2019 Lodi Meritage

[ibglowin]

No superpowers. If you send a post and I subscribe to that thread I will get an instant email notification like anybody else. Even if you delete the post anyone subscribed to the thread will see the post in an email. That link still works unless you delete the video from iCloud or password protect the file.

 

[ibglowin]

 

[Johnd]

No superpowers. If you send a post and I subscribe to that thread I will get an instant email notification like anybody else. Even if you delete the post anyone subscribed to the thread will see the post in an email. That link still works unless you delete the video from iCloud or password protect the file.

Ahh, got it. Guess I'll go the YouTube route in the future.....thanks for the info!

 

[Johnd]

Temps on the cab fermenters been running 84, down to 13 BRIX, merlot at 80, 15 BRIX, Cab Franc and PV right between them at 82 and 14 BRIX. Broke one of my hydrometers, just for good luck. Lovely. Hit everybody with a shot of DAP and Fermaid K, looking for a temp spike plus enough to cross the finish line. Anticipating a Sunday press.

The wines are doing well, smell lively and fruity, alcohol is just starting to become a part of the aroma. Pleased thus far with extraction, color is looking great, and the berries haven’t turned to mush, didn’t overdo EX-V, thanks to @Keith5

 

[Grape_City_Reefer]

Maybe a silly question but, on on of your posts you mentioned no raisined fruit. I have only made two small batches of wines from grapes and I have wondered about blemishes over ripened fruit but when I spoke to commercial winemaker he told me the following about ugly berries/clusters "... taste it, is it sweet? If it is don't worry about it." Although they make great wine at that winery I still wonder if that is part to the volume/scale they work with. What is your opion/knowledge on this subject do you worry about removing the blemished berries(raisined, mildewy, etc.).

Thank you in advance.

 

[Ajmassa]

Maybe a silly question but, on on of your posts you mentioned no raisined fruit. I have only made two small batches of wines from grapes and I have wondered about blemishes over ripened fruit but when I spoke to commercial winemaker he told me the following about ugly berries/clusters "... taste it, is it sweet? If it is don't worry about it." Although they make great wine at that winery I still wonder if that is part to the volume/scale they work with. What is your opion/knowledge on this subject do you worry about removing the blemished berries(raisined, mildewy, etc.).

Thank you in advance.

Higher quality wineries will sacrifice quantity for quality. And they will sort the grapes much more thoroughly only using best fruit. Some documentary I saw on some Napa wineries shows the process well. Forget the name

Sorting grapes sucks. Especially when making larger volumes. Adds soooo much time. Has to be done by hand. But is just one of those variables that when combined with some others can be a difference from a good wine to a great wine.

I work alone so it’s tough to get overly picky. I still remove leaves and bad clusters. but to really do it proper requires multiple people working the sorting table.

 

[Grape_City_Reefer]

Higher quality wineries will sacrifice quantity for quality. And they will sort the grapes much more thoroughly only using best fruit. Some documentary I saw on some Napa wineries shows the process well. Forget the name

Sorting grapes sucks. Especially when making larger volumes. Adds soooo much time. Has to be done by hand. But is just one of those variables that when combined with some others can be a difference from a good wine to a great wine.

I work alone so it’s tough to get overly picky. I still remove leaves and bad clusters. but to really do it proper requires multiple people working the sorting table.

Do you pitch a cluster if it even slightly bad (5 or 6 berries) or do you only pitch it if 25%(or other number) or more is bad? I am making my third batch from grapes, My first batch is just slightly over a year in carboys(Marechal Foch) so I am still learning the art.

 

[Ajmassa]

Do you pitch a cluster if it even slightly bad (5 or 6 berries) or do you only pitch it if 25%(or other number) or more is bad? I am making my third batch from grapes, My first batch is just slightly over a year in carboys(Marechal Foch) so I am still learning the art.

I’m still learning too man. Everyone has their own bar of acceptance. Sorting can be a lot of work and I’m trying to get through without wasting too much time.
I’ll remove bad groupings. But if more than half cluster is suspect I won’t break my stones to salvage every last good grape and just toss it to the side. If a handful of bad grapes make it through or good grapes don’t I don’t sweat it. There’s grapes pretty much everywhere at the end of the day regardless. I don’t believe there’s a “wrong way” tho
My family was old school and would just dump it all right into the hopper with reckless abandon

 

[CDrew]

I mostly pick my own grapes and don't worry about a few raisins here and there. But I am selective enough, that no sorting is needed before crush. Raisins for the most part are OK and raise the brix a bit. Just don't go overboard.

 

[Ajmassa]

Totally hijacked John’s thread here. Lol. Sorry buddy. I start talking shop and easily get sucked in to the vortex

 

[Johnd]

Maybe a silly question but, on on of your posts you mentioned no raisined fruit. I have only made two small batches of wines from grapes and I have wondered about blemishes over ripened fruit but when I spoke to commercial winemaker he told me the following about ugly berries/clusters "... taste it, is it sweet? If it is don't worry about it." Although they make great wine at that winery I still wonder if that is part to the volume/scale they work with. What is your opion/knowledge on this subject do you worry about removing the blemished berries(raisined, mildewy, etc.).

Thank you in advance.

I don't get terrible concerned about the occasionally blemished berry here or there, but do watch for raisined clusters. They look just like they sound, a cluster of raisins (dried grapes) attached to the stems, I pull those out. I will also pull out any fruit that has mold or mildew on in, if any. I also don't worry too much about occasionally seeing some slightly shriveled berries, just not too many.
The grapes I've been getting the last three years from Colavita have been in great shape, with almost zero waste, if not zero. Last year we picked a lot of leaves, this year they were very clean, we were dumping full lugs in the hopper and pulling the odd leaf here and there as they fed through, super easy crush this year.

 

[Johnd]

Totally hijacked John’s thread here. Lol. Sorry buddy. I start talking shop and easily get sucked in to the vortex

No worries, your answers are spot on. If you get to it first, have at it, it's all about the learning.............

 

[Grape_City_Reefer]

No worries, your answers are spot on. If you get to it first, have at it, it's all about the learning.............

Thank you for the reply, happy fermenting!

 

[Donz]

We open the cases and sort all of the clusters out by hand and then put them in separate containers before loading them in the hopper. Any leaves, or other unwanted dried out fruit discarded if they are bad. We get the ladies to do this, they are very thorough!

 

[Johnd]

Looks like we’re getting to the end of the rope, PV and CF down to 2 BRIX, Merlot at 5 BRIX, Cab at 0 BRIX. Think we’ll hit it hard first thing in the morning and knock it out. Just finished a punch down, will do one more before bed, and that’ll be the last of the season. Temps down to 80, everything smells wonderful, and the color looks solid.

 

[Johnd]

Did it in a big way today, started prepping carboys and press at 6 AM, vacuum racking wine out of the fermenters at 7, finished it up at 9 with pretty good yields, @Keith5 came over at 8. Couple more hours to press the skins, and another hour to clean up, done by around noon.

19 full carboys plus 1.5 gallons in small jugs puts the gross total at 115.5 gallons. Will lose some when racked off of the gross lees, guessing we’ll end up around 110 gallons, plenty to play with.

 

[ibglowin]

Should be enough to last you a year.

Or two!

 

[Boatboy24]

Should be enough to last you a year.

Or two! View attachment 57103

I was going to say it looks like a pretty good Saturday night about 24 months from now.

 

[Johnd]

I was going to say it looks like a pretty good Saturday night about 24 months from now.

Well....since I’m only making wine once a year, and not all of its for me, don’t feel too bad about it. We really ended up with much more wine than anticipated, started getting concerned about running out of carboys. I’ve determined that after @Keith5 takes his carboy home after MLF, there’ll be enough to fill the new 60 gal Frenchie (due in soon), plus fill the neutral 30 gal frenchie from 2017. Just have to fill the 60 first so I’ll have enough carboys to empty the 30 and bottle it. When it’s ready Keith is taking 2019 finished barrel wine in addition to the carboy, and two other folks will be taking multiple cases as well.

 

[mainshipfred]

Did it in a big way today, started prepping carboys and press at 6 AM, vacuum racking wine out of the fermenters at 7, finished it up at 9 with pretty good yields, @Keith5 came over at 8. Couple more hours to press the skins, and another hour to clean up, done by around noon.

19 full carboys plus 1.5 gallons in small jugs puts the gross total at 115.5 gallons. Will lose some when racked off of the gross lees, guessing we’ll end up around 110 gallons, plenty to play with.
View attachment 57102

What size press do you have? That's a lot of pressing to get done in 2 hours.