Fermentation of the Pinot is very near completion. We're going to press slightly sweet and allow the fementation to finish in settling tanks. We pump off the free run Pinot Noir into the tanks.
Next comes the arduous task of shoveling the pomace into two water-pressure bladder presses. When the presses are filled, the lids are clamped down and the water is turned on, filling the bladders and compacting the pomace.
The wine runs out into collection buckets, and is pumped into the settling tanks. At first, the wine is purple with sediment, but as the press run nears completion the color changes to a redder hue. The press wine is slightly sweet and very delicious. The water presses don't get as high of a pressure as other presses, insuring a gentle squeezing of the pomace and avoiding the bitterness that can result from rougher handling.
The wine will sit in the tanks for a few days, then we'll rack to maturation tanks. The maturation tanks are made of oxygen-permeable HDPE and take on oxygen at a rate very similar to that of a two-year-old oak barrel. I have been very pleased with the results from these tanks in previous vintages. With a high-quality French Oak barrel costing near $1000 these days, and with consumers trading down in price points, a lot of vintners I know are looking more and more at ways of keeping costs of production under control, while keeping wine quality high. These tanks, while not traditional, are nonetheless a good addition to our array of winemaking tools.
The Syrah is cranking up. We inoculate with malolactic bacteria (var. "Alpha") today.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Harvesting Syrah, Part Two
With more rains in the forecast, I decided to harvest the last of the Syrah on the morning of November 9th. We harvested about 4-1/2 tons by noon. The fruit looked and tasted fantastic. It was the end of our longest year.
At the winery, I broke out a sixer of Spaten Octoberfestbier. It takes a lot of good beer to make good wine. We weighed the grapes and set them aside to crush in the morning.
Jared called me on the 10th; the grapes came in at 23.8 degrees Brix! (One week earlier, the sugar readings were two points lower.) There was one row where we left 30-40% more grapes hanging, in order to check out the effect of less-aggressive cluster thinning. There was no difference in sugar content. We're fermenting that batch separately, so we'll do taste comparisons to get a subjective reading on phenolic development. When all is said and done, we'll have learned something useful about crop load on the Syrah.
The Syrah is fermenting away and the Pinot is almost ready to press...
At the winery, I broke out a sixer of Spaten Octoberfestbier. It takes a lot of good beer to make good wine. We weighed the grapes and set them aside to crush in the morning.
Jared called me on the 10th; the grapes came in at 23.8 degrees Brix! (One week earlier, the sugar readings were two points lower.) There was one row where we left 30-40% more grapes hanging, in order to check out the effect of less-aggressive cluster thinning. There was no difference in sugar content. We're fermenting that batch separately, so we'll do taste comparisons to get a subjective reading on phenolic development. When all is said and done, we'll have learned something useful about crop load on the Syrah.
The Syrah is fermenting away and the Pinot is almost ready to press...
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Harvesting Syrah, Part One
Duncan Meyers, the winemaker for Arnot-Roberts, called for picking on Wednesday, November 4th. We began picking in the morning, harvesting about 1-1/2 tons, and finished by 11 am. The sugar was at about 21.8 degrees Brix. I decided to take further advantage of the beautiful weather that we had been having, leaving my allotment to hang awhile longer.
The next day, light rains began. I was concerned for the grapes, but then, Syrah is a thick-skinned varietal, and the bunches are looser than Pinot Noir, so I felt optimistic that we'd be okay. The birds seemed to be content to browse in the already-picked Pinot blocks, and I held my breath and crossed my fingers...
The next few days, we had more warm weather.
The next day, light rains began. I was concerned for the grapes, but then, Syrah is a thick-skinned varietal, and the bunches are looser than Pinot Noir, so I felt optimistic that we'd be okay. The birds seemed to be content to browse in the already-picked Pinot blocks, and I held my breath and crossed my fingers...
The next few days, we had more warm weather.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Harvesting Pinot
Elizabeth and I drove back from San Diego, leaving at 11pm, arriving in Santa Rosa at about 7 in the morning. We were just in time to give Elizabeth's daughter, Laura, her Halloween costume to wear at school.
Elizabeth received her Open Water Diver certification on the trip. USA Oceanside, the dive center where she studied, was great. They also specialize in training disabled divers, so we'll likely go back again if Laura wants to try diving. Two of my kids, Patrick and Liana, are certified divers. Olivia and Christopher aren't so sure about taking the plunge!
Anyway, I finally got back to the ranch at about 9 am, and laid down for an hour-long nap, and was up after that to prepare for the evening's harvest. We started after dark, at about 8 pm. On Halloween morning, we had about 13 tons of Pinot ready to deliver to the wineries. At 8 pm on Halloween, we began harvesting again, and on the morning of El Dia de los Muertos, we had another 10 tons ready, signaling the end of 2009's Pinot Noir harvest. This was the latest harvest ever for Clary Ranch Pinot, and was the culmination of a near-perfect season. The October rains were a challenge, but the grapes came through beautifully.
Elizabeth received her Open Water Diver certification on the trip. USA Oceanside, the dive center where she studied, was great. They also specialize in training disabled divers, so we'll likely go back again if Laura wants to try diving. Two of my kids, Patrick and Liana, are certified divers. Olivia and Christopher aren't so sure about taking the plunge!
Anyway, I finally got back to the ranch at about 9 am, and laid down for an hour-long nap, and was up after that to prepare for the evening's harvest. We started after dark, at about 8 pm. On Halloween morning, we had about 13 tons of Pinot ready to deliver to the wineries. At 8 pm on Halloween, we began harvesting again, and on the morning of El Dia de los Muertos, we had another 10 tons ready, signaling the end of 2009's Pinot Noir harvest. This was the latest harvest ever for Clary Ranch Pinot, and was the culmination of a near-perfect season. The October rains were a challenge, but the grapes came through beautifully.
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