The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

Tag archive: home winemaking

Syrah Harvest 2012

It’s that time again — harvest day!  We had a recent heat wave in San Diego that pushed up our syrah harvest date from previous years.  Luckily the heat wave broke for harvest day, though it was still pretty hot after the sun came up! Once again the Curds and Wine Grapes to Glass Hands-on […]

Blending Trials for Three Pelicans Blend

I’ve been planning to make a blend similar to Duckhorn’s “Paraduxx” for a while; their blend is a combination of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot.  I was planning to substitute my 2009 Primitivo for the zinfandel, but in a previous blending trial the primitivo just overwhelmed all of the other varietals and any blend was […]

2012 Winemaker Magazine Award

We had a great time at the Winemaker Magazine conference in Santa Barbara last year in 2011, I was sorry to miss it this year.  But, the Finger Lakes are not exactly driving distance from San Diego!  I did get some great news today — I won a Gold Medal for my 2011 Cellar Craft […]

2011 Syrah Tasting Party #2

My 2011 Hands-on Harvest class met again last night to check out the progress on our 2011 Live Oak Vineyard Fallbrook syrahs. Details on fermentation and previous tasting notes are in prior blog posts.  Here are our tasting notes: Batch #1 — No additional oak was added after the first racking. Peppery aromas and very peppery, […]

Barrel to Barrel Syrah

I finally got around to transferring the problem 2010 syrah from one barrel to another. The acetone aroma was definitely present, though not so bad in the taste. If I let a sample sit out in a cup for a while it seemed to dissipate, so hopefully a good splash rack and some sulfite will […]

2011 Syrah Tasting and the Case of the Stinky Syrah

My Hands-on Winemaking Class got together last night for a potluck dinner to taste the fruits of our labors. We put French oak cubes in the wines about 2 months ago, so now is a good time to give them all a taste to see if there is enough oak, or if it needs more. […]

Sluggish Syrah Malo Finally Done!

I just tested our 2011 syrah batch #1 for malic acid levels, and it’s finally done!  I’m still baffled why this one batch, out of four total, took 2 more weeks to finish MLF than the others.  The particular yeast used (ICV-D80) must have produced something that was slowing down the malolactic bacteria.  I’m curious […]

Syrah MLF (mostly) Done

  It’s almost 6 weeks after initiating malolactic fermentation on our 2011 Fallbrook Syrah. I tested malic acid levels today with the Accuvin quick tests. Batch #1 (fermented with ICV-D80) is the one batch that didn’t seem to be progressing at all, but today it seems to be below the max value on the scale. […]

Syrah Day

Today I’m finally getting around to taking care of the 2010 Syrah we just brought down, plus I need to stir and check the progression of the MLF on the 2011 Syrah.  My Hands-on Winemaking class did the initial test for lactic acid in all four batches of the 2011 Syrah last Sunday, and all […]

Syrah Goes for a Ride

Paul and I are not happy with the way the 2010 Syrah is tasting.  It has been hanging out in the Flextank for about a year now, with oak cubes, but it just tastes kind of closed up.  Supposedly the Flextank “breathes” like a barrel, but right now I’m not buying that.  We both agreed […]