Cellar Craft Last kit of the year: CC Sterling Malbec

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lilvixen

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The grad semester starts soon, so I'm spinning up my last kit of the year while I have the time. By starting now, I hope to complete fermentation this month and use three-day weekends for stabilizing, clearing, and racking for bulk aging until after Christmas. Wish me luck.

This is the Cellar Craft Sterling International Malbec. FVW's site said it was Chilean when I purchased it on July 4th, but it was on backorder until last week, and now the description says Argentinian. The box doesn't say the origin, so I don't know which this is. My first kit was a 10L no-skins red and my third kit was an 18L skins kit; I want to see how a 12L skins kit compares.

This kit comes with 1.5L skins, 30g medium French oak, and 30g heavy French oak. Yum! The SG of the juice was 1.072, and after two hours was 1.080. I pitched D254 instead of the included EC-1118. The package of D254 yeast noted "nutrients required" so I'll add Fermaid-K at 1/3 sugar depletion.

I'm looking forward to this one!
 
Good luck! [Over the last year or so I've come to really like Malbec.]

Nice to see that you've got your priorities in order.
 
Yesterday at 8am, 14 hours after adding the skins and 12 hours after adding the yeast, the SG was still/again 1.080. It looked like there was a little fermentation activity, but not much.

The SG last night was 1.078. I'm not sure if the grape skins were still affecting the SG or the yeast was slow to start, even though there was evidence of fermentation.

This morning, the must temp was 79*, and the SG is somewhere between 1.055 and 1.060. I set the hydrometer directly in the must and the foam blocked view of an accurate reading. I figure at this point, I don't have to be perfect, as I'm just getting an idea of where it's at in the process.

It doesn't smell stressed, so I haven't added the Fermaid-K yet. After I added Fermaid-K to my peach wine, the B71 yeast went into overdrive, so I'm nervous to push the D254 into overdrive if it's already at 79* and heavily foaming. I'll take a whiff at lunch and again tonight to see if it's seems stressed and add Fermaid-K at that point.

As an aside, hubby and I don't like the yeasty smell during primary fermentation. I'm glad it's summertime, and I can open the house in the morning to aerate it. I'm not sure what I'll do when I ferment during winter.
 
As an aside, hubby and I don't like the yeasty smell during primary fermentation. I'm glad it's summertime, and I can open the house in the morning to aerate it. I'm not sure what I'll do when I ferment during winter.

You don't like the fermenting yeasty smell? I love it. Makes my basement smell like a cross between a French Boulangerie and Vineyard. Add some bacon smellivision and I'd never leave the room. I actually enjoy fermentation smell, it gives me a sense of freshness. Maybe because it's in my basement and doesn't smell up the house helps.

Unfortunately, my current kit, a WE Amarone, doesn't have the smell. It's probably drowned out by the 3 packages of oak powder that went in the primary.

Good luck with wine and school.
 
Mmm, bacon. I can see bacon associated with a boulangerie, but I hadn't thought of bacon in a vineyard. Would it be served on the charcuterie plate at tastings? Now I'm hungry and have a renewed urge to plan my bucket list trip to France.

Also, that's a lot of oak in your Amarone, @AZMDTed! I look forward to hearing how it turns out.

This is my fifth ferment, and none have smelled good - no fruity or bakery odors. It's not necessarily bad; not like sulfur or produce left in the garbage a day too long during summer. It's just an intense, funky aroma. I'm glad primary is less than a week.

Thanks for the luck, I'll need it!
 
SG is 1.002, so I racked today. I thiefed a sip before racking, and it's pretty tasty. I used a wire mesh cage thingy on the end of the racking tube, and I had to stop halfway through racking to remove the oak slivers from the cage, which made me really glad I used the mesh. I transferred as much wine as possible, allowing a teensy bit of sediment. I did that with my first kit, and it dropped to 0.994. I didn't on the next two, and I barely made it below 1.000, so it seems a little sediment is good. Or at least I'm testing that theory.

I'll check the SG next weekend and throughout that following week. Hopefully it'll finish in two weeks so that I can move to stabilizing over Labor Day weekend.
 
The Malbec finished just barely below 1.000, has been bulk aging since the end of August, and spent the last 7 weeks on 2oz of American Med+ oak cubes. When I added the oak, I also added a little tannin because I had some. I bottled it last night, and we'll be ringing in the new year with the leftover partial bottle. I'll report back how it is as a full glass, since so far, we've only had small tastings of it.

After the RJS Super Tuscan started in July and the WE Luna Bianca and WE Lodi Cab started up this month, the Malbec isn't up to their caliber, but it should be sufficient to tie us over until the premium kits are aged and ready. Despite only sampling from the carboy of the premium kits, I'm already a convert: I'll only make premium kits from here on out, but it was worth satiating my curiosity of a mid-level skins kit with this one.
 
We opened a bottle of the Malbec to have with enchiladas verdes this week. Two nights ago, it was "ok." We finished the bottle tonight with leftovers, and it was on the good side of ok. I wasn't mm'ing and aw'ing all over it, but I forgot a few times that it was homemade, so I'm calling that a win. I don't detect any gas, and it has a decent mouthfeel and light (soft?) tannins. I won't try and describe any flavors through my clogged sinuses, but if my unlabled bottle hadn't been on the table, I'd assume it was a medium-bodied house wine. This will happily tie us over until the good stuff has aged.
 
The Sterling Malbec has hit the magical 1-year mark, and, oh my, I'm starting to understand the magic! I used half a bottle as top up for a wine I racked over the weekend, and last night, we had a bit after dinner. I had opened a commercial Malbec/Cab Sauv for dinner, and hubby poured some of the Sterling Malbec while I still had the commercial wine in my glass. I sipped a bit of each, and they were both comparably good! I had added oak cubes to the Sterling, and it was noticeable compared to the commercial one, but in a good way: vanilla notes and a hint of smoke. I was so impressed! The "eh" flavor I noticed in previous bottles was gone, and it smelled good! Yes, it did have a day or so to breathe, but still, YAY!

Hubby has been wanting a casual (i.e. not ultra premium kit with a 2-3 year aging time) Merlot, so I ordered a Sterling Merlot this morning from FVW. It'll still take 6-12 months before it's good, but hubby has been enjoying the taste of the Malbec for the past few months, so he'll be able to enjoy it come springtime. I just need to figure out how to finagle the four carboys I have, with the two kits that are aging, the one I'm starting on EM, and an upcoming kitchen renovation. The Sterling Merlot may only get a month or two of bulk aging time, but that's ok, it can age just as well in a bottle.

Short story long, as I saw on a thread before I started the Malbec, "don't overlook the Sterling kits with skins." I second that opinion; mine successfully competed against a $12 commercial bottle last night.
 
Coincidentally, I had a ~4-yr-old Sterling Merlot the night before last, and finished it off last night. I was pleased -- nearly commercial quality after this much aging. I had a short bulk age, and a long bottle age.
 
I did both a Sterling Merlot and Syrah during my first year of winemaking. With sufficient aging, they were pretty nice wines.
 

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