Recent content by Chris Johnson

I’ve been using oenobrett for 4 years as a preventative. One of the growers I used to buy fruit from recommended Lysozyme at 10 brix to get ready for malo and then a chitosan after malo is done. I’ve been happy with the results.

Last year, I foot trodded chard about 30% whole cluster/ let sit and sent the rest through the destemmer directly to the bladder press. On the 2nd press load I put the foot trodden grapes (2 hours later) in the press and then put the rest of the destemmed on top. All pressed at 1 bar. Bladder...

I go light on SO2 until ML is done and then hit it with oenobrett and SO2. Maybe worth a try for you? https://laffort.com/en/products/oenobrett/

Yep, viognier. Gave it a really nice nose and lift. I‘m really pleased with the wine. I wish it was my idea, but Keplinger Sumo was the inspiration.

Delestage for the win. It also keeps it from going reductive. I did it with Amador fruit last year in Cote Rotie style PS With 3% Vio. It‘s still a monster, but more manageable than it’s cousin which is PS from the same vineyard with a bit of Mouvedre and some Syrah. The cousin may be drinkable...

When did you bottle? I’ve found it takes about 6 mo for Pinot to get over being bottled. I had a Pinot from 2019 that was awful at the 2 mo mark. I put a cork in it and came back in 3 days and it was improved quite a bit. It was best on day 5. I’m hoping to stumble across some Dundee fruit. I...

Bad thing. No nuance of the Pinot. Light mouthfeel and sharp/hard tannins from the PV. Bad combo.

There’s some old articles out there where Ponsot said he never tasted his Pinot before April/May and he never made any decisions about it until later. I did 6 different Pinots in 2019. My favorites in the tank are not my favorites now. It is maddening how fickle the wines can be. One from Santa...

The latest Bedrock Wine Podcast talks about smoke taint and one of the things that isn’t aligning with the Aussie data after smoke exposure is the amount of cresol that the CA grapes have versus the Australian at the same guiacol levels. CA grapes are much higher. The thinking is down the line...

Applies mainly to reds. Destemmer doesn’t remove 100% of the stems. I usually de-stem, add 25 ppm of SO2 and walk away for 24 hours before I start looking at numbers. Acid additions are better integrated if made before fermentation. During the fermentation, residual stems and fragments will...

I spent some time at a friends winery as they were barreling down at the end of harvest. I was lamenting the fact that I blew through the acid this year. It was spectacular fruit, but the pH was in the 3.7-3.8 range. She showed me their stash and said that folks without optical sorters always...

You can always pitch your Wyeast and get a 2nd yeast to finish it.

Not sure where you are. Michael is great on Petite Sirah. Other stuff is hit and miss. Here’s a couple others that denote if they sell to home wine guys. https://sonomawinegrape.org/grape-marketplace/grapes-for-sale/ https://www.eldoradograpes.com/index.php/grapes-available/ I’d also watch...

Give it time. In the last couple of years I’ve found it comes around in the 6-8 month mark. Making Pinot can be a roller coaster. There’s a few articles around where Ponsot and Jayer used to not even taste until April because it can be so finicky during the process.

Should be fine, keep the cap wet. If you’re worried, you can pitch the ML culture and put press and seal for the extended maceration. Then you have some CO2 going under the plastic.