Frozen Pinot Noir Pails

I’d like to get two frozen pails of Pinot Noir. I’d like some opinions on these options:

-Buy two pails of Brehm 2013 Mahoney Vineyards 24.5 0.69 3.26, combine in one fermenter, follow Making Great Pinot Noir post, and other readings -One yeast

-Buy two pails of Brehm 2013 Mahoney Vineyards 24.5 0.69 3.26, ferment in separate fermenters with different yeast, combine for aging

-Buy one pail of Brehm 2013 Mahoney Vineyards 24.5 0.69 3.26, one pail of WineGrapesDirect 2013 Durell Vineyard 24.5, 3.50, .58, combine in one fermenter, follow Making Great Pinot Noir post, and other readings -One yeast

-Buy two pails of WineGrapesDirect 2013 Durell Vineyard 24.5, 3.50, .58, ferment in separate fermenters with different yeast, combine for aging
Etc……

I would greatly appreciate any opinions on yeasts and which path to take. I have made only kits so far, and I have read opinions on trying Zin as your first grape batch, but I love Pinot, and that is the one varietal I can't bring myself to make in a kit.

Thanks in advance!

I would say combine the two different brands, I know Brehm is a good vendor, I don't know enough about the other to judge, but if those numbers are true ( not the whole story) they sound like they should blend pretty well. I would advise fermenting separately and combining later. Perhaps ferment with different yeast strains or temperatures for complexity.

From what I've read, both are good vendors. I've heard good things about the Durell, but don't know anything about Mahoney (though, being of Irish decent, I like the name ). I think I'd do as Seth suggest and do both, but separately.

I think seth has a good idea as long as you're up to the task of handling things separately, though I don't think you would go wrong either way. The Mahoney fruit is a bit low in PH, generally higher in malic acid content; this is not a problem, but the malolactic fermentation may run slow compared to the Durell. The YAN content is provided with the Mahoney fruit (195 mg/L), so determining the correct nutrient addition for that pail is easy. As for yeast, you can look at one of the supplier's yeast pairing guides, but I think RC212 and AMH are high on the list for Pinot Noir.

I have had a bottle of winegrapesdirect 2013, and not being a big Pinot fan, found it incredibly interesting. I actually thought about it the entire next day. So I am sure you will get a good wine from them. I'd split as well. WGD pail comes with Rockpile which I believe is rc212.

Thanks to all! I appreciate the help

Hey Coleman,

You have talked about adding the pomice to a kit. How much of the pomice would you add to one 16L/18L kit? And add it in lieu of the grape pack?

I do add it along with the "grape pack". The pressed grapes usually amount to 2 gallons of "volume". Not kidding, the benefit of it is insurmountable. That and I feel it helps bring the high cost of "fresh grapes" wine down by bringing the kit wine WAY up!! People on this forum say you will never get a 90 point wine from a kit haven't tried adding pressed skins to the kits. I would venture to say, though, that Pinot noir is a different animal. Please ask someone with much more experience on that variety if adding skins would help. It's odd that the eclipse Pinot doesn't have skins. Is there a reason? All I can say (and picture) is that my kits with pressed grapes have all turned out much better than my high end kits made without tweaks. Good luck!!

I did the wines grapes direct pinot this past fall. It came with Assmanhausen yeast ,, Fernand k, some Tartaric acid and oak cubes.
I also fermented 1 bucket with rc212.
I used vp41 for mlf.
I blended and it is currently bulk aging.
The taste is already great for such a young wine!