Wines I'm Making: 2015 Grape Harvest

I picked our grapes this year on September 19, which is about three weeks earlier than usual (although only five days earlier than last year, which was likewise early). Because of the heat and dry conditions, many grapes were already beginning to turn to raisins. Fruit set was also very poor this year--the worst it's ever been. The harvest was tiny. I took in only 18.7kg or 41.4lbs of Cabernet and 12.8kg or 28.2lbs of Sangiovese. We normally harvest anywhere from two to three times that much. The crushed cabernet must measured 26.0 Brix at a pH of 3.62 (pH squared times Brix = 340.7). The crushed Sangiovese must measured 22.0 Brix at a pH of 3.57 (pH squared times Brix = 280.4). I usually aim for a Brix reading of about 25 for the Cabernet and about 23 for the Sangiovese. I lightly sulfited both containers and set them aside in a cool place for a pre-soak.

I inoculated the juice on the morning of the third day, September 22, using the Rockpile yeast for both. Ordinarily, I press the Sangiovese after about 18 hours to make a rosé, but we had so little fruit and because of work conflicts, I had to leave it longer than that, so, by default,  I'm fermenting the Sangiovese as a red wine this year for the first time in many years. I'm trying to decide whether to blend the two varieties. I may have no choice. I ended up with only about three gallons of each, which, when pressed, will reduce to about two gallons each. That would require using four one-gallon containers, which is a pain (no one seems to make two-gallon glass containers suitable for handling wine), so it will be easier to combine them.

So, fermentation is under way. I'm also doing a hard cider fermentation at the moment. More soon.

[Update: In the end, I decided to leave the two red wines unblended for the time being. As of today (October 6), the wines are resting, awaiting inoculation for malolactic fermentation.]

Wines I'm Making: Fermentation (September 29, 2014)

I inoculated our pressed Cabernet grapes yesterday, after a four-day cold soak. We picked the grapes on the 24th. This morning, the wine is beginning to bubble a little. The fermentation appears to have begun. The Sangiovese rosé fermentation is now in day four. Having had minor problems with hydrogen sulphide in the past two years I decided to use the yeast nutrients usually recommended (DAP and Fermaid K), although I've never used them in the past. I'm hoping better nutrient availability will prevent hydrogen sulphide problems this year. We'll see.

Wines I'm Making: Pressing Apples for Cider

Last Sunday we pressed apples for hard cider. Earlier this year, I made cider by fermenting store-bought organic apple juice (Sonoma County is blessed with many apple orchard, so excellent juice is easy to come by), but this year I decided to make cider from scratch. I rented an apple mill to process 200lbs of apples harvested from our own tree, a tree at my brother's home, and a tree belonging to a friend. I used about 70lbs of Golden Delicious apples (sweet, but low in acid), about 90lbs of Pink Lady apples from our own tree (sweet but quite tart as well, very aromatic), and about 40lbs of an unknown, older tree, in Sebastopol, probably planted in the 1960s, although not a Gravenstein, the apple most closely associated with Sebastopol (again tart and aromatic). The result was a good blend, I hope--sweet enough to make a fairly alcoholic cider (the juice tested at 17 degrees Brix, which should result in an alcohol level of about 8.5%), but also with enough tartness and apple aroma to keep things interesting. The top photo shows the raw material.

It took the entire day. Most of the time was consumed washing apples. Apparently commercial juice and cider makers don't bother, but I wanted at least to get the dust and occasional splatter of bird droppings off the fruit.  Once cleaned, it was just a matter of dropping apples into a chute above a rotating masher that pulps them and drops them into a press basket for pressing. Two-hundred pounds of apples yielded about 12 gallons of juice. One gallon I gave to the friends with the Golden Delicious tree. The rest I sulfited lightly and let rest overnight. That juice is now fermenting in the living room, well on its way to becoming cider. The second photo shows juice samples--Golden Delicious, unknown Sebastopol, and Pink Lady, left to right.

I used two different yeasts. On Monday afternoon (November 18) I inoculated five gallons with the same yeast I used to make the cider from store-bought apple juice--WLP775 "English Cider Yeast" made by White Labs, in San Diego (I hope that's not Walter White Labs), a liquid yeast in a glass vial. The remaining six gallons I inoculated with a powdered yeast from Mangrove Jack's--"Craft Series MO2 Cider yeast." It will be interesting to see if the two yeast strains produce different results. The liquid yeast has so far produced a much more vigorous fermentation. I filled the containers somewhat too full. I've had to repeatedly empty the air lock of bubbles and juice spilling out the top of the White Labs fermentation, making something of a mess, but it's all under control now. The juice fermenting with the Mangrove Jack's yeast hasn't been quite so exuberant. I expect the initial fermentation to take about three weeks or so in either case. For now, it's a waiting game.

Wines I'm Making: 2013 Grape Harvest (October 6, 2013)

2013 marks our 10th harvest. We picked the grapes in our little backyard vineyard on Sunday, October 6--both the Sangiovese and the Cabernet grapes. October 6 is a fairly typical date for the Sangiovese (the dates have ranged from around September 29 to October 16 over the years).

It's somewhat early for the Cabernet (October 18 in 2012), but a fair number of clusters were already turning to raisins, probably because I watered less than usual this year (only twice, rather than three of four times in most years) and it seemed best not to wait any longer. We harvested 20.5kg (or 45.1 lbs) of Sangiovese grapes, which became just under eight gallons of must after crushing and de-stemming. The must measured 22 degrees Brix with pH at 3.63, just about right for the light rosé these grapes will become.

We harvested 41kg of Cabernet Sauvignon/Cabernet Franc (or 90.2 lbs), which yielded a little more than 11 gallons of must. The must tested at 27.5 degrees Brix--the highest it's ever been, reflecting the high percentage of raisined grapes. The pH was at 3.56. Because of the high sugar level, I'll probably add a small amount of acidulated water to the must to lower the Brix to around 26 to avoid producing an excessively alcoholic and therefore unbalanced wine. The lesson here is to water the grapes a little more, although I'd been hoping to eventually wean the grapes off water altogether.

The Sangiovese is already pressed and inoculated with Epernay II yeast, as usual. We ended up with about 4.5 gallons of pressed juice. I pitched the yeast on the afternoon of the 7th. The grapes spent about 20 hours on the skins, which will result in a fairly deep pink wine.

The Cabernet must is resting. I usually do a three- to four-day pre-soak, which is supposed to result in more extraction from the skins of softer (water-soluble) tannins than the (alcohol-soluble) tannins extracted during the fermentation process. I don't know, but this method seems to produce a wine we like. Today I'll be adjusting the sugar level, as noted above. Tomorrow or the day after it will be time to add the yeast and get the fermentation started. I love this time of year. The whole house will soon smell of fresh yeast and fermentation--like a winery.

[Update: This afternoon (October 9) I dissolved 15g of tartaric acid crystals in 2.5l of distilled water (using a formula provided by the kind people at The Beverage People) and added the mixture to the Cabernet must. It was difficult to mix it all in evenly, so, measuring the Brix after the addition, it comes out a bit low (at 23 degrees Brix), but I suspect that's simply because of an imperfect mixture. The sweetest juice is probably stuck at the bottom of the container. The aim was to reduce the sugar to 25.5 Brix. I'll stir it up again tomorrow and test it once more.]

Wines I'm Making: Cider Racked (February 19, 2013)

My first attempt at making hard cider is coming along nicely. The fermentation had mostly stooped (after 20 days), so I racked the cider off its lees today. There was quite a lot of sediment in the bottom of the container, so I had to top it up after the racking. I used apple juice, fully expecting the new sugar to revive the fermentation a little, but so far there has been no reaction. It may just take time. We'll see what's going on tomorrow. In the photo, taken while siphoning the cider into a clean container, you can see the deep layer of sediment.

Wines I'm Making: Hard Cider (January 31, 2013)

At Whole Foods (the Coddington Mall store) yesterday I noticed a growing section devoted to brewing supplies. I was intrigued by a vial of "English cider yeast" I found there. I made the assumption that it was a strain of yeast particularly suited to making hard cider. On the spur of the moment I bought the yeast and three gallons of pasteurized (but preservative-free) apple juice thinking I'd try to make my own cider. I have no idea if it will be any good or not, but, being used to fermenting grape juice to make wine, and having all the equipment already at hand, I thought I'd give it a try. I inoculated the juice last night (on the 30th) and a frothy fermentation is already under way. Stay tuned....

Wines I'm Making: 2012 Sangiovese Harvest (October 5, 2012)

I decided to harvest our Sangiovese grapes yesterday (October 5), with the sugars looking good (at 22 degrees Brix) and the pH about right, at 3.47. We harvested 50.6lbs of grapes, which is a little more than last season. I'm happy to say that we lost none to animals this year and there was virtually no mold. Mostly good, healthy-looking grapes went in to the hopper for crushing. The Cabernet will require a little more time.

We got about 5.5 gallons of must and 3.5 gallons of pressed juice for fermentation (I always make a rosé from the Sangiovese). The must tested a little differently from the sample that prompted me to pick, but the numbers were still decent--21.5 degrees Brix and a pH of 3.66. The hydrometer read 1.090.  

I very lightly sulfated the must (three Campden tablets) and left it overnight. As it was crushed at about 1:00PM on the 5th and pressed at about 11:00AM today, on the 6th, the juice spent 22 hours on the skins. I usually aim for about 18 hours, but a few extra hours won't make a big difference. I inoculated the juice with Epernay II yeast at around noon. Once the dry yeast on the surface is well hydrated, I'll mix it into the juice and it will be on its way to becoming wine. Fermentation usually takes anywhere from about six days to about 14 days.