I need to rack the Chambourcin tonight or tomorrow. The post-fermentation color, especially with Color Pro, is almost scary dark. If you spill this wine on light colored clothes, good luck getting the stain out!
Fall 2023 Experiments
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VinesnBines
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Or buckets, hands... don't even think about carpet. This stuff stains the glass.
I reduced the amount of Color Pro I'm using this year -- some of my Meritage bottles have a film on the inside, what appears to be excess pigment. If anything, it can work too well.
I picked up another 55 liter barrel this morning -- one of the guys in our local grape purchase group is moving and is eliminating some things, and he offered a 2 yo Hungarian oak barrel for free. My son and I debated it, and decided to add another barrel to our group.
We are buying 2 Sangiovese juice buckets and will add the pomace from the upcoming CS, CF, and Merlot batches, and this wine will go in the new barrel. Last year's FWK Tavola Merlot kits + pomace grossed over 18 gallons, so we should be fine, volume-wise.
However ... the barrel has not been used consistently for those 2 years, probably just over a year's usage. I'm debating what to do. One thought is to fill it with CS for 6 months, then swap in the CF, to ensure neither wine is over-oaked.
The CS/CF/M arrive next Saturday, so I have until the American Thanksgiving week to decide how to proceed.
And there's one other issue: the barrel has been empty for 5 months.
I rinsed the barrel, the water came out clear. Next I'm going to power wash the inside, then add 1 pound of Barrel Oxyfresh that I purchased for cleaning the 2 existing barrels (I'll have to buy another pound). For cleaning the regimen is a 4 hour soak -- but for this one I'm going to do a full 24 hours.
The barrel is really tight and doesn't appear to leak. I'm going to confirm that before adding the Oxyfresh.
Wish me luck!
We are buying 2 Sangiovese juice buckets and will add the pomace from the upcoming CS, CF, and Merlot batches, and this wine will go in the new barrel. Last year's FWK Tavola Merlot kits + pomace grossed over 18 gallons, so we should be fine, volume-wise.
However ... the barrel has not been used consistently for those 2 years, probably just over a year's usage. I'm debating what to do. One thought is to fill it with CS for 6 months, then swap in the CF, to ensure neither wine is over-oaked.
The CS/CF/M arrive next Saturday, so I have until the American Thanksgiving week to decide how to proceed.
And there's one other issue: the barrel has been empty for 5 months.
I rinsed the barrel, the water came out clear. Next I'm going to power wash the inside, then add 1 pound of Barrel Oxyfresh that I purchased for cleaning the 2 existing barrels (I'll have to buy another pound). For cleaning the regimen is a 4 hour soak -- but for this one I'm going to do a full 24 hours.
The barrel is really tight and doesn't appear to leak. I'm going to confirm that before adding the Oxyfresh.
Wish me luck!
Good luck! I see a barrel in my future… once the vineyard starts producing!
Thanks! A barrel will transform your winemaking. That is neither good nor bad, it just is.
The barrel appears tight.
I power washed the barrel, using a 25 degree tip to get as much of the inside as I could. Then I added a 90 degree bend extension, that I got with a 10' extension set for power washing the house. This lets me get the sides and the ends.
Lastly I swapped in a 120 degree bend and put a 40 degree tip, which with a bit of maneuvering, enabled me to get all but just around the bung hole.
Then I filled the barrel. It occurred to me that after setting for 5 months, even if the barrel doesn't leak, the wood will absorb water, so I'm going to let it set overnight. Before dark I'll ensure it's full, and in the morning if the outside is showing no leaks, I'll drain it, add Barrel Oxyfresh, and refill it. Sometime on Monday I'll drain and rinse it, then put in a holding solution until wine is ready to go into it.
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I have a couple 30 gallon barrels I need to put to use just haven’t done it yet. Still wrapped in plastic lol. Might put some Zinfandel in one of them
I started a post where I'm documenting my activities in conditioning this barrel. Folks who have experience with barrels may not find it all that exciting, but folks thinking about buying a barrel may find it useful.
https://wine.bkfazekas.com/conditioning-a-wine-barrel/
https://wine.bkfazekas.com/conditioning-a-wine-barrel/
Yesterday I drained the barrel, then added 1 lb Barrel Oxyfresh and refilled it. This is what the barrel looked like "before":
The water level dropped a few times, just a couple of ounces each time. Totally normal for a dry barrel. In keeping it filled, the liquid overflowed the barrel 3 or 4 times. Following is the result:
O2 cleaners remove staining!
The water level dropped a few times, just a couple of ounces each time. Totally normal for a dry barrel. In keeping it filled, the liquid overflowed the barrel 3 or 4 times. Following is the result:
O2 cleaners remove staining!
Tonight I addressed a few things. First, I'm out of topup wine for the 2022 barrels. I have Grenache and Tempranillo in barrels, with 19 liters Grenache, 12 liters Tempranillo, and 23 liters of a Rhone Blend in carboys. I had numerous smaller containers, but all have been used up in topping the barrels. Since July I've been using the Rhone Blend for topup, as its purpose is for blending into the Grenache and Tempranillo anyway. So I racked the Rhone Blend down to a 19 liter carboy and used the remainder for barrel topup. I'll bottle during the US Thanksgiving week so I don't need more topup.
Then I finally got around to racking the Chambourcin. I had 3 carboys -- #1 fermented with Avante, #2 fermented with Bravo, and #3 the pressings from #1 and #2.
I racked #1 & #2, reserving 4 liters of each and blending the remainder in a 23 liter carboy.
These wines are TOTALLY different. This is a cold weather French-American hybrid, so the acid is high. Avante eats 25-30% of the malic acid in a wine, and while this one is still a bit sharp, the acid bite is greatly reduced!
The Bravo is noticeably sharper, and will definitely need cold stabilization. Carboy #3 was between the two in sharpness, which makes sense.
In the future I will probably use only Avante for F-A red hybrids.
Using #3, I filled the 23 liter carboy, and put the remainder in two 4 liter jugs and a 750 ml bottle. My current net from ~130 lbs of Chambourcin is 10+ US gallons.
The Chambourcin has serious color:
Then I finally got around to racking the Chambourcin. I had 3 carboys -- #1 fermented with Avante, #2 fermented with Bravo, and #3 the pressings from #1 and #2.
I racked #1 & #2, reserving 4 liters of each and blending the remainder in a 23 liter carboy.
These wines are TOTALLY different. This is a cold weather French-American hybrid, so the acid is high. Avante eats 25-30% of the malic acid in a wine, and while this one is still a bit sharp, the acid bite is greatly reduced!
The Bravo is noticeably sharper, and will definitely need cold stabilization. Carboy #3 was between the two in sharpness, which makes sense.
In the future I will probably use only Avante for F-A red hybrids.
Using #3, I filled the 23 liter carboy, and put the remainder in two 4 liter jugs and a 750 ml bottle. My current net from ~130 lbs of Chambourcin is 10+ US gallons.
The Chambourcin has serious color:
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Have you tried 71B on Chambourcin? If yes how would you comapre it to Avante on Chambourcin?
I have not. This is the first F-A red hybrid I've made since 1990, and at that time I used Red Star products of the time.
The Chambourcin is turning out good, although I'll need to deal with the acid. I expect to buy again next fall, and will consider trying 71B on a batch.
I'll try Avante next year on Regent and Marechal Foch vs. 71B in a battle of the bands. My local supplier has it. Chambourcin is used to create Regent.
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This evening our grapes and juice buckets arrive. My elder son and I will help unload the truck (~120 lugs, ~20 juice buckets), of which we are buying 20 lugs (CS, CF, Merlot) and 2 Sangiovese juice buckets.
Today is unloading into our coordinator's garage, and tomorrow morning starting at 9AM we crush.
The CS, CF, & Merlot will be fermented in 5 batches using Avante and Bravo, and then the pomace will be divided into 2 Brutes and a juice bucket poured into each. I need to buy ice to keep the buckets chilled until next weekend.
Today is unloading into our coordinator's garage, and tomorrow morning starting at 9AM we crush.
The CS, CF, & Merlot will be fermented in 5 batches using Avante and Bravo, and then the pomace will be divided into 2 Brutes and a juice bucket poured into each. I need to buy ice to keep the buckets chilled until next weekend.
FlamingoEmporium
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Alas, 16 hours isn’t really driving distance
VinesnBines
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Take heart, we finished harvest on the 18th. Next week, temperatures are to drop to nighttime lows in in the twenties F.
It is, if you want the grapes badly enough!
Four hours each way made it a long day, with crushing in the middle, but it was worth it. I crashed early that evening.
The guys retrieving the west coast grapes later today have a 3 hour drive in each direction. The things we do for our hobby!
This morning we crushed grapes. This is my 20 lugs (8 CS, 8 CF, 4 Merlot), plus 2 buckets of Sangiovese:
The grapes came from Gino Pinto's facility in Ashland VA, and the grapes were all nice:
The CS and CF went into 32 gallon Brutes, and I tried a 20 gallon Brute for the Merlot. 4 lugs will fit, but it's too full. I brought my 7.9 gallon primaries with me, so the 4th lug went into one of them.
Sadly the lugs are disposable and go into the landfill. However, I saved 56 of them for @VinesnBines. Yes, my truck was PACKED!
They make a good stack at the back of the house.
The grapes came from Gino Pinto's facility in Ashland VA, and the grapes were all nice:
The CS and CF went into 32 gallon Brutes, and I tried a 20 gallon Brute for the Merlot. 4 lugs will fit, but it's too full. I brought my 7.9 gallon primaries with me, so the 4th lug went into one of them.
Sadly the lugs are disposable and go into the landfill. However, I saved 56 of them for @VinesnBines. Yes, my truck was PACKED!
They make a good stack at the back of the house.
I'll post again next fall, but if anyone within driving distance of Durham NC wants free lugs, you can show up at next year's crush and take whatever you want.
I snagged as many of the type that break down as would fit in my truck. We had a bunch that are like corrugated plastic, which we had to cut up. I didn't take those because they are not as space efficient.
I snagged as many of the type that break down as would fit in my truck. We had a bunch that are like corrugated plastic, which we had to cut up. I didn't take those because they are not as space efficient.
