Thieved a taste, and...

[crushday]

By the way, Happy New Year. I just sampled all of my 6 gallon barrels using my wine thief. Each was barrel aged on November 1, 2019.

1. California Pinot Noir (Master Sommelier)
2. Italian Valapola (RJS)
3. RJS blend RQ1 - Chile Cabernet Merlot Syrah
4. Super Tuscan (RJS)
5. Cabernet/Ardente (Master Sommelier) [Left over batch wine that I blended to fill an other barrel]

Tastings notes:

January 1st, 2020 - tasted all five of these wines. One word that would describe them: indistinguishable. They literally all tasted the same. Surprising, really.

Since each wine is very different, shouldn’t they taste different? Is that to come?

 

[CDrew]

Maybe it's the "kit taste" that everyone talks about.

Just kidding-Likely they are just too young. Can you at least line them up and pick a blind favorite?

Though I would think the Cabernet would be different than the Pinot Noir. But the Cabernet and the Super Tuscan might be similar.

Do they all taste like the oak barrel? If so, that taste does fade (slowly) once away from the oak.

Just tossing ideas.

 

[crushday]

@CDrew - There’s a little barrel (oak) taste but these are the third batches to be run through these barrels. I guess I’ll taste again in a couple of months. My plan is to bottle these on May 1st and fill them immediately with five more batches. The future batches will have each been carboy aged for a minimum of 12 months prior to the barrel.

Time will tell...

 

[dmguptill]

I've found that immediately after using oak (I use the cubes) I almost always get a heightened oak flavor that tends to be overpowering. After 6 months in the bottles, give or take, it fades, and the wines really start to differ.

 

[crushday]

Update: Mrs. B and I just thieved wine from all of my nine barrels. Everything is turning a corner - thankfully.

The six gallon barrels will be bottled in May. The 15 gallon barrels bottled in June and the 13 gallon in July.

Mrs. B likes them all. Here’s the list:

6 Gallon Barrels (placed November 2019)

California Pinot Noir (Master Sommelier)
Italian Valapola (RJS)
RJS blend RQ3
Super Tuscan (RJS)
Cab/Ardente (Master Sommelier)

15 Gallon Barrels (placed in barrel June 2019)

Old Vine Cabernet (Master Sommelier
Rosso Ardente (Master Sommelier)

13.2 Gallon Barrels (placed in barrel July 2019)

Petite Cabernet (WE)
High Tail Merlot (RJS)