Bottling day finally for the MM AJ Pinot Noir I started 7 months ago!
This was my second attempt at bottling this guy. The first time I stirred up some fine sediment off the bottom and sides when I added my K-Meta dose and I plugged 2 Vinbrite filters within 15min each time. Let it sit for a couple of weeks and it filtered just perfectly. ~ 1 hour start to finish. Free SO2 was measured at 40ppm. The left over glass was good but not what I would call outstanding at the moment. You can tell the underlying delicate Pinot Noir structure is there. Very subtle hints of ripe cherry and plum with just a hint of vanilla. Smoooth soft tannins. I am very glad I didn't add any more oak as the oak was perfect. Anymore would have been a mistake in my opinion. The one thing I am noticing on these MM AJ kits is that they seem to be much more GREEN at the same amount of bulk aging time than the other kits I have made (CC Showcase, MM Renaissance) It really looks like these AJ kits will take a minimum of 18 months and more than likely 2 years to come into their own. That said, you really need some patience with these AJ kits but you will be rewarded in the end with a very high quality product, if you can wait for it to come around.
Bottled my usual 2 splits for tasting down the road. The flash has washed out the color on the labels. The background in reality is black. The other interesting side note is that this was my second time using the gold shrink caps and both times the shrink has turned out all wrinkled. Once using boiling water and this time using a heat gun. I have only seen this on the gold caps and not on any other color. Weird but repeatable.
Pictures after the break as they say!
This was my second attempt at bottling this guy. The first time I stirred up some fine sediment off the bottom and sides when I added my K-Meta dose and I plugged 2 Vinbrite filters within 15min each time. Let it sit for a couple of weeks and it filtered just perfectly. ~ 1 hour start to finish. Free SO2 was measured at 40ppm. The left over glass was good but not what I would call outstanding at the moment. You can tell the underlying delicate Pinot Noir structure is there. Very subtle hints of ripe cherry and plum with just a hint of vanilla. Smoooth soft tannins. I am very glad I didn't add any more oak as the oak was perfect. Anymore would have been a mistake in my opinion. The one thing I am noticing on these MM AJ kits is that they seem to be much more GREEN at the same amount of bulk aging time than the other kits I have made (CC Showcase, MM Renaissance) It really looks like these AJ kits will take a minimum of 18 months and more than likely 2 years to come into their own. That said, you really need some patience with these AJ kits but you will be rewarded in the end with a very high quality product, if you can wait for it to come around.
Bottled my usual 2 splits for tasting down the road. The flash has washed out the color on the labels. The background in reality is black. The other interesting side note is that this was my second time using the gold shrink caps and both times the shrink has turned out all wrinkled. Once using boiling water and this time using a heat gun. I have only seen this on the gold caps and not on any other color. Weird but repeatable.
Pictures after the break as they say!
