We started with Batch #1 of the 2011 Fallbrook Syrah, which was fermented with ICV-D80 yeast. This wine has a slight acetone aroma, though not too bad, with nice aromas of spice, roasted plums, sage, and tobacco. It is a lovely ruby-garnet in color, very opaque and dark. We all agreed this wine is loaded with oak already, with lots of spice, smoke, and very acidic/tart on the tongue. It’s also a little gritty, it definitely needs a racking and more time to clear.

Batch #2 was next, this batch was fermented with Pasteur Red yeast and we kept the free run and press run separate. We tasted the free run first, happily it did not have the acetone aroma like batch #1. This wine has more fruity aromas with light spice and smoke, cherry and tobacco. It is more purple in color than batch #1, with mouthwatering, smooth, buttery flavors of ripe red fruits balanced nicely with rich tannins. This wine is not as tart as batch #1, in fact it has a slightly sweet finish. We then tasted the press run, which we expected to be harsh in comparison but is surprisingly smooth and buttery as well. It was definitely more tannic than the free run, with a sort of sweet/sour agrodolce flavor and a little more acidity than the free run. We also got the classic floral rose and violet flavors often associated with syrah on the finish with this wine.

On to Batch #3, fermented with ICV-D254. No acetone with this batch either, lots of dust, leather, and dark red fruits on the nose. This wine is a lovely ruby-garnet, very smooth and clear already. Nice grippy tannins on the tongue, with well balanced, smooth flavors of fruit, spice, and oak.

We then tasted Batch #4, fermented with CLOS yeast strain. This batch has been the most disappointing, it just lacks anything special. No acetone, good mouthfeel and very drinkable but just kind of bland and boring, lacking depth. This wine went well with food, and would probably benefit from blending with another varietal.

I also needed to check the 2010 vintage for oak anyway, so we gave it a taste. This is the Stinky Syrah — LOTS of acetone! Although we all poured from a single bottle, a few people did not have any acetone aromas. The acetone was overwhelming where it was present, in those glasses it was absent we could detect licorice and spice, definitely potential for a great wine. But, something needs to be done to address the acetone problem — I will splash rack it out of the barrel into the empty barrel I have and dose up the sulfite, hopefully that will fix it as it has in the past.

Finally, we tasted the original vintage, 2009. This year was the third leaf for the vineyard, but was hit by a heat wave just prior to harvest. As a result, the berries were very concentrated — the ones that survived, anyway. This wine has changed a lot over the years, which gives me hope for the problems with the 2010 vintage. This wine is now splendid, with aromas of black tea and stewed prunes, a lovely garnet in color. Smooth, slightly sweet flavors of raisins and light spice are nicely balanced with light tannins and a long finish. Unfortunately I only have 9 more bottles left, but I’m going to sacrifice one to send in to the Winemaker Magazine competition this year, I definitely think it will get a gold!

Overall, everyone loved the 2011 vintage wines. It was a toss-up whether the free run batch #2 or batch #3 was the favorite, but everyone agreed that the 2009 vintage is amazing. We will rack all of the 2011 batches and add more oak to some: Batch #1 does not need any more oak; Batch #2 free run will get a little Hungarian oak, while the press run will get a blend of French and American oak; Batch #3 will get a little bit of French oak chips; and Batch #4 will get American oak to hopefully give it some oomph. We’ll get together again in about 4 – 6 weeks to see how they’re doing!

The primitivo has been settling out since October, so it seemed like time to poke at it.  I like to splash rack my wine that is bulk aging in carboys at least once to try to give it a little oxygenation while it’s hanging out.

The primi has become wonderfully clear already, a lovely purple-ruby in color.  I gave it a taste to try to decide if I should leave in the oak cubes or not.  The wine with American oak cubes was quite spicy and definitely had a strong oakiness, so I won’t transfer those cubes after racking.  The wine with French oak, however, had a much more subtle oak character, so those cubes will get added back to the racked wine.  Overall the primitivo has nice aromas of ripe fruits with good spice.  Rich, velvety flavors of cedar, spice box, blackberry and currant are developing nicely.  I’m so glad I got these grapes!

I also have a small bottle petite sirah sludge that I want to get off of the nasty lees.  When I went to pull off the cleared wine, I saw that it had thin layer of creepy white stuff on top.

It smells OK, like wine, nothing funky.  So, I dipped under the weird layer and pulled off the clear wine.  I got about 400 mLs off, then took a little sample to taste.

It’s pretty, nice and clear, deep dark garnet in color — and totally yucky.  It’s got aromas of acetone plus something sickly-sweet, and tasted equally as nasty.  Ick.  I sprinkled a little bit of Kmeta in, otherwise I’ll just leave this one separate to see if it gets over it, or feeds my vinegar cultures in the garage.

Lot A was at pH 3.73, and the malic acid levels looked like the might have dropped to below 200 mg/L, but it’s hard to tell with the strip.  If I really wanted to know I could send in a sample to a real lab, but I’m not too worried about it.  I’m more concerned with the taste:  lot A still has less fruit than lot B, and is still kind of harsh, but is not so acidic as before.  It seems to have mellowed out at least a little;  maybe this lot will be the cellaring lot and just needs time to chill.

Lot B was at pH 3.74 and malic acid had not changed since the last test, it was still at about 300 mg/L.  It is very fruit-forward on the nose with good oak and spice.  Overall it is quite spicy with good fruit, and is very drinkable already.  I racked this one out of a 6.25 gallon glass carboy into the 6.5 gallon carboy, and topped it with some excess barrel merlot.

And finally, the real test:  the carboy of barrel merlot.  Happily, the acetone is gone!  Big relief!  The pH on this lot is 3.53, malic acid reads high, 300-500 mg/L, so no change here either.  It tastes as nice as it did before, with a lot of oak and light fruit aromas.  It tastes smooth, with fruit-forward flavors of toasted oak, blackberry, and spice.  Excellent!

I think I’m ready to have a tasting/blending party with some friends and get these guys into bottles!

With all of the carboys from the barrel wine plus the kit wines I have bulk aging, the wine has now overflowed out of the shower and into the guest room.  Reservations are now required!  The shower is also quite busy.

We busted out a little sample of the merlot from the carboy, expecting it to be as wonderful as it was the day of bottling.  We were quite surprised and definitely disappointed to encounter a distinct acetone odor and taste!  Oh no, I hope the whole lot isn’t ruined!