WineXpert WE Selection International Argentine Malbec

[JimCook]

Started the WE Argentine Malbec kit on 4/1/07 on the same day as transferring the WE Australian Chardonnay from the primary fermenter into the secondary fermenter (why clean twice - just start a new kit).


1. Bentonite Mixed

2. Added Juice and Water to 23L. Specific gravity measured 1.092 at 70 degrees.

3. Two packages of toasted oak sawdust came with this kit.

4. The sawdust was mixed in with the must. Note that the sawdust mixed very easily with the Malbec (30 seconds)as opposed to the time it took to mix the packets with my earlier WE Australian Chardonnay kit (3-5 minutes).

5. The Red Star Premier Cuvee yeast is sprinkled on top of the must and we are ready to go.

6. Yeast doing its thing after 24 hours.

7. After 48 hours, the top surface is ready to succumb to the fermentation process and fizzle like a can of freshly poured Coca-Cola. Beauty, by the way, comes in plastic buckets and cardboard boxes.

The fermenting must smelled of dark fruit and berries with that yeast/bread smell. Quite nice, if you ask me.




- Jim

 

[JimCook]

8. After 7 days and reaching a specific gravity below 1.010, the contents of the primary fermenter (less sawdust that had settled out) were transferred to the carboy for secondary fermentation. After sitting for 10 more days, this is what we have - a nice carboy that was maintained at 70-72 degrees to let it peacefully finish its fermentation process.

End specific gravity measured on 4/17/07 was 0.991 at 70 degrees. By that, the percentage of alcohol by volume should be around 13.3%. Second specific gravity tests on 4/18/07 yielded a specific gravity of 0.991 at 70 degrees - so on to the next step of degassing and stabilizing - which will happen tonight.


- Jim

 

[Wade E]

Nice job Jim and the last pic. in the bucket looks awesome! I love when
its all bubbled up looking. That just tells you (everything is gonna be
allright)"Bob Marley"

 

[masta]

Looking good and I enjoy your attention to detail!

 

[Francie]

I tried a bottle of Argentina Malbec (commercial) for the first time last week!! I am in love with a new varietal!!! Your kit looks wonderful, please let meknow how you like it, this may be a kit I need to purchase!!

Francie

 

[JimCook]

My first attempt at degassing and stabilizing went as follows...


1. Try to get the wine temp up to 75 degrees (72 was about the highest I could get with a heating element below and a heating pad around the carboy.

2. Mixing the potassium metabisulfite and the potassium sorbate in 1/2 cup cold water.

3. Adding the sanitizer/stabilizer mixture to the carboy.

4. Adding the shaken bag of Chitosan to the mixer. For the record - I'm not left-handed. While my camera is right-handed, the Chitosan bag is both right and left-handed, so I adapted.

5. After the application of the metabisulfite/sorbate and the Chitosan, I stirred as per the direction to try and get the carbon dioxide out of the solution with a Fizz-X stirrer. However, I noticed no foaming whatsoever, so it was more of a No-Fizz-X sitrrer as best I can tell. I looked back over the instructions on the Fizz-X and it notes to stir for 10-15 seconds and then stop - I stirred for shorter, longer, faster, slower - no change whatsoever. So - I resorted to the VacuVin method and was able to not only get carbon dioxide to come out of solution, but I got a great secondary arm workout as well.

After a 25 minutes session and then followed by another 15 minutes session with a little spoon stirring, most if not all of the CO2 that I was able to remove was coming out. The bubbles weren't foaming at all but were larger. I'm going to give it another hit from the VacuVin today and likely tomorrow to confirm.


Francie - I personally really enjoy Malbecs from Argentina (Mendoza) - find them to be kind of like a cross between the berry of a Zin and the tannin/feel of a Cab. I'll let you know how it turns out.


- JimEdited by: JimCook

 

[PolishWineP]

"Beauty, by the way, comes in plastic buckets and cardboard boxes.

"



Jim, I love that line!

 

[JimCook]

Today, the wine has been sitting since stabilization and degassing for eight days. The words in the WineExpert instructions say, "Après 8 jours..." *flips instructions* "After 8 days your wine will be quite clear. This next racking will brilliantly polish it"
I rub my chin in wonder at the descriptive words 'quite clear' because right now, my Argentine Malbec looks more like a Barossa Valley Shiraz - black as night. So dark, in fact, I had to add extra lighting to the wine work area because it is sucking the light right out of the room. Now perhaps even the neck of the carboy is not a small enough path length to examine the clarity, although I would liken it to the width of a wine glass. I have not drawn a sample at this point, but was going to rack today and look at the wine through the siphon hose. It definitely is less cloudy looking - incoming light is not scattered and reflected back, just absorbed like my own private black hole. Note the utter blackness that is the depth and visual complexity to this Malbec as it reflects everything around it like a carboy full of crude oil or squid ink - glorious, isn't it?

The lees at the bottom do have a definitive 'additive and lighter' layer on top compared to where they were before the stabilizing and clearing phase as seen in the picture below - notice the three different colored layers.

I am curious to see how it looks after the racking and subsequent days left to clear up even further.


- JimEdited by: JimCook

 

[Wade E]

Sand art!

 

[Bill B]

Very niceJim. Good presentation. Great looking wine
<DIV SuperAdBlocker_DIV_Elements="0" SuperAdBlocker_OnMove_Hooked="0" SuperAdBlocker__Hooked="0" SuperAdBlocker_DIV_FirstLook="0">Bill

 

[PeterZ]

The clearer a red wine is the darker it will look, because it is the scattering of light by the suspended particles that lightens it. What I do at this point is turn off the room lights and hold a flashlight at right angles to my line of vision. If I can't see any light in the carboy, then there is no particle larger than the smallest I can see in the wine. You can also try shining the light from the opposite side, directly into your eyes, and look for any particles.

Judging from your description, you are clarified. At this point I would rack to a clean carboy as carefully as possible and sit that carboy up on a couple of 2x4's. If, after a month or two (bulk aging) you don't see anything even when you shine the light through the bottom you are good to go. There is no sediment left.

This is the current condition of my RJS SE Merlot. It's only waiting for payday so I can buy bottled from George. Would have bought them sooner, but my Uncle in Washington put a major touch on me this year. Ouch!!

 

[JimCook]

Peter,


You rock, man. I love your explanations and they really help to shed light (pun partly intended) on the situation. I didthe flashlight trick and it wasn't visible at all in the carboy. In comparison, the pinot in secondary fermentation did throw off light. I also noticed a third layer of sediment from what I can tell that looks a much darker purple than the bottom 'sand art' layers. Thanks for the advice about the light &amp; elevation method as well. I'm going to rack to a clean carboy tonight and we'll move to the next step. I'm excited - my first clarified wine!

- Jim

 

[JimCook]

At the end of last week I racked the clarified Malbec into another carboy. I was surprised how much space the sediment took up, as it took nearly two bottles of wine to top off. I may have sucked a little up, as it's pretty hard to stay in wine only in dark, red wine and with fine tolerance. So far, after about four days, I don't notice any sediment on the bottom of the new carboy.


- Jim

 

[bmorosco]

Peter awsome!! Thanks for that tidbit...

 

[geocorn]

Peter,


We must have the same Uncle. Does he ever have enough?

 

[PeterZ]

No, George, he never has enough. I get some back as an employee of the Navy. Virginia really hates the "sucky IRS" (her words). She has a variable income, with a base salary and a page count (court reporter in criminal court), paid monthly. When she turns in a really big transcript she has a spike in her income, but the withholding, which is based on the assumption that she makes that much every month, eats up most of the increase. Top that off with transcripts produced for the DA's office, which is 1099 income, which the IRS takes 48% of, means we send in a whopper (at least by my standards) every middle of April.

Sure glad April is over!!!

 

[OldWino1]

pics look like home aaahhhhhhhh. and the smell of a fressh batch
cooking yes mine are perking now apricot and a batch of
cab sav.

 

[JimCook]

Okay, the Malbec which was started on 4/1/07 is now around the 6 week mark, and like the Australian Chard that I started the week before this kit, at theone month mark, the fruit really started to come out in the nose. The Malbec has a tiny amount of sediment at the bottom of the carboy, but has been happily clearing as it sits for the 14 days that the instructions note. On Friday of last week it hit that point and I pulled a small sample into a wine glass to examine it for clarity. While the wine in the carboy looks black as night (Peter's confirmation of clear red wine - nothing to reflect light in it) in the carboy, it looks beautifully red in the glass. The color is lighter than some commercial Malbec winesI've had, however it is in the mid range of the intensity spectrum and hasbrilliant color to it. It is also perfectly clear, even under direct light inspection.


As this is my first kit to hit this point in the process, I am quite pleased. And of course, just for Waldo (and my own records), I did taste the wine. It's still young and has a pulling sensation on the tongue from the acidity, but the flavors are starting to develop. It will be very nice to see how this wine progresses over the next year or so.


At this point, I'm investigating oaking in the bulk aging process to provide a little more mouthfeel and wood to the wonderful blackberry/mulberry flavor of this wine.


- Jim

 

[Waldo]

Excellent job Jim. That sounds like one I might have to give a try. Were the tannins overpowering right now or pretty mellow?

 

[JimCook]

Waldo,


The tannin levels were rather mild, according to my palate, Waldo. I'll let you know for sure when I taste it again at the time the oak is added (over the next week or two).


- Jim