Wines I'm Making: 2010 Sangiovee Rosé bottled

On the morning of Christmas Eve, I bottled the 2010 Sangiovese rosé, a simpler process than it often is because I had already racked the wine a couple of weeks earlier and there was no sediment to deal with. We got thirty bottles of rather pale wine--disappointing compared with the lovely 2009 I made. The weather in the past year was some of the worst in memory. A very wet spring, a cold summer, and late rains were all a problem. Some vineyards made no wine at all. We survived the sudden hot spell in late August (I think it was) that ruined many vines (growers pulled leaves earlier in the year to try to prevent mold and encourage ripening, but that left the grapes exposed to the blistering heat and sun, causing many to shrivel). In the end, our Sangiovese grapes never really ripened, and the wine is an expression of the year we had. Quite drinkable, but thin and not very satisfying. One can only hope for better weather next year....

Wines I'm Making: Bottling 2010 Sangiovese Rosé, 2009 Zinfandel

Yesterday I racked this year's Sangiovese rosé off its lees and a deposit of tartaric acid crystals (shown in the photo). This wine always forms a crust of crystals over the lees, making it very easy to siphon clear. I also did a final racking and sulfiting of the rest of the 2009 Zinfandel we made from the neighbor's grapes. For reasons that aren't clear to me, the wine from this second (five-gallon) container seems to have better flavor and more body than the 2009 Zin I've already bottled (from a three-gallon container).

Today I'll bottle the Zinfandel. I'll let the rosé sit another week or so and then bottle it before Christmas. Tasting the wine yesterday, it seems pleasant, but it's much less flavorful than the excellent rosé we made last year. I expected that. The weather was so cool for so long in the summer of 2010 that the Sangiovese just didn't ripen fully.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet, Sangiovese Rosé (October 21)

The 2010 wines are coming along nicely. As of today, the Cabernet Sauvignon has been fermenting for six days (the grapes were picked on the 12th), following a three-day pre-soak--so nine days on the skins so far (above). The fermentation is slowing now. The must--by now it's properly called wine, I suppose--is no longer very sweet and the alcohol is apparent. I'll test it tomorrow. If the specific gravity is low enough, I'll probably press. The wine is a deep purple-black. It continues to smell wonderful. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to steal a real taste during pressing--far too early, of course, to know what the wine will finally taste like, but its general quality should be apparent.

The Sangiovese has been fermenting for four days now. If it goes at the pace of last year, it'll bubble slowly for another week or so (second photo). I'm hoping this year's rosé will be as good as last year's.

I never know what to do with the pressed skins. it seems such a waste to throw them out. Clearly a lot of pulp and juice remains. I thought I'd try to make another second-pressing wine. I soaked the leftover Sangiovese skins for two days in a small volume of water, pressed the "juice" that resulted (surprisingly, it measured 11 Brix, having been at 6 Brix initially) and then added sugar and yeast to see if a second pressing works better with rosé than with red wine (last year's Cabernet experiment was not very encouraging--but it's all interesting). Because of the soak, the second pressing (bottom photo) is much more deeply colored than the real rosé. We'll see what it tastes like. All three containers are fermenting in the garage while the cabernet sits in primary fermenters near the front door. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I may have to press the Cabernet in the garage--a true garage wine.

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: 2010 Sangiovese Harvest

Harvested the Sangiovese today (October 16). The vines yielded 99lbs of grapes. I don't know if I should have waited longer, but it's supposed to rain tomorrow, it's cold, and the sugars seemed to be going nowhere. The fruit was generally in good shape and this is the first year since we started making wine that we have lost no fruit to raccoons or other critters (using an electric fence and nets outside the fence).The numbers aren't ideal, but not too bad either. The proof will be in the pudding, of course.

The must tested at 17 Brix by refractometer, 1.070 by hydrometer, which works out to a Brix of 17.75 if adjusted for temperature (raised 0.25 Brix). The pH was at 3.46, a trifle high, and the acid was lower than I'd have liked, at 0.66%. I Chaptalized the must to raise the sugar to the equivalent of 20 Brix, which should result in a wine at about 12% alcohol. I sulfited the must very lightly, to about 27 ppm (using five Campden tablets in about 12 gallons of must), which should ultimately yield about 6 gallons of wine, or about 30 bottles. As this will be rosé, I will press the grapes as early in the morning tomorrow as I can. I picked the grapes at about 4:00PM. That will mean about 18 hours on the skins if I get it pressed by 10:00AM--just about right. Below, grapes are in the crusher, ready to go.

Wines I'm Making: Harvest Still About a Week Away (2010)

I tested the grapes again yesterday (October 7). We seem to have made some progress in the past week. The Cabernet grapes are now at 22 Brix with a pH of 3.35. The Sangiovese grapes are at 17 Brix (in this case I deliberately excluded pinkish or greenish, obviously unripe grapes on the assumption that those will be eliminated when we de-stem) and a pH of 3.29. Both are still lower than I'd like sugar-wise. The weather is supposed to be good in the coming week. I think a little more patience is is order. I'd like to see the Cabernet at at least 23 and the Sangiovese at 19, if possible, but that may be wishful thinking this year. In other wine-related news, I've been preparing bottles over the past few days, getting ready to bottle last year's wine.

Wines I'm Making: Harvest in About a Week? (2010)

I tested a representative sample of the Cabernet Sauvignon and Sangiovese grapes today. This past week of hot weather looks likely to salvage what was looking like a rather dismal harvest this year. There is a minimum of mold on the grapes--despite the long, wet spring and cool early summer (with the last rain in the first week of June, I believe), and, despite the short spells of very hot weather this week and in August (with temperatures spiking well into the 100s for a day or two), not too many berries look withered or sunburned (although the Sangiovese has suffered more in this regard than the Cabernet).

The Cabernet grapes tested at 21.5 brix and a pH of 3.28. A sugar level of about 24-25 brix and a pH of around 3.4 would be ideal. We may get that if the weather holds for another week or so and if it cools down a little bit. The seeds still don't look quite mature--mostly medium brown with a hint of green and with a fair amount of pulp sticking to them.

I've watered the grapes only twice this year (normally three or four times), once for six hours in mid-August and once for three hours on September 24 or so. If I had been here over the summer to water once in July, things would have been better, but I was in Europe.

The Sangiovese grapes tested at only around 16 brix--quite low for this time of year. I suspect these will have more of a problem getting fully ripe than the Cabernet. I'd like them to get to at least 20 before harvesting. Around 22-23 is ideal for rosé. We will be making only rosé from the Sangiovese grapes this year in any case. The seeds look very mixed--some are quite brown, hard, and crunchy, others are quite green, and that about sums up the Sangiovese grapes. I think the low brix level is, as much as anything, because of very uneven ripening. We will have to wait and watch, but the Cabernet may be ready for picking in a week to ten days, the Sangiovese in perhaps two weeks.

In 2009, we harvested both the Cabernet and the Sangiovese on September 29. In 2008, we harvested the Sangiovese on October 4 and the Cabernet on October 7.

Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Shoot Thinning

I got up early this morning--well, early for a Sunday--determined to get the shoots thinned on the Cabernet vines, which I did, all before breakfast, even though it took nearly three hours. This reduces the risk of mildew, gives the ripening berries more air and sun, and reduces the amount of fruit on each vine considerably, which makes for easier-to-ripen, more flavorful fruit. I thinned the Sangiovese vines a while back. Everything looks good.

I ended up waiting longer than usual (although I notice I'm not the only one; the vineyards are full of crews right now doing this same work). The wait--primarily because of all the rain this year--may have been a good thing. I'm hoping some of the excess vigor I always have to deal with will have gone to supporting the extra growth. Maybe the vines won't become quite so huge this year. The top photo shows vines before thinning, the bottom photo vines afterwards and some of the carnage on the ground.