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.

Residual sugar test

Our mourvedre must was over 27 Brix. It is now completely dry. The native yeast ate it up. That was the big challenge for our native yeast fermentation. Maybe next year we will use only native yeast. Time to rack the mourvedre and counoise and start thinking about blending cuvées.

Counoise and mourvedre pressing

Yesterday we pressed the counoise and the rest of the mourvedre.

I had a half bottle of the mourvedre left over from pressing and tasted it last night side-by-side with a decent, simple cotes du ventoux. Our mourvedre was much bigger and had an impressively long swallow with licorice and blackberries in the finish. It was a little bit too rich for me, high in alcohol and lacking acidity. Might be very good blended with the others.

Update on pressing and racking. Tally

We pressed some of the mourvedre and racked the grenache and the syrah. That left us with an odd 3/4 bottle of grenache that Coleman took home and drank. He pronounced it "superb" and said it was, "better than last year. I think it's much more than a pleasant young wine."

So here's what we have, in gallons, where G=grenache, M=mourvedre, C=counoise, S=syrah, and "n" indicates native-yeast fermentation.

In the carboys:
G/S cuvée: 6 gallons (mostly syrah)
Gn: 3 gallons
Sn: 5 gallons
M: 8 gallons
G: 3 gallons

In the buckets still fermenting (approximate):
Cn: 2 gallons
C: 2 gallons
Mn: 3 gallons
M: 3 gallons

Summed up:
Native yeast cuvée:
Gx3, Sx5, Cx2, Mx3

Innoculated:
G/S 6
M 11
G 6
C 3

39-40 gallons of wine = 200 bottles, total production for 2008.

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.