Vidal - juice and orange wine

[winemaker81]

If all goes well, next Saturday I'm purchasing Chambourcin and Vidal from @VinesnBines from her western VA vineyard. For the Chambourcin, I'm planning a short EM -- seal the fermenter when SG reaches 1.010, and press on Day ~14. Nothing exceptional or exciting.

The Vidal is going to be split -- half will be juice, put under airlock when the SG is below 1.030. Depending on the final taste (pH is currently low), I may lightly backsweeten. That determination will be made in 6 months.

The other half will be everything that's left. I'm considering a 14 day ferment cycle with this one as well, although I'll probably seal the fermenter at 1.020, not 1.010. This is an experiment to see how much the juice and orange wines differ.

The other option is to press when the SG is below 1.010. Has anyone tried a short EM on white grapes?

 

[cmason1957]

I've never done an EM with the Chambourcin I get here in Missouri, not sure what it would bring to the table. Certainly not color, Chambourcin is dark from the git-go. It will be interesting to see what you end up with. (Side note, not doing any Chambourcin this year, my normal supplier let me know that his grapes ended up not forming anything he was willing to sell, unfortunately, he waited to long to let me know that I have been unable to procure any others and our LHBS who normally brings in vastly over-priced California grapes/juice buckets isn't doing that any longer, so no ferments this year for me, I'm slightly grumpy about that but CFO is happy).


I had an Amber Vidal last night, made by a local winery (Noboleis Winery for those in MO). It was done with 8 days on the skins. Had a distinct orange tint to the wine, seemed significantly more tannin/earthy tasting, didn't really notice much difference in the nose. I'm not sure I cared for it greatly. My wife liked it more than I did.

 

[winemaker81]

Thanks for the feedback. I may drop the short EM for the Chambourcin and press the following weekend. I'm using Color Pro again, so color is FAR from being an issue.

Doing 14 days for the Vidal on the skins may be too much as well. It makes sense, effort-wise, to press both on the same day, doing the Vidal first.

We'll be crushing next Saturday morning, and it's a 4 hour drive home from the vineyard. We're adding Cinn-Free to the Vidal, with the hopes to increase liquid yield.

I purchased the Brewing Bags that were mentioned in another thread -- they fit 7.9 gallon fermenters well, with room to spare. I'm hoping I'll get enough juice from the Vidal that I don't have to get the press out. My initial target is 4 gallons, so I can fill a 3 gallon carboy after clearing.