First, we set up our yeast starters.  We have 4 cans of must available, so we decided to use 4 different yeasts:  ICV D80, Pasteur Red, ICV D254, and CLOS.  We set up mason jars with about 1/2 cup water at 104 degrees and added about 15 grams of Go-Ferm and 5 grams of yeast in each jar.  We let that sit for about 30 minutes while we went to test the initial brix, pH, and TA of the must.  After 30 minutes we added 1/2 cup of syrah juice that we pulled off of the must to each jar, and let that sit for another 15 minutes.  We could see the signs of life as the jars showed faint signs of foaming.  We then stirred each jar into their respective cans with a stainless steel paddle.

Check out the gorgeous color that is already extracted!

We tested the TA with Accuvin quick tests, which I have found to be very accurate, and quick!

Initial readings before pitching yeast:

#1: brix 24, TA 7, pH 3.46

#2: brix 25*, TA 7.5, pH 3.49

#3: brix 25*, TA 7, pH 3.44

#4: brix 24, TA 6.9, pH 3.44

*initially #2 was 23 brix and #3 25 brix, so we mixed some must back and forth before the yeast was pitched to adjust the brix levels.  It seemed to work!  These readings are pretty much perfect, everything fell in place for this year’s harvest.  Should be an exceptional vintage!

This is what 1500 pounds of merlot looks like!

Yep, harvest season is in full swing.  Our merlot from Dry Creek Valley in Sonoma arrived Tuesday.  The plan was to do a 4-5 day cold soak, then pitch the yeast on Sunday — except it started spontaneously fermenting on Friday!  Paul ran out and got the yeasts to pitch, ICV-D21 and BM4x4.  Chris recommended these yeasts, he said the grapes have a vegetal overtone this year.  These yeasts will bring out the fruity character more.  So, I had to go in to the server room winery to punch down 9 32-gallon trash cans!  It wasn’t fermenting too vigorously in the morning, but by evening it was sizzling away with happy yeasts.

It was also time to give the syrah and primitivo a stir and check for malolactic fermentation.  They both smelled great, the primitivo has rich aromas of spicy dark fruit, and the syrah has lovely violet, strawberry, and plum tones, very fruit forward.  I used quick tests to check for lactic acid, a sign that MLF is active.

It’s always difficult to read these tests, but since I had the 2 samples, it was clear that the primitivo is actively undergoing MLF, but the syrah has barely any detectable lactic acid.  The syrah is a slightly higher alcohol content, hopefully that is not inhibiting the MLF.  Since the primi is working, though, it’s not likely the bugs or the temperature.  I’ll check again next weekend and hope for the best!

]]> http://wineintheshower.com/index.php/2009/10/03/syrah-primitivo-and-merlot-oh-my/feed/ 0 http://wineintheshower.com/index.php/2009/09/19/a-pressing-question/ http://wineintheshower.com/index.php/2009/09/19/a-pressing-question/#comments Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:57:24 +0000 gisela http://wineintheshower.com/?p=490 This is unexpected, both the syrah and the primitivo are ready to press this weekend.  It would not normally be a problem, except we are going to our friends’ wedding today in Fallbrook (an hour away, but oh so pretty there!).  That makes pressing today with the basket press not an option, leaving only one day to press, and pressing 250 pounds will take most of the day.  Now I have to decide if I want to risk trying an extended maceration with the primitivo, or go ahead and press it out tomorrow and get the malolactic fermentation going.

I turned to one of my favorite resources, “The Winemaker’s Answer Book” by Alison Crowe.  She is the “Wine Wizard” writer for Winemaker magazine.  So far, every little tedious question I have or decision to make has been in that book.  And, it didn’t let me down today, there are several paragraphs dealing with when to press and how to decide to do an extended maceration (besides the fact that you don’t have time to press!).  She suggests tasting some of the grapes left in the must to see if they taste green (in which case you should press) or if they taste like they still have some “goodies” to give back to the wine (and then wait).  I don’t know about any goodies, but those grapes definitely taste like bitter crap – eewww, yuck!  Looks like we’re pressing tomorrow!

Time to check out the primitivo must.  Brix are at about 26-26.5;  pH is up at 4, and TA is ~9.5-10 g/L.  Not perfect;  I decided to add a half gallon of water with 14 grams of dissolved tartaric acid to each can, and also added pectinase.  When I retested, the brix were at about 25, and TA ~9, pH still high at 3.87.  But, I’m going to leave it there for now and see what happens after fermentation.

I have 2 different yeasts again, one for each can:  ICV-D80 and BM45.  I picked these after reading a bunch of entries on winepress.us, and these seemed to be the most popular for zinfandel (which was the original plan, and primitivo is basically the same).  However, as opposed to last year’s merlots that I kept separate, I will blend the primitivo together at pressing into a single wine.  I’m sure it will be just fine.

I also went in to punch down the syrah again, and it’s almost done – brix are at 4.5 and 1.5.  Looks like the guys will be pressing it out this week.

I take the weekend punching duty for the wines in the server room.  I tested the syrah, the brix are down to 6 in one can and 2.5 in the other already!  I’m pretty sure I added too much nutrient, so we’re not going to add any more (which is convenient for my home wine – the nutrient was backordered so I need it!).  Paul told me the fermentation got up to over 90 degrees on Wednesday (yikes!), but happily the temps were a normal 72-75 degrees today.  When I punched I noticed a smell of bananas again, like we had with the cabernet sauvignon, but also with a lot of spice.

The color is beautiful, I’m thinking that’s the opti-red we added:

I brought home some samples to test pH, both cans are at about pH 3.5, perfect!

bin o' zin

Time to get the syrah started.  I met Dave at the office, and he set up the “server room winery” with plastic sheeting while I revved up the yeast.  I heated up some water and dissolved in go-ferm, then added ICV-D254 yeast and let it wake up for about 15 minutes.  Then I added some must to let it acclimate to the sugar and acid levels for another 15 minutes.  While that was hanging out, we checked the total acidity with our quick test, and it read around 10, which fit with the pH.  We stirred in some pectin enzyme and then the yeast, then let it sit for the night.  The must was a little cooler than desirable (~65 degrees F), but it should get going anyway.  I had weighed out everything at home before heading over, and I realized there that I probably overestimate the must volume by using weight since I did not discount the stem weight.  Oh well, we’ll see if it foams over I guess!

Since it was Labor Day, I continued my laboring at home.  I bottled the Cellar Craft 5-week Old Vine Zinfandel kit.  I thought the kit might benefit from blending with a little bit of my barrel merlot, and did a little trial with 1:6 or 1:3 merlot:zinfandel.  My hubby and I agreed that the kit was pretty good on its own, so I bottled it as it was.  Should be a good house wine, it was already really good — only a slight kit taste, very fruit-forward with light spice. Very likely this wine will be outstanding in as little as 6 months of aging, and probably won’t last long!