Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet, 2013 Sangiovese Rosé Labels

I finally got around to creating labels for our 2013 rosé of Sangiovese and our 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. I got them on the bottles last night. I used green capsules to go with the green of the Cabernet label and gold capsules on the rosé. There are only 10 bottles of the rosé left (of the original 25 bottles), but better late than never. The Cabernet, of course, requires more time, but we have sampled it. We made 40 bottles, of which 33 survive. It's already drinking nicely, but it will improve with time.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet Final Racking (January 26, 2014)

Today I finally got around to racking the 2012 Cabernet that's been resting for more than a year now. I've racked it off the remaining lees in preparation for bottling the wine, which I'll do in the next couple of days. I sulfited the wine lightly, to about 50ppm. Judging from the taste I got siphoning the wine, it has turned out nicely. I look forward to opening the first bottle after it's been bottled, labeled, and given a chance to settle down again, probably sometime in late February--sooner, if possible. Getting a label designed will be the determining factor.

Wines I'm Making: Wine Chores (July 10, 2013)

In the past couple of days, I've made some progress toward finishing various wine chores I've been putting off. Following the odd rain we had at the end of June, it was important to spray the vines with sulfur again to prevent mildew. That I achieved a few days after the rain. So far, everything looks good--no signs of the mildew and the vines set a lot of fruit this year.

I racked the 2012 Cabernet that's been resting and topped up the containers with a bottle of our 2011 wine. Judging from the tastes I got while siphoning, the 2012 looks very promising. The 2011 was a bit light, but the 2012 seems to have real depth. I look forward to tasting it again after it's bottled. I'll probably bottle it around harvest time, or sometime in late October.

I finally bottled the "second-run" wine I made a while back from the pressed skins of the 2010 grapes. I've neglected this experiment--and for good reason. The wine was never very attractive. Making wine from pressed skins works. That much I learned, but the wine it makes is dull and lifeless. Having let this go so long, it has acquired an added oxidized component. It's in gallon jugs now and out of the way, but it's probably destined for the drain.

The most important chore remaining for this year is getting the nets straightened out and on the vines before this year's crop of grapes begins to show color, which should be in about a month. The nets are off the vines but tangled and full of dead weeds. I need to stretch them out, check them for damage, clean around the vines, and then get the nets back in place sooner rather than later. It's my goal for the day.

Wines I'm Making: 2011 Cabernet Bottled (January 4, 2013)

Finally got around to bottling the 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc. It was a small batch last year. We produced only 33 bottles of wine, but it's quality that counts. I had a tough time of it this time around. First, I used a slightly larger diameter tube for siphoning the wine and a shorter length--mostly because when replacing my siphon I couldn't remember what size I had used in the past. The large size made the wine flow much faster than I'm used to and the shorter length combined with cold weather made the tube stiff and unwieldy. The result was much more spillage than usual. I estimate I lost more than a bottle. In a commercial winery that might be a miraculously small amount of spillage. Here, making wine from the grapes we grow in the back garden, it's 3% of annual output. Second, the crushed Campden tablets failed to fully dissolve. It really is important to see to it that the sulfite is evenly distributed throughout the wine. Finding much left at the bottom of the carboy, I had to laboriously siphon thirty bottles back into the container and then rebottle them. I didn't want some of the bottles to be unprotected and others to have much too much sulfite. Two lessons learned the hard way. Anyway, the wine is now in bottles awaiting capsules and labels (which I have yet to design and print). Judging from what I consumed while siphoning, the 2011 wine will be good, but it is more tannic than usual and has a bit more acidity, suggesting that it will take time to open up. I estimate it will start showing well around 2018.

I also did the first racking of the 2012 wine. Working on the assumption that enough time had passed to allow malolactic fermentation to go to completion, I sulfited the wine lightly and transferred it to clean containers, leaving behind the gross lees. I added oak staves, as usual. The wine (8 gallons, or 40 bottles) is now resting.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet--Malolactic Fermentation (Maybe)

I inoculated our 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc with malolactic starter on November 8, so today is day five. The problem with malolactic fermentation is that it's often hard to detect or to know when it's finished. There are sometimes outward signs (usually tiny, slowly rising bubbles, but just as often there isn't much to see). You can test its progress. The paper chromatography test that gives a definitive answer as to whether the bacteria have converted malic acid in the wine to lactic acid is not difficult or expensive, but I don't like the smelly chemicals involved. Recently I've been inclined to do my best to create the right conditions and then take things on faith. The right conditions means even, moderate temperatures. The malolactic bacteria thrive at around 70-75 degrees F, but that's not a condition common in my house at this time of year. As a result, I'm forced to wrap the carboys of wine in blankets with a small electric blanket between them in the hope of keeping the wine somewhat warmer than the ambient temperature in our house, which in November tends to be around 64-68 degrees during the day and as low as the high 50s at night when we turn off the heat. I generally give the wine about a month before testing (if I do test). I always tell people who ask that most of the work of making wine isn't work at all. It's waiting. And, here I am again, waiting.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet Pressed

I pressed the Cabernet grapes yesterday, on November 5, after a four-day cold soak and a 14-day fermentation. We ended up with just under eight gallons of new wine. After racking off the lees, I suspect we'll have about seven gallons of finished wine, or 35 bottles. So far, everything looks good. However, I was planning to start the malolactic fermentation yesterday and there are no local supplies of malolactic starter. Apparently supplies were disrupted by the recent hurricane on the East Coast. I hope it becomes available soon, as the wine can't be sulfited until after the malolactic fermentation is complete and the wine remains vulnerable to oxidation until it is sulfited and the containers are topped up, but I'm hoping for the best. The photo above shows the fermented grapes ready for the press. The photo below is new wine before transfer to the glass carboys that it will mature in.

[Update: Apparently the malolactic starter will arrive tomorrow (November 8), so the malolactic fermentation will get under way tomorrow.]

[Update 2: Picked up the malolactic starter this morning (November 8). In a new development, a brand called Wyeast is offering pre-hydrated starter suitable for small batches of wine (five gallons) for only about $8. In the past, I've always had to buy a powdered starter that's intended for much larger batches of wine that cost about $30 a dose. So, that's a big improvement: the Wyeast product is easier (no need to get distilled water to hydrate the powder) and it's cheaper.]

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Cabernet Harvest

The 2012 Cabernet grapes are crushed and destemmed and resting in the garage. We picked the grapes on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, a fairly typical date. We harvested 90lbs of grapes, having lost none to raccoons or any other critters this year. Early application of two layers of nets and the electric fence worked. Netting early seems to be the key, and it's worth it to have all the grapes at the end of the season--although the nets make tending the plants a hassle. For example, this year I would liked to have removed some of the leaves covering the grapes in the most luxuriant plants to have given them extra air and sun against the formation of mold, but it was hard to do because of the nets. Thankfully, this year was cool and dry, and mold was a minor problem.

The crushed, de-stemmed grapes yielded 11 gallons of must. I lightly sulfited the must to 53ppm (nine Campden tablets in the 11 gallons of must) and will let it sit for a few days before inoculating with yeast to start fermentation. The must tested at 25.0 Brix and a pH of 3.54. pH squared times Brix was 313. The specific gravity measured 1.108 by hydrometer at about 70 degrees F.

Meanwhile, the rosé from our Sangiovese grapes is ready to be racked off the gross lees. Today is the 15th day of fermentation, and the activity has slowed greatly. I will test with the hydrometer. If it looks completely dry, I will very lightly sulfite the new wine. In about two or three weeks it will be ready for another racking and should by then be mostly clear. Usually the rosé is ready by Thanksgiving.

Wines I'm Making: Sangiovese Rosé Fermenting, Cabernet Soon to Be Picked (October 9, 2012)

The Sangiovese rosé is fermenting in the living room (I've brought it in from the garage as it was a bit too cool and the activity seemed to have slowed). Today is day three and everything seems to be going well so far. I took a sample of the Cabernet grapes again today. The numbers look good, but I think they will need a little more time. The sample measured 24.2 degrees Brix at a pH of 3.38. That's already quite acceptable in theory, but a fair number of the seeds in the crushed grapes I sampled still looked immature. The rule is to pick when the grapes are physiologically mature (and at their most flavorful) rather than going strictly by the sugar and acid levels. a pH of 3.38 is still on the low side for a California Cab and 24.2 degrees Brix is not excessively high. I'll probably wait another week and test again. If rain threatens--serious rain, that is--I'll probably pick to avoid it, but, otherwise, I think the wine will benefit from more time on the vines.

[Update: Tested again on October 15. There wasn't a lot of change. The sample tested at 24.4 degrees Brix and a pH of 3.37-3.38. So the sugars were up slightly and the pH was virtually unchanged--which is not a bad thing. I'd say more of the seeds looked mature than last week, but there are still a few green seeds. Same conclusion: It's probably safe to pick any time now, but there's no hurry either. The weather is supposed to be very hot in the next few days, though. Decisions, decisions. The Sangiovese rosé is now in its ninth day of fermentation.]

Wines I'm making: Grapes Coming Along Nicely (September 23, 2012)

Today I took a decent sample of both the Sangiovese and Cabernet grapes in the garden. The Sangiovese is at 19.6 degrees Brix and a pH of 3.22. Some say the best indicator of ripeness for picking is given by taking the square of the pH and multiplying that by degrees Brix. For the Sangiovese grapes I tested today, that yields a number of 203. A value of 200 is supposed to be ideal for white wines, a value of 260 ideal for red wines. As I'll be making a rosé from the Sangiovese, that doesn't really help, but these are just general guides. From experience I know that the Sangiovese grapes aren't really ripe yet. The seeds are brown and fairly crunchy, but not really mature-looking. I'll be aiming for about 22 degrees Brix (or a little more) and a pH of around 3.4 or so. In that case, pH squared times Brix would be 254, a good number for red wine by the rule of thumb--which is to say that my experience has been that it's best to treat the Sangiovese grapes for rosé as grapes for red wine when it comes to deciding when to pick.

The Cabernet grapes tested at 22.0 degrees Brix. PH was 3.04. PH squared times degrees Brix yields 203 (coincidentally, the same as the Sangiovese). Too early to pick. With the Cabernet, I like to pick at about 24 degrees Brix with the pH at about 3.5. That gives a number of 294 using the rule of thumb, which is nominally on the high side, but most of the books I use for reference in winemaking were written for an East Coast audience and a colder climate--a climate where pH rarely gets as high as it routinely does here, so the number doesn't concern me much. Again, it's just a rule of thumb. This year will be our ninth harvest. I've made the wine enough times by now that I have a feel for what's right. The Cabernet seeds, like the Sangiovese seeds, were brown and moderately crunchy, but, again, not entirely mature. I'm guessing we'll be harvesting in the second week of October, which has been fairly typical. So far, zero losses to raccoons or other critters. The fruit looks great.

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Grapes Still Unmolested (September 10, 2012)

It's been about 10 days since I last reported on the grapes. I'm pleased to be able to say that there have been no losses so far. The nets have held. The electric fence is pulsing away. I'm hoping that the critters don't even know the grapes are there. It's still early, but I've been sampling a random grape here and there. The Cabernet seems to be already at about 19 brix, the Sangiovese at about 20 brix--both higher than I would have thought. I usually aim to harvest at around 24 brix. The rule of thumb is that one degree of brix takes about a week to develop, which would suggest we'll be harvesting a month from now, at about this time in October, but, we'll see. Ongoing vigilance is in order.

Grapes So Far Unmolested (August 30, 2012)

It's almost September. We haven't lost a single grape yet. So far my strategy has worked. In past years I've usually protected the grapes in the back yard in response to the first depredations of the season, when the grapes have taken on color but are still far from ripe. This year, I determined to net the grapes and turn on the electric fence that surrounds them before the grapes started to turn purple, and the idea seems to have worked. My aim was to make the grapes inaccessible before they became attractive to raccoons etc. Still about six weeks to harvest, if we harvest on a typical date (usually around the second week of October). The summer has been so cool, though, that harvest may be later than usual. We'll see.