The rewards and frustrations of home winemaking

We just got some cabernet sauvignon grapes, also from Lambert Creek vineyard in Sonoma from Chris Van Alyea.  I convinced one of my partners-in-crime that he needed cab to blend with the merlot when it was done.  I’m sure he won’t be sorry!  We picked up the grapes and helped out a little more this […]

I gave the merlots a stir to mix up the oak and give the malolactic bacteria a little oxygenation to make them happy, then took a sample to check on the strip tests for initiation of malolactic fermentation.   It’s kind of a given that there is already malic acid in the wine, so the first […]

Something interesting happened, the 6 gallon carboy of lot B merlot blew its top overnight.  I thought it was done fermenting …. oh well.  I’m sure it’ll be fine.  A lot of solids also fell out overnight, so I racked them both into clean carboys.  Each carboy got a dose of White Labs malolactic bacteria […]

Lot B merlot FINALLY reached zero degrees brix.  What a relief!  Lot B, with the Pasteur red yeast, took a whole week longer than lot A, with the RC212 yeast.  It should be interesting to see how different they taste. I borrowed a gallon basket press from another home winemaker I met the day we […]

After a long day of pressing, I wanted to bust into some “ready-to-go” wine.  Riesling looked like a great option after a long, warm day.  It has a very faint nose of peach blossoms. Distinctly sweet with nice acidity and flavors of ripe white peaches and hints of pineapple and apricots. Flavors balancing perfectly on […]

Paul borrowed a bladder press from a buddy of his, luckily for us.  We set up outside of the office and hooked up a hose to the press.  Everything got sprayed down with sanitizer, then we started scooping the must out of the trash cans and dumping it into the press. There was actually a […]

Lot A is at –0.2 degrees brix, so that fermentation is done.  Unfortunately, lot B is still at 4.2 degrees brix.  It has been dropping every day, just very slowly.  I ordered more yeast in case I need to reinnoculate.  I guess only time will tell …..

Brix have been steadily dropping in the merlot batches.  A second dose of yeast nutrient was added yesterday.  Looking at the numbers, lot B has become quite sluggish.  Lot A has dropped to 5.5 degrees brix, but lot B is only at 11 degrees brix.  Both batches got quite hot, over 80 degrees farenheit!  Hopefully […]

Almost 2 month tasting of the brunello. A LOT of oak in the nose, with a weird fruity off-smell. Not outrageously tasty, not quite integrated. Needs to sit. Will decant and taste again.

Definitely getting a distinct cap on both sets today.  I have a little lab set next to the trash cans with sanitizer in a spray bottle, the wine thief and hydrometer for monitoring the brix, a floating thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature, the big spoon for stirring, and of course a plastic […]