Well folks, this weekend was a jam-packed one for me. On Saturday, I grocery shopped, went to the bank, and got a haircut. By 10am, I was back at the winery, ready to begin that all important first racking.
I would like to say.. I HATE the gross lees. I feel that prolonged exposure is the root of all evil. So, a week after pressing, I give the wine its first racking.
I started out grabbing a vacuum cleaner and sucking up as many fruit flies as possible. I HATE those little buggers! Just a regular vacuum cleaner works well. Just use the hose attachment, sneak up behind them, and send them to OZ!
On crush I had about 54 people, at pressing, I had a dozen or so. On Saturday, I was down to myself. The hard part (other than lifting the tanks on and off of their stands) is replacing/resealing the tank lids. Putting a lid on a 500 liter tank requires two hands to hold the lid in place and level, and two hands to pump up the gasket to seal it tight. By my count, I have only two hands.
So here is what I do.. I pump up the gasket as much as I can before I insert it into the tank. I then use one hand to hold the lid in place, one hand to hold the pump, my thigh to push against the pump's plunger, and my teeth to draw the plunger back. I find that after just two or three pumps, the lid will hold in place and I can then use two hands to pump the gasket up the rest of the way.
Other than that, it is a lot of cleaning. Cleaning the tanks out when empty, cleaning out the Demijohns when empty, cleaning the pump and hoses after each wine is racked, etc.
Racking gives the first opportunity to do a tasting. By smell, the wine is going to be fantastic. The merlot and the petit sarah are already far along in clearing and have great aroma. All of the wines were rather tart and tannic, but considering the wine was is only 2 weeks old and has yet to undergo MLF, it was exactly as I hoped it would be.
The true stars are going to be the reserve sangio/cab franc blend and the super cab. The super cab is already very drinkable at only 2 weeks! Well worth the extra money for the expensive grapes.
Whenever I rack I take the opportunity to inspect and (if need be) replace any gasket, pump, or hose that is showing any sign of age. I always have spares and simply replace the spares when they are used. One of my fears is to have a tank gasket fail and not be able to seal the wine. I ended up replacing 1 500l gasket, 1 hand pump, and 4 of the hoses that run from the pump to the gasket.
Just about an hour before I was finished, my wife reminded me that we were having company for dinner and "shouldn't I start cooking?". Got to say that even when my wife is nagging, she is still incredibly cute! This is where things got hectic....
Since it takes about 20 or 30 minutes to rack a 500 liter tank, I checked that all valves were closed (I am NOTORIOUS for forgetting to close the spigots at the bottom of tanks), started the pump, noted the time and ran up to the kitchen to prepare a quick shrimp cocktail platter and some "pigs in a blanket" (PIAB) for appetizers. This took about 10 minutes because I like to make my own cocktail sauce. I then ran back to the winery to check the progress of the racking. It was doing fine and only half complete, so I ran back to the kitchen to season the steaks, wrap the potatoes in tin foil for baking, and slice/prep 16oz of mushrooms.
This done, it was back down to the winery with about 30 seconds to spare. I Rinsed out the last tank, rinsed and cleaned all hoses, the pump, and all other equipment. I Had it all put away and was just sweeping up when my first dinner guest arrived. Talk about timing!
Once all of the guests arrived, I tossed the potatoes into the oven to bake. We then sat, ate the shrimp and PIAB appetizers and cracked open some wine (just so happened that I had a spare bottle of wine laying about). I then had one of my guests grill the steaks (the man is a certifiable grill master). While the steaks were cooking I sautéed up the mushrooms while the wife set the table. We had a good time, but the party broke up early (about 9pm). Fifteen minutes later, I was back in the winery.
Once all wine is racked, all lids serviced, and all wine is sealed, I like to do a "Deep Cleaning". I wash and wipe all surfaces, hose down the outside of the tanks, and pressure wash the winery's concrete floor. I then mop the floor dry. I use a solution of 8 gallons of hot water and just the smallest splash pine-sol (chlorine free) to wash everything. Since my dinner guests left early, and since I had an excess amount of energy from the steak dinner, I did the deep clean. Got to bed around 1am.
By Sunday, when the winery had a chance to dry out, there was not even the slightest aroma of any fermenting fruit or wine in the air. AHHHHH, neat and clean, just the way I like it. It was clean enough that even the fruit flies had decided to seek elsewhere for food.
I inoculated the wine with my MLB which arrived on Friday. Once done, I set about cleaning up from last night. I then picked / canned another two jars of cherry peppers, and managed to complete a number of other small chores. By noon, I tossed the saurbraten into the oven that I had marinading since Thursday. I also made some fresh spaetzle and had that ready to be sautéed in butter for dinner. I then lit a fire in the fireplace, poured myself a nice cold beer, sat in a recliner, and settled in for a nice afternoon of football. I was fast asleep between the first and second sip of beer.
Well folks, that about sums up the 2014 crush. There is still a lot that I do during the year, but nothing that I what I call a "big event". It was a lot of work and it sometimes got the better of me. All I can say is that it is all well worth the effort.
What most people do not understand, but most members here do understand, is that wine is not just art, not just science, not just hard work, it is a way a life. Bees collect honey, salmon swim upstream to spawn, and I make wine..
johnT.
