What's in your glass tonight?

Johnd said:

If you do the Grapemasters stuff, lake a look at "The Spaniards" thread. Based on the numbers, (you'll be getting the same grapes, though the numbers can vary), a 50/50 preferment blend of the Tempranillo and Merlot would've probably resulted in a "no adjustments needed" must, as the two BRIX (1 highish, 1 lowish) and pH's (1 highish, 1 lowish), when combined were complimentary. I have a 6 gallon blend, combined after AF, that is really nice and has great numbers. Didn't do the Grenache, so I can't help you there. Nothing wrong with the others at all, they're great, just a thought as you go forward.

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@johnd

Thanks John! I have read through your spaniards thread a couple times and am planning to do Tempranillo, Syrah, Carignan for some straight up varietals and blending options... Did you get about six carboys with the nine buckets?

Cheers!
-johann

jburtner said:

@johnd

Thanks John! I have read through your spaniards thread a couple times and am planning to do Tempranillo, Syrah, Carignan for some straight up varietals and blending options... Did you get about six carboys with the nine buckets?

Cheers!
-johann

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Johann,

Started with 9 pails of must, roughly 45 gallons. Right now I have 31.5 gallons of clear wine, right at 70% yield. I always use 67% as my estimate of finished wine to calculate acid adjustments and nutrient additions in must. Thus far, I've not seen much deviation, so I feel like it's a good estimate.

My own Murray Darling AU Gewurztraminer Verdelho Muscat. I had a bottling party a few weeks ago to bottle this batch, and we made a game-time decision not to add the f-pack. I'm sure we missed some sweetness, but that huge f-pack seemed likely to overwhelm what was already very good.

This Red Schooner again tonight. I had a late lunch with lots of meats so this is dinner

@johnd - gotcha w/67% and thank you!

Cheers!
-johann

Mrs. JohnD and I just finished up some meatballs and spaghetti on TV trays in front of the tube. Washed down with a 2014 Turley cab.........pretty solid evening.

A little Cline Viognier. That seemed to me to be the best wine pairing I had in the house with corned beast. (Not a big fan of beer and corned beef. I think a Gewurz would be nice, but had none in....)

2011 Proper Wines Syrah Stone's Throw, WWV. 5 Star QPR. Rocks district Syrah. Olive tapenade, violets, a hint of oak and nice acid. Starting to peak for sure. Down to my last bottle from this year. If you look close you can see dinner in the side ground LOL Off tomorrow. Let the weekend and March Madness begin!

I bottled mine a few months ago it was in the carboy I think for like 6 months. I added 1/2 F-pack up front and the rest post ferment with the sorbate. Had my first bottle last week. Very nice wine and needless to say drinking very well!

heatherd said:

My own Murray Darling AU Gewurztraminer Verdelho Muscat. I had a bottling party a few weeks ago to bottle this batch, and we made a game-time decision not to add the f-pack. I'm sure we missed some sweetness, but that huge f-pack seemed likely to overwhelm what was already very good.

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I'll call it a bottle of my "Forgotten Experiment 2016 Merlot."

Description: Nose, gentle aromas of plum, dark berry, Merlot-ish.
Palate/tongue: First taste, the soft, silky flavor of most nice merlots. Tasted just like a Merlot. Now it gets weird.
Second taste: A soft licorice-like, candied cherry, blueberry, plumy taste. Just like many of the $13 to $15 dollar Red Zinfandels I like from Lodi. Sooooo goooooood!!!

Explanation: I had been racking carboys off of the sediment for many months, and many kits. During this rack-over session I was going from 5 gallon to 3 gallon carboys, a gallon glass jug/carboy, and a 1/2 gallon.

While I do this, I keep a wine glass handy, , and pull a glass out in- between vessels. After somehow catching a slight buzz, and finishing this session, I grabbed the half gallon of Merlot (kit) and brought it up to the kitchen for the experiment.

I took about 10 frozen blackberries, about the same with the blueberries and a frozen plum. Tossed these in the skillet and sauted them as joeswine does. I pressed the juice with a spoon into a cup, ate the warm berries. Don't forget I had a nice buzz going, wife might call it a little tipsy.

I then took the airlock off poured a small amount in another cup, then poured in the small amount of juice, then back in with the wine, shaken like crazy and airlocked. I had forgotten, that in early 2016, I started leaving everything out of the stabilization process, except k-meta. Even so, it never re-started fermentation.

After a couple months or so, I decided to bottle and taste. YUK! Bitter and astringent, and I noticed a thick subtsance starting to trail into the bottle. Corked the first bottle and thought I would pour the next into a bottle and let the slury settle out. Couldn't find my tiny bungs for bottles so I plugged it with a temporary plastic type cork/cap.

Awaking the next day in a whole new world, I had forgotten about this fun little experiment. Labeled ARF = Alcohol Related Forgetfulness. So if any one hears me say, ARF, I'm not trying to bark, I'm just Loudly proclaiming my disorder.

Anyway last nites drink was last nights "Forgotten Experiment" / discovery. Finding the bottle, and not having a clue (???), I poured half of it into a 375ml and noticed that little trail of sediment, so I filtered the rest into another 375ml.

Drank the first 375ml and discovered a beautiful and well enjoyed wine.

I don't know if any of you remember the smell/taste issue that I have with, only, kit wines (???) but with this experiment it was completly gone. Not even a trace of it. It smelled beautiful and tasted wonderful, 14 hours later, and I still can't get it out of my mind.

So, I'm trying it again to see if I can replicate the outcome, if so I'll repost.

Oh yeah, that first bottle I corked on the start, a good while back. I remember now, why i was never able to figure out why it tasted a little off when I consumed it. ARF.

Cheers!!!

Did someone mention this wine? [emoji4]

@ibglowin I agree this blend is a great wine. If you know, what SG and ABV did yours hit with the prefermentation addition of the fpack?

@geek How did you handle the fpack for yours?

heatherd said:

@ibglowin I agree this blend is a great wine. If you know, what SG and ABV did yours hit with the prefermentation addition of the fpack?

@geek How did you handle the fpack for yours?

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I made 2 of this kit.

The 1st kit I added the entire f-pack at the end to back sweeten.
The 2nd kit, I added 1/2 up-front and the rest at the end to back sweeten.

Notes from the 2nd kit:

July 13, 2016 1.096 Pitched QA23 yeast instead of the EC-1118. PH ~3.51, added ½ f-pack up-front.
Also added ½ oz. of Elderberries flowers for aroma.

July 17 0.994 Racked to 6gal plastic carboy, will stabilize in a few days

July 22 0.994 Racked, stabilized and added remainder of f-pack. SG 1.000 PH=3.29

Aug 3 racked into 5gal carboy and 2 extra bottles, pH=3.31

Notes from 1st kit:

Mar 30, 2016 1.092 Pitched QA23 yeast instead of the EC-1118. Around 6:00pm. PH ~3.54

Apr 2 1.030 stirred well, nice fermentation. PH=2.95

Apr 3 1.014 PH=3.00, must temp 67F. Stirred well.

Apr 3 1.006 around 8pm

Apr 4 0.995 around 8pm, racked into plastic carboy, will stabilize and f-pack in a few days

Apr 8 0.994 racked into bucket, PH=3.14
Stabilized and added f-pack. SG ~1.003 and PH=3.27. Racked into 6gal plastic carboy

@geek Thanks for the details! It will be interesting for you to be able to taste both over time and see how they develop, and which you like better.

Tasting mine now, I wish I'd bought two and made one sweet and one dry.

Heather

heatherd said:

@geek Thanks for the details! It will be interesting for you to be able to taste both over time and see how they develop, and which you like better.

Tasting mine now, I wish I'd bought two and made one sweet and one dry.

Heather

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The only problem is that I didn't mark the labels to know which one is which one, and some boxes got moved in my basement. But if I were to open a bottle of each I should be able to notice. I think all the bottles got unboxed and mixed into a rack..

geek said:

The only problem is that I didn't mark the labels to know which one is which one, and some boxes got moved in my basement. But if I were to open a bottle of each I should be able to notice. I think all the bottles got unboxed and mixed into a rack..

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Well, you can be surprised each time!

Went to the neighbors for dinner, and had a nice Marlborough Sauv Blanc. Now, I am sipping a bottle of Apothic dark, which my DW brought home. Smooth, dark fruits, I cannot taste any residual sugar (although there could be a smidge). After a bit, the finish includes toasted oak, coffee, toffee, caramel, and other toasted niceties.

We had leftover lamb from our big dinner the other day, so I opened a bottle of Pasqua 2014 Valpolicella Ripasso. It was a bargain from Trader Joe's; it is okay, but not great.

I had read on here that someone really enjoyed North Dakota Chocolate Rhubarb wine and so I started a search for it. I love trying products from our own state because we often grow a lot of base products but do not get to finish them due to lack of people/resources. In town, I did find a small section of just ND wine. I could not find a bottle of ND chocolate rhubarb wine but did find ND chocolate raspberry wine and that was really good. But now I really wonder what a rhubarb wine is like.