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I have 3 varietals in the vineyard; Zin, Syrah, Cab Sauv. Last year I netted 50 gallon Syrah, 60 gallon Zin and 30 gallon Cab Sauv. The Syrah is the best grape in the vineyard, just not a fan of Zin, but Zin grapes are what they should be and the Cab Sauv should not have been planted; just too...

I have a vineyard that produces 30 gallons worth of Cab Sauv. I have 30 gallons of Cab from 2023 in two 15 gallon spiedels. My plans is to co-ferment (alcohol & mlf) the 2024 crop then combine the 2023 and 2024 into a 60 gallon barrel. I will then let in age until 2025, where I will bottle 30...

I’ve found that there are two types of winemakers. Ones that have a regiment that they stick to regardless of the situation and ones that whose baseline is do nothing and only do things based on the situation. I’ll explain. Winemaker #1 - Wants the wine to be dictated by the grapes. The...

Fun tasting with our group tonight. Barrel tasting, recently bottled and some state fair award winners shared. Among the group @4score, @Busabill, @crushday delivered some very nice wines. However, the wine that stole the show for me was this one. Better than many $100+ bottles I’ve had...

Hit the go button…not happening. Power to the cord, switch is good, and there isn’t any fuse/breaker at the 15(?) year old destemmer. Pretty confident it’s the start-up capacitor, but that didn’t help me with 400 pounds of grapes to go. I was able to limp through without tearing the head off of...

Last year I made a barrel fermented Chardonnay from fresh, local juice (link to thread), the first time of making a white on this scale. I want to parlay the things I purchased (barrel) and what I learned from last year to make an even better wine this year. It was the first time I ever made a...

One of the things I enjoy about this hobby is that it is an opportunity to meet people or spend more time with good friends. Especially being an introvert, the hobby has expanded my world. I’ve agreed to help 3 unrelated people make wine this year. I thought it would be fun to chronicle their...

Prior to wine making, my main hobby was restoring '60's era cars. Mostly Fords and British sports cars. When we bought some property 2 years ago, I sold my 3/4 finished project car (Sunbeam Alpine with Ford V6) so I could focus on getting the property and the vineyard back in shape. With 4...

My neighbor is an 85 year old, still farming his commercial mandarin orchard. He gives me bags and bags of mandarins during the season. In return I give him wine and jam I’ve made from the mandarins. At the end of last season he had a lot left over and I said if he would make juice, I’d make a...

I've made whites most every year for the past 10 years from grapes. Last year our little collective (@4score , @Busabill and a few others) went to a commercial juice maker in Lodi and purchased 220 gallons of Chardonnay juice. The ease, cost and quality of getting white juice made it so worth...

A much different year!!! 3/8/22 Start of bud break. 10% of vines 3/25/22 All the vines have shoots, started mini suckering. 3/28/22 Suckering pass all vines 3/31/22 First spray sulphur 4/4/22 continuous suckering and mowing Versus 4/5/23 Buds are swelling but no bud break...

My overall process has been: - crush (late Aug) - ferment (1 week) - press - let sit for 24 hrs - pump to barrel - mlf (6-12 weeks) - rack - optional rack, depending on grape quality and ferment** (April) - rack to Spiedels a day before bottling - bottle (Aug) I’ve seen the benefit of letting...

United by the interest in making wine at home, this forum has enabled a few relationships that I hold dear. The collaboration of our little group with the intent to share wine making best practices and general life joys and tribulations has been a joy. We have a blind wine tasting...

I use to host crush, press and bottling parties as well as look for help while racking barrels. Over the past few years I’ve figured out how to do it by myself, with the Mrs or a buddy. Now I’m thinking I’m missing one of the real joys of wine making, the social aspect. I need to rethink this...

Wishing you all a healthy, happy New Year and for many successes in your wine making!

For 2023, I am going to do repeats of what I have made in the past, that I enjoyed. - 60 gallon barrel of Amador Cabernet Sauvignon, with a splash of Petit Verdot - 60 gallon barrel of Lodi Chardonnay - 15 gallon estate Zin Rose - 15 gallon estate Syrah What are your plans?

I'm making a 60 gallon barrel of Chardonnay this year and will result in plenty of wine to give away. My process results up to this point have been good enough for my own consumption, but not good enough to give away to others. I am looking to not have any sense of CO2, clear and no crystals...

We boarded a horse at a barn for 5 years and met some great people. Some very knowledgeable wine consumers. We invited them over to our new place, where we moved our horse and I open the 2019-2021 portfolio of wines. I opened all bottles and left glasses for self serve. The true impression of...

I called doctor and told him that since I retired I’ve had a very large bowel movement every morning at 7:30. The doctor said, ok, so what’s the problem? I don’t get out of bed until 8:00. (heard this one at a retirement party last night)

The end of the season winemaker hands. It’s unlike car hands, where the grease/dirt will come off with scrubbing. The skin is stained. I haven’t found a solution besides letting time take care of it. This is after scrubbing with a scrubbing pad and detergent.Any suggestions?