2010 CRUSH: Mourvedre and Syrah PRESSED Grenache

An all-day affair.

The Mourvedre was at 23.5 brix in the must, after harvest, and ph of 3.54.  Thanks to Jay for crush help and lab work!  (p.s.  TA between .45 and .47 -- low but we chose not to tart it up; we will leave that to the Grenache and the Counoise.)

We pressed the Grenache.

brix again 9-23

lower mourvedre 23 40%
upper 23.5 35%

lower syrah 22.5 90%
upper syrah 22 90%

tomorrow it will get hot even more so on the week-end.

brix data 9-20

lower mourvedre - 22 90%
upper mourvedre - 21 60%

lower syrah - 21 90%
upper syrah - 21 90%

counoise - 19 60%

there is partial lignification in some of the mourvedre. almost none in the syrah and just a bit in the counoise.

Grenache slow and steady

The Grenache has been in the fermenters for two full weeks now.  Still going steady.  Looks and smells beautiful.

the latest

upper mourvedre 22 60%
lower mourvedre 21 50%

upper syrah 21 95%
lower syrah 21.5 95%

also tested my neighbors cabernet franc 21 50%

weather looks to continue in the mid eighties. think i'll water and continue to monitor developments. birds only interested in mourvedre. but i think i will secure net bottoms on syrah.

very little change

mourvedre up a degree pip % up to 70

lower syrah up a degree

upper syrah unchanged

i think i'll water.

there is a squirrel who wants to die.

Grenache: We have liftoff

Fermentation is going along well now.  Smells good.  Looks good.  The must has now taken on a bright raspberry color.

Waiting for Grenache

No signs of ambient yeast fermentation yet.  Since we vinify like monks, I guess we could pray.

vintage 2010

we harvested the grenache on tuesday the 7th of september. cool cloudy morning a bit damp. i let the wind start blowing before picking. did a quick triage throughout. not really that much fruit left on the floor. the grenache came out really beautiful. we hand de-stemmed half by hand and used JM's hand cranked crusher/de-stemmer on the rest.

here are brix numbers on the mourvedre and syrah for 9/9/10


lower mourvedre 19 50%

upper mourvedre 19 50%

lower syrah 20 90%

upper syrah 20 90%

2010 pre-vintage.

rainy winter even reaching a tick over average. santa anas very scarce. cool spring decent rain. spring cold weather hurt syrah and grenache set. not so much mourvedre or counoise. summer historically cool. one july triple digit period maybe three days. late august heat spike six days then three more triple digit days just before labor day.

today september 6 i brixed. latest first brix ever. got nervous last week but didn't get device until yesterday. here are the results.

lower mourvedre 19 30%

upper mourvedre 20 30%

left side grenache 24 90%

right side grenache 25 90%

new grenache 20 50%

lower syrah 20 70%

upper syrah 19 60%

counoise 18 70%

mourvedre fruit is beautiful so much so that the only flaw is bird and insect damage. birds very aggressive searching for any way they can to get in and attack any berry they can reach. all in all the netting is preventing too much harm.

grenache is uneven, green shot and suffering from some shriveling. needs to be brought in and brought in selectively. weather has cooled but even with water two days ago brix is high.

syrah is uneven, very black fruit next to green shot. good bit of shriveling.

after a good start counoise is its bulbous, uneven self. still could be the "best" year ever for this strange fruit.

last water six hours saturday night. water this year has been more frequent and regular than previous vintages.