.

Maybe it's a bad MLF year or something. Checked mine two weeks ago and my Pinot Noir has budged a little, but not much. I noticed a white film forming on my 4L container (have a 6 gallon carboy + 4L bottle) two weeks ago and immediately added Kmeta to that. I was lax on my stirring of the 6 gallon carboy, so I've tried to be more intentional as of late. Will check again this weekend and see if there is any movement. There has been slight airlock activity, so we'll see. Used CH35 and originally had a pH of 3.69, haven't tested lately, guess I best do that. I liked what the CH35 did with my Chardonel and Dornfelder last fall, so I thought I'd try it out on another red (more for whites than reds, but acceptable results can be had on reds according to the literature on it).

Edit: pH is now 3.33 - calibrated twice, have new solution that I should probably break out this weekend. The 3.69 was taken before pitching yeast.
Double Edit: Mystery solved. I added 22g of tartaric acid after the 3.69 reading before pitching the yeast and never checked again. I think I was aiming for 3.4, so not too bad of an overshoot.

Hmmm. Sounds like a lot of us are struggling with the Malo this spring/summer. Interesting. I'll be ordering the VP41 shortly and will pitch next week. Fingers crossed.

Same. Used VP41, which started strong, but never finished. I bought more VP41 and nutrients, added in and saw no activity (tiny bubbles) and another test after another 2 weeks confirmed no change. I said screw it and added SO2 last week.

So far (knock on wood), I've had good luck with VP41. Unfortunately couldn't get it this spring.

balassley said:

Same. Used VP41, which started strong, but never finished. I bought more VP41 and nutrients, added in and saw no activity (tiny bubbles) and another test after another 2 weeks confirmed no change. I said screw it and added SO2 last week.

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I'm getting close to calling it on my Zin, little activity in the beginning with some slight progress on the chromo. If it's not changed when I check next weekend, it's gonna get SO2 and go into the barrel in the wine room.

Boatboy24 said:

I was thinking about 1/8 tsp of SO2. I'll wait on that decision until I've confirmed pH. Pre-fermentation, the pH on all 4 was between 3.44 and 3.7. I used Enoferm Beta the first time around because it was all I could get my hands on. I'll be going back to VP41 the second time around.

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How does adding 1/8 tsp affect the mlf? And what processes are needed after adding it?

Tnuscan said:

How does adding 1/8 tsp affect the mlf? And what processes are needed after adding it?

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It depends upon the tolerance of the strain. I'm using VP41 which has a reported SO2 tolerance of up to 50 PPM. Additions of KMS that stay below this threshold shouldn't affect the performance of the bacteria. The process for me would be to thief out a little wine, add the proper amount of KMS to keep the full volume PPM below 50, and simply stir the solution back into the wine. I suspect that the higher the SO2 concentration, the more stress on the bacteria, so I added none at all when initially starting MLF and haven't added any at all to date.

I bought juice this year... Do not trust their grapes... Had trouble as well... Over 3 months and called it quits at almost done.... Doing cold stabilize to get some of that acid out....

sdelli said:

I bought juice this year... Do not trust their grapes... Had trouble as well... Over 3 months and called it quits at almost done.... Doing cold stabilize to get some of that acid out....

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This confuses me a little.

Whose grapes? Chilean grapes in general, M&M in Hartford, CT., or Harford in MD.?

What does everyone feel is the reason behind this?

It seems several people from different areas are having this same issue..?

Tnuscan said:

This confuses me a little.



Whose grapes? Chilean grapes in general, M&M in Hartford, CT., or Harford in MD.?

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Chilean grapes in general! I get the grapes and juice from top suppliers so it is not them.... It is the product. Read across this forum... You have a great chance of problems. Ya.... Someone will respond to this and say mine are fine. That does not count.... I don't like the odds!

I have gotten grapes from M&M... I just got juice this year from Youngstown, Ohio...

sdelli said:

Chilean grapes in general! I get the grapes and juice from top suppliers so it is not them.... It is the product. Read across this forum... You have a great chance of problems. Ya.... Someone will respond to this and say mine are fine. That does not count.... I don't like the odds!

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Oh...ok... I think I'm understanding..?

Even though these grapes are hours apart on arrival time ( different States), some pails or lugs might be from a region in Chile that were picked too early or climate affected so the acid levels or ripeness factors are out of balance while some from other areas will be perfect(or more so).

But the Majority of the time most of the grapes seem to be "out of balance" and a challenge to get where they need to be.

Is this correct?