Other Brehm Vineyard's Russian River Valley Cabernet

[JimCook]

It's not a kit, but it's started nonetheless. The yeast are happily doing their thing and I'm playing the role of 'cap manager' for this wonderful smelling fermentation.


http://www.findyourstrength.com/wine/200907RRCab.htm


- Jim

 

[gaudet]

Looks good. You even have the mad scientist look in your eye while stirring the must.......

 

[vcasey]

That looks like so much fun! My grapes are on order, I'll pick them up the first week in October.
VC

 

[JimCook]

Gaudet,


You're right - perhaps my eyes are just glowing the color of cabernet?

Fermentation was active - should be 1/3 complete by tonight given the current pace.


- Jim

 

[gaudet]

Hope you didn't think I meant it in a bad way BHAH BHAH BHAH HAH

Hope it all comes thru in the end....

 

[Bartman]

I just started my Brehm Vineyards Gewurztraminer, which was ordered in June through George as frozen must. It's not as sweet smelling as the kits I have made smelled, but the taste of must is pretty sweet. Following Joseph's advice at FVW, I added about 1 oz. of tartaric acid to the 5 gallons of juice. I've never had to do that before so I hope it turns out right. Picking the type of yeast to use, rather than just using what came with the kit, was kind of neat, too. Always a new adventure, eh?

S.G. = 1.092, higher than most starting S.G.s, but it should end up a little sweet.

Bart

 

[JimCook]

Here's a confirmation to what Bart just noted...
When I taste the juice from a kit, it's overpoweringly sweet (curl your toes, kind of sweet). But tasting the juice from these Cabernet grapes, even though the specific gravity was 1.110, it didn't have that same kind of overpowering sweetness but had a lot of flavor.


Today, as the specific gravity hit 1.058 @ 72F, the must started to smell like a cab. In the beginning, it smelled different - I'm not sure exactly how to explain it but it had an appealing yet different aroma. Now, it's coming along for sure. Let us know if your Gewurztraminer does the same thing as it ferments, Bart.


Bart - which yeast did you select?


- Jim

 

[JimCook]

Last night, I pressed the Cabernet, yielding around eight gallons of juice. This pressing matter took some time and was a bit messy, but it went smoothly nonetheless. I have an Italian carboy filled along with more than half of a 3-gallon Better Bottle.
By today, the specific gravity was down to 1.000, so we're almost there.


- Jim

 

[Bartman]

Jim,
I used Lalvin's D47 yeast, as recommended by Joseph at FVW for dry whites. The S.G. dropped pretty quick with this Gewurztraminer from about 1.08+ to 0.996 in about 7 days. That's probably due to the warm temp here in Dallas, and the fact that I don't keep the upstairs guest room at a cool 70 degrees when no one is there. It was more like 79-80 degrees when I racked to the carboy, but it seems pretty good. Cloudy, but we'll see how it goes.

On Joseph's advice, I'm waiting to add the Bentonite to clarify this white wine a few weeks. That will be the only clarifier I will add, if I do. I'm trying to have as "pure" a wine as possible. So far, just frozen must, some tartaric acid (dissolved in about 1/4 cup of water) and yeast.

Bart

 

[s.arkvinomaker]

Hey Jim,
My name is David nice to meet you. Was that one bucket or two you got?
I just started my Cab and is fermenting like crazy. Very active. Not much of a kit person so most of my experience is making wines from scratch. I do have about 4 or 5 kits in process but in no hurry to finish any of them. I have 17 wines in process. A split between fruit wines and grape. Do you plan on oaking yours?

 

[JimCook]

David,


I am operating with two 5-gallon pails combined into a 20-gallon fermenter. I plan on oaking this wine in a Hungarian oak medium toast barrel. I'm picking up two pails of Merlot and two pails of Cab Franc today as well.


- Jim

 

[s.arkvinomaker]

Hi Jim,
Sounds great. I'd like to try the Sauvignon Blanc next. The reason I was asking about your yield is because you said you got 8 gallons out of it. I got 5 off both with little pressing. I did steam a good part of the skins in a separate batch to use for blending and to see if the flavor was much different. I am using French oak chips in mine.

 

[JimCook]

I used a 1-gallon press, but I can't say I cranked it down full blast. I'm also estimating at the 8 gallons based on eyeballing an Italian carboy and 3-gallon better bottle for fill levels.



You noted you steamed the skins and had a specific gravity that was quite high - did you ferment on the skins or just press straight away?


- Jim

 

[JimCook]

The Cabernet Sauvignon is happily undergoing malolactic fermentation currently. The Vinquiry panel on the Brehm website notes that the starting malic acid levels are 268 mg/L. An Accuvin test on this past Saturday (7/25/09) showed that it's down to somewhere around 110-160 mg/L. Happily, those bugs are working.


- Jim

 

[Bartman]

Jim,

How long are you planning on bulk aging and bottle aging your cab? (not counting any "Research" into its "progress" during the bottle aging period)

I think you indicated you would be blending it with other reds - are you planning on doing that after bulk aging a while and then bulk aging some more or blending and bottling immediately?

Bart

 

[JimCook]

Bart,


I'll be blending this Cabernet Sauvignon with the Merlot and Cab Franc that are also currently in malolactic fermentation. I have not yet decided whether I will oak before or after blending, but given my current stock of barrels, that will necessitate a certain amount of bulk aging. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say likely six months of bulk aging.


I let my blends homogenize for a month of two before bottling. I look at it as inspiring harmony in the bottles.

- Jim

 

[Bartman]

Do you know now what ratios you will be blending the Cab. sauv., the cab. franc, and the merlot? I don't mean to be a pest, but my wife was recommending I try making two or three different batches and try my hand at blending them, much like you are doing. She sees that as the "art" portion of winemaking - the "science" of making the wine the right way is no big deal. If he can read the directions, any fool can do that, right??

I was discussing blending wines with Joseph at FVW - they have a large number of wines bulk aging at any given time, so they have a lot of possible combinations when they decide to blend. A couple of possiblities occurred to me in that conversation:
1. Unlike your blending of 23 L kits/frozen juice, have you tried blending more concentrated kits together like 16 liter kits with 10 L kits (different varietals)?
2. What about blending a 23 L kit of a given varietal (e.g., cab. sauv.) with a more concentrated kit, like a 16 L or 10 L cab. sauv. kits?

My thought is the concentrated kit would be "thickened" by the all-juice portion, so it would not be so thin. On the downside, it might just end up with 60 bottles of thin, disappointing wine. Any opinions about those ideas?

 

[JimCook]

Do you know now what ratios you will be blending the Cab. sauv., the cab. franc, and the merlot?

I will not know what ratio will be until the actual blending takes place. Of the blends that I have made in the past, I compared the following against one another: Pure A, Pure B, Pure C, equal thirds A/B/C, 50% A/25% B/25% C, 25% A/50% B/25% C, 25% A/25% B/50% C. In each case even with multiple people tasting, there was one blend that stood out significantly from the others. Further deviation could be tested from this point, but I hadn't done a comparison past what I have noted here. I feel that taste should rule the blending determination, provided there aren't specific corrections that need to be made (blending for the purpose of pH or acid adjustments, for example).

1. Unlike your blending of 23 L kits/frozen juice, have you tried blending more concentrated kits together like 16 liter kits with 10 L kits (different varietals)?

The 10L kit that I have made to date was for a friend. I stick with the largest amount of juice possible with the kits that I make. The two blends that are listed on my 'cellar' web page were each made from 18L-23L kits, one a Bordeaux blend with WE and MM kits and the other a Meglioli Super Tuscan blend.

2. What about blending a 23 L kit of a given varietal (e.g., cab. sauv.) with a more concentrated kit, like a 16 L or 10 L cab. sauv. kits?

I reference this further down, but I wouldn't do it - I use the best materials I can get. I'd rather blend the same juice fermented on different yeasts or oaked differently, for example into each other than drop the effective quality of the product. In the end, however, your taste must rule your decisions - do what you like.

My thought is the concentrated kit would be "thickened" by the all-juice portion, so it would not be so thin. On the downside, it might just end up with 60 bottles of thin, disappointing wine. Any opinions about those ideas?

For me, I haven't tasted a kit wine that wasn't thin in the mouth. Kits seem to make wines that have a feel of water in the mouth, regardless of flavor. I have consumed wines that felt like I was drinking roast beef - very chewy stuff - I can't see a kit ever coming close to that based on the raw materials used. While this is fine for a light white, it means that for me, the 'bigger' the red, the less a kit can hope to compete against commercial wine in the mouthfeel department. Thin in flavor is a different story, and I believe that my tests with different yeasts that enhance varietal characteristics on fermentations help compensate for the flavor side of things but still can't beef up a wine that wasn't exposed to skins or didn't have enough extraction. The kit wines that I have made will likely become table wine experiments to help me get more experience for making wine from grapes in the future. To address your question more specifically, I would fall back on the winemaking adage- "use the best quality source materials you can." If you blend a good wine with a weak wine, there will not be a magic that happens and turns it into amazing. In essence, it would be a dilution.


- Jim

 

[s.arkvinomaker]

Jim,
I used a partial amount of the skins in both wines for tannins and color, about 5 lbs approx. I've since racked into a carboy since initial fermentation has finished.

 

[Alaskawine]

Jim,

I'm asking you about this as I see your name on many posts and assume you'll have good information. We've been making wine about a year strictly from kits and have not ventured into using anything but what was in the kit. We are now ready to experiment. We have 2 of the 2009 Selection Limited Edition Dolcetto kits which we are now making. We have replaced the red star dry yeast that came with it, with a liquid Wyeast Zinfandel yeast. We will make the other one with a Wyeast champagne yeast. One of our goals is to make the wine drier. We like dry full bodied red wines and all of the ones we've made seem sweeter than we experience with commercial wine. Even those that have sat for a year. Will better or different yeast help that? Do you have other suggestions for making the wine drier? We have been following the directions for when to rack off the primary, but would leaving the wine on the yeast longer, like until it stops bubbling AT ALL, help make it drier? I have been reading many posts and wonder if adding some sort of boost or nutrient would help the yeast live longer and eat more sugar. Any help would be great.
Thanks
Kris Eriksen