Pressing the grenache, racking the syrah

Today we pressed the inoculated grenache and racked all of the syrah.

The grenache still had a lot of sugar (after more than two weeks of fermentation) and it is fermenting in the carboy.   We decided to let the native-yeast grenache stay on the skins for a few more days.

The syrah is getting smoother. I think it will not be unduly harsh. We are going to need its higher acid and lower alcohol after the mourvedre with its high sugar content ferments.

photos from 9/10/08 harvest

Mourvedre and counoise harvest

Today Coleman and I harvested about 300lbs of grapes. A little more than 200lbs of it was mourvedre and the rest counoise. Most of the fruit looked very good. Some signs of white mold or mildew, but I don't really know.

It took me and Coleman and Lisa and Jay forever to destem by hand. We filled seven fermentation buckets, some of them a little short.

I sulfited all but one each of the mourvedre and counoise.

The mourvedre must: Brix 27.3. Yikes! That would indicate about 15.4% alcohol.
The counoise must: Brix 23.5.

Jay tested the syrah wine that we made with native yeast and no yeast food: it was perfectly dry. No residual sugar.

If the same thing happens with the mourvedre with its higher sugar content, I think we should try a lot more native yeast fermentation next time.

Syrah pressing

Yesterday, with Doug's welcome assistance, I pressed the syrah. We got about ten gallons. The wine is extremely turbid, dark but not black. It tastes tart and hard but not as sharp as the must tasted a couple of days ago. The fruit seems to have come out a little.

I'm going to test for residual sugar with special attention to the wine we got from native yeast fermentation.

Grenache harvest September 1, 2008

Coleman and I brought in the grenache early this morning with the help of Jay and Monica. Our 25 grenache vines yielded about 130 lbs, filling three fermentation vats. The must measured 25 brix on Jay's refractometer. The fruit looked good with a little bit of black mould on four or five clusters only.

We continued our experiment with native yeast fermentation on one out of the three fermenters. Tomorrow I will add yeast food to the others and innoculate with Rhone yeast.

Only the mourvedre and counoise are still on the vines.

We tasted the syrah must. It's almost dry but still shows signs of active fermentation. It is tart, sharp, and a little harsh. That worries us, but it might be a blessing if the mourvedre comes in very ripe.