Wines I'm Making: 2010 Cabernet Pressed

Despite the rain today (October 23), I pressed the 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc, ending up with eight gallons of new wine, which will make 40 bottles of wine. The wine is in two carboys, one holding five gallons, one holding three. Although I vinified the two batches identically, one seemed to have an especially spicy, strong Cabernet scent to it, so I kept that mostly separate in the smaller carboy. We'll see if the difference persists as the wines mature. Tomorrow I'll inoculate both batches with malolactic bacteria and keep the wines warm with electric blankets until the malolactic fermentation is done, which usually takes two to three weeks. After that, it'll mostly be a waiting game. I have high hopes for these wines, but it'll be a year before they are ready to drink. In the meantime, I'll bottle the 2009 wines.

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: 2010 Cabernet Harvest

I decided today was the day to pick the Cabernet Sauvignon in the backyard vineyard. The sugar was close to where I wanted it and some of the grapes were starting to raisin, so it seemed the thing to do. We harvested 117 pounds of grapes. Crushed and de-stemmed, we ended up with about 11 gallons of must, which will make around six gallons of wine, or 30 bottles.

The fruit was remarkably clean and free of mold considering how cool and damp the summer was. The fruit tastes good. It has a very nice Cabernet spice--almost like cayenne pepper. The numbers look pretty good, too. The sugar is at 23.5 Brix, the pH at 3.55. The total acidity was 0.6, which is at the bottom of the range most people recommend for a dry red wine, so it was probably best not to have waited for the sugars to rise any further. 23.5 Brix is respectable. That will translate into a wine of a little over 13% alcohol--although I didn't adjust my Brix reading for the temperature, so the actual Brix level was probably a little higher, perhaps around 24.

I sulfited the must very lightly (to about 35ppm) with three Campden tablets in each of two batches of about 5.5 gallons each (for convenience--I don't know yet if I will ferment them differently or not). I usually let the must soak for about four days before inoculating it with yeast, keeping it as cool as possible. That seems to yield a somewhat softer wine than when made without the pre-soak, so I've continued doing it. The wine has been very good, so I don't want to fool with the method too much. I have high hopes for this year's wine on the assumption that we are still getting better fruit each year as the vines mature.

2010 will be our seventh vintage. The vines were planted in 2001. We made our first wine in 2004. The 2008 was the first I'd call really good. The 2009 (soon to be bottled) was noticeably better. We will see how the crazy summer weather of 2010 is expressed in the wine. The Sangiovese is still quite a long way from ripeness, it seems. Decided to let it hang--another weak perhaps? As long as the weather holds. It's hot again today and warm weather is predicted for the rest of the week.

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.