Wines I'm Making: Vines Pruned (March 21, 2012)

I finally got around to pruning the vines yesterday--quite a bit later than usual. Buds on the Sangiovese vines were already beginning to open. The pruning removed quite a few of these, but the plants will leaf out from lower buds. And so, another year of winemaking begins.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Sangiovese Pressed

I got up early this morning to get work done (translation work, that is) before pressing the Sangiovese to start the rosé fermentation. At about 10:00AM, I finally got to the wine, so the juice was on the skins for about 18 hours--about what I had planned. I pressed the grapes fairly aggressively, though, so the wine is likely to be comparatively deeply colored.

I added a dose of Epernay yeast to must in two carboys, one holding five gallons, one holding three. I'd say there is about seven gallons of must now starting to ferment. I plan to keep the must as cool as possible to make sure the fermentation proceeds slowly, as that seemed the key last year to making the rosé so good. I hope it is as good or better this year, but the grapes were not as ripe, so it's unlikely. The weather was a real problem. I hope the wine is at least pleasant to drink. In the photo to the left, I've just added the dry yeast culture. You can see it floating on the surface of the newly pressed juice.

Wines I'm Making: First Leaves on the Sangiovese Vines

The first leaves have opened on some of the Sangiovese vines in the last day or two. The light frost we had this morning doesn't seem to have bothered them. No sign of leaves yet on the Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc vines only a few feet away, but the buds are swollen. The Sangiovese is typically as much as two weeks ahead of the Cabernet. I pruned only a few weeks ago but already this year's wine is in the making. This will be our seventh vintage. The wine gets better every year.

Wines I'm Making: Harvest in About a Week? (2009)

Checked out all the grapes today. The Sangiovese is at 20 Brix (although at least one berry tested higher a few days ago) and a pH of 3.51 (pH squared times sugar equals 246). I'd like to get the sugar up to 22 Brix at least, ideally 23. So, will wait. The Cabernet is at 22.5 Brix, with a pH of 3.61 (293), again, getting close, but I'd like at least another degree of sugar. I think harvest is likely to be right around the end of the month.

The neighbor's Zinfandel vines that I'm tending this year with the help of our (other) new neighbor, Steve, are at 21.0 Brix and a pH of 3.41 (244), still too early to pick in an ideal world, but, as we all know, the world is not ideal. The problem is that the grapes are fast disappearing to the raccoons, as Ben, the owner of the grapes, didn't want to bother netting them. Looks like we'll be forced to harvest these earliest of the three varieties, probably on Steve's next day off, Thursday.

Wines I'm Making: 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2008 Sangiovese

I finally got around to racking our 2008 red wines today. I transferred the 2008 Sangiovese (five gallons) to a new container, leaving behind the remainder of the lees. I racked both of the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon batches (five gallons each) as well. I noticed that the batch made with the Bordeaux Red yeast had more settled lees than the batch made with the Rockpile yeast. I was able to siphon off nearly all of the Bordeaux Red batch with no lees. The Rockpile batch needed to be topped up because I had to leave more wine behind while avoiding the sediment. I added three Campden tablets to each batch for a sulfite level of 39ppm.

The buds on many of the vines opened over the weekend. As usual, the Sangiovese is ahead of the Cabernet, with the Cabernet Franc slightly ahead of the Cabernet Sauvignon. That's my 1978 Alfa Romeo Spider in the background. These are true garage wines.