Chileans, Finally!

[Ajmassa]

For me, after reading loads and loads of arcticles I'm more confused then ever. Then researching the side bars like Esters, Phenols etc. I've come to realize I know nothing about making wine.

I hear ya but I don’t pretend to understand every little detail to that extent. Or even try to. Id need a chemistry background. I don’t think I need to anyway.
But I do feel I’ve got enough of an understating for my own needs. Knowing the “what”s and grasping the “why”s enough to succeed.
Key words -‘my own needs’. And if I owned a barrel another layer would be added to that.
Either way I’d bet the farm that so2 shipped Chileans finish MLF at higher rates when sulphite additions at crush are skipped. And if there was ever a time to give natural mlb a shot it would be Chilean since winter isn’t there to crash the party.

 

[Johnd]

Been a little while since I’ve updated this thread, but now really much has happened til today. The last of the Chileans, the 100% Malbec, came out of a vadai a few months ago, just got around to bottling today. Already having monkeyed with the acid, added about 1/8 tsp sulfite to get up to snuff and went to work.

This was pretty much the dog of the bunch, didn’t really care for it much and figured it’d be a giveaway wine. It’s almost two years old, got 31 bottles filled and corked, with two 3 ounce glasses left over, one for me, one for Mrs. The funny taste it had always had, and a slight bitter tannin in the finish, was barely perceptible about an hour later, and I really liked the wine and changed my tune.

Wifey forgot about hers and tasted it 6 hours later, as did I. She wanted to open a bottle, which I declined. Don’t know how many years in a bottle equates to 6 hours of breathing, but the future of this wine appears bright.

 

[Johnd]

The Chileans are almost 3 years old now, we drank a bottle of Cab last night to see how it was coming along, and I wasn’t terribly disappointed. I will say that all of the things we know about a wine made from grapes picked too early (IMHO) and didn’t undergo MLF are discernible. It’s a pleasant, fruity wine, light for a Cab, and still a bit tart, mostly just the first sip. Doesn’t have the full bodied, dark, brooding fruit flavors I expect from a Cab. Think I’ll give it some more cellar time, still have 25+ bottles left.....

 

[baron4406]

Tasted the Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon yesterday evening, to use a description I read here, the flavor was "meh". I think it's going through a phase of its development in the barrel, this has always had decent fruit, now it has no flavor. I've only read about these stages where different aspects of the wine disappear as they develop, only to return. I'll keep monitoring to see how it progresses. The others are still carboyed.

John my 2017 Syrah was the tastiest wine I've ever made. Out of the barrel it was very fruity and wonderful. I just cracked a bottle this week and was very disappointed. All the flavor seemed to be gone. So I'm aging it more and hoping for the best

 

[Johnd]

John my 2017 Syrah was the tastiest wine I've ever made. Out of the barrel it was very fruity and wonderful. I just cracked a bottle this week and was very disappointed. All the flavor seemed to be gone. So I'm aging it more and hoping for the best

My grape wines, during their youth, go through stages where they’re very disjointed, fruit becomes subdued leaving oak and tannin, etc., and always seem to have rebounded back. Once they’ve passed the 2 year mark or so, I feel like their characteristics are there to stay, and improve as time goes on. Still kinda waiting on this one to mellow a bit, we’ll see what happens.

Hopefully, giving your Syrah some time to evolve will be rewarding.

 

[ibglowin]

Definitely sounds like it has just entered a "closed" phase for the moment. Time is your best friend here and it will eventually come back around.

John my 2017 Syrah was the tastiest wine I've ever made. Out of the barrel it was very fruity and wonderful. I just cracked a bottle this week and was very disappointed. All the flavor seemed to be gone. So I'm aging it more and hoping for the best

 

[cmason1957]

John my 2017 Syrah was the tastiest wine I've ever made. Out of the barrel it was very fruity and wonderful. I just cracked a bottle this week and was very disappointed. All the flavor seemed to be gone. So I'm aging it more and hoping for the best

I was talking with a winemaker at a winery sometime ago and he described this as the wine becoming "dumb" it forgets what it is supposed to be. After an extra six months to a year in the bottle, it snaps out of it and becomes good again. I don't recall him saying it becomes smart.

 

[mainshipfred]

The wines I have aging are spring and fall 2018 and spring 2019. I haven't yet tasted the 2019s but the 2018s are constantly changing. My spring 2018 Malbec and Carmenere were my favorite shortly after MLF but seemed go downhill after that. The Malbec is now showing promise but not so much for the Carmenere. I blended about 60/40 spring Cab/Malbec, together that are very nice but individually they could use some improvement. As of now the Petite Sirah, Touriga and Syrah are doing nicely while the Petit Verdot and Cab Franc which are my two most quality grapes to date are still a little too harsh to evaulate. So my problem is when are they going to show their true character so I can do a proper blending. I said this probably too many times that I hate bottling because it is so permanent, however I have to bottle something both for inventory purposes and to make room for what is going to be my biggest production season yet. I plan on ~150 gallons this fall.