Malolactic Fermentation?

We have done some bottling and noticed turbidity and a touch of effervescence in the grenache.

I think (and hope) that it's just a nice, slow malolactic fermentation. It's very common in red wine and can take a long time. three months would not be unusual. In white wine where modern winemakers control malolactic with temperature, it can take until spring.

This year's vintage would benefit from malolactic fermentation, I think, because grenache and syrah are both a little tart. Coleman thinks they may be too tart, but we won't know until MLF (if that's what it is) completes.

Last Day of Pressing 2009

September 21, 2009.

Today we finished pressing the mourvedre. Everything is now in glass carboys. Later, if we get some winery space we will use stainless steel and neutral oak (at least three years old to avoid oak flavors and tannins).

Coleman will post a photo or two.

First Press 2009 Vintage

Our apprentice winemakers, Tom and Nick, did a fine job at the press today. They helped in all parts of the operation.

They helped select the must that was ready to be pressed based on the appearance of the sinking cap and the signs of faint, tapering fermentation. With their guidance, we resolved to press all of our syrah and nothing else for the moment.

They helped assemble and screw the press.

They helped assess the free-run wine and the hard press wine.




They helped with siphoning into carboys for racking.







They helped remove the pomace in a single piece that will odiferously grace the compost heap for days to come.

Then they helped us clean up and eat burritos and menudo.

Still to be pressed: grenache, mourvedre, Pelin's syrah, and some experimental tempranillo.

First pressing 2009

Tomorrow we press at least a few gallons at about 10am.

Everything Fermenting September 11, 2009

Finally the difficult and tart counoise is showing active fermentation. The rest is going gangbusters or already tapering off. We may have to press the first batches of grenache and syrah this Sunday.

By the way, a gentlemanly fellow garagiste gave us some of his tempranillo to experiment with. This we dare to ferment with native yeast.

Who wants to press on Sunday?

Second Crush 2009

Brought in the mourvedre and some remaining grenache.


Destemmed forever. Running out of garage space.

friday morning

after 4 days of triple digit temperatures we have the following readings from the mourvedre.

row 1 - 25 50%

row 4 - 22 60%

row 6 - 21.5 70%

we can't pick until sunday morning at the earliest. we also forgot to harvest half a row of garnacha (row 7 last brixed at 24)

vendimia 09 ya empieza

we made a very selective pass through the grenache and syrah. harvested approximately 350 pounds. we were even more selective during the destemming by hand. we were assisted by John S. picking and later by Jay, Monika and charming in-laws from Poland. Michael was a workhorse thoughout detstemming until 630 PM.

First Crush 2009 Vintage

Yesterday we harvested the syrah and half the grenache. I guess about 350 lbs of fruit. We had to be selective in the vineyard and also do some triage at my house, because ripeness was uneven. However, the result looks very good. I am particularly optimistic about the grenache.

The grenache is much riper than it was for our first vintage, which was still a good vintage, the grenache that year being light and easy. But it's certainly not overripe this year. Very few raisins. And the sugar level is lower than the slightly hot second vintage, which is good. The fruit looks very healthy and clean. Conclusion: great grenache this fall.

garnacha the day before

row 7 24. 90%

rows 8/9 22. 90%

syrah monday

row 9 - 21.5 100%

row 11 - 21. 80%

row 13 - 18. 80%

row 15 - 2o.5 100%

with row 15 i avoided the red grapes. they are very much a minority in the developed clusters

garnacha on the brink

row 7 - 23.5 100% brown pip

row 8 - 23. 90%

mourvedre/syrah readings 8-22

mourvedre

rows 1,2 - 18. - 40%

rows 4,5 - 19. - 40%

rows 6,7 - 19. - 40%

syrah

rows 9,10 - 20.5 - 100%

rows 12,13 - 17. - 95%

row 14 - 17. - 90%

first grenache brix - august 21

row 7 -23- 80%

row 8 -21.5- 80%

row 9 -21- 80%

august 20th brix readings

syrah

row 9/10- 21- 90%

row 12/13- 19- 80%

row 14/15- 17- 80%

2009 harvest approaches.

on the 10th of august we did a brix reading for the first time in 2009. the syrah read like this -

upper rows - 14.2 brix 50% brown pips

lower rows - 14.0 brix 50% brown pips

last year we harvested the syrah at just over 22 on august 19th. i think it's safe to say that this year the cooler summer will delay harvest of at least these vines. netting isn't done yet and there have been some unfortunate "incidents" with the local birds.

Blending and Tasting

We successfully grew, picked, destemmed, fermented, pressed, and racked all four of our varietals this year.  By now we have made several blends.

The mourvedre, which was (I think) a little over-ripe, tends to overwhelm the other varietals whenever it is present at greater than 20%.  It has a big, showy nose, too much heat and ripeness in the mouth, and a long, interesting swallow.

The counoise is fascinating to me -- strawberry in color, delicate flowers and strawberry in the nose.  To drink it is bright and tart with spicy red fruit on the palate.  It blends well with everything.

The grenache is just plain delicious and shows keen varietal character.

The sleeper is the syrah.  We thought that we harvested a little early resulting in a sharp taste.  But just decant for four hours and maybe throw in a little counoise or grenache and wow!  Very tasty; maybe my favorite.