The Argentinian Trio was a bit full after racking, so I took out about 550 mL before degassing. I’m glad I did, there was a LOT of foam! It was foamy for the first and second set of stirring, then I waited about half an hour an stirred again to try to really degas the […]
Tag archive: home winemaking
I finally joined San Diego Amateur Wine Society (SDAWS) and went to an actual meeting. It was very interesting, I met a lot of home winemakers and several people also have small home vineyards (yep, totally jealous). I decided to ask around for advice about my merlot-no-go MLF problem. Everyone steered me to the same […]
Time for another reserve kit! This one is also from RJ Spagnols, and is an unoaked blend of Viognier, Riesling, and Chardonnay. The starting SG is at 1.10, so I should get a final alcohol of about 14%. It smells yummy already, I can’t wait to sip this one over the summer!
Time to rack the Muller-thurgau and barolo. Unfortunately, I got a little overzealous with the stirring of the elderflower tea bags in the MT, and punctured most of them. Now there are cute little flowers floating all over the wine. This became a problem as I was racking, the flowers were small enough to be […]
The instructions say to rack the Barolo when the SG reaches 1.040-1.050, and the SG today is 1.038. I guess I didn’t expect it to go so fast, although after racking, it’s obviously still in vigorous fermentation. The oak chips get added at this point, they can been seen floating in the foam at the […]
The burgundy is now about a year and a half old. Nose of cherry with traces of herbs. No fizz in this bottle, did not decant or vacuum pump, just splash poured. Flavors of caramel, plums, and light cherry. Getting more of the “bacony” and “smoky” flavors just now. Taste definitely integrated better, quite drinkable […]
Time to stir in the raisins. They’re kinda cool, big and fat. I’ll need to stir the grapes around in the bucket every day until the primary fermentation is done. It smells great already, I’m excited about this kit. Too bad I probably won’t drink it for at least 2 years, I want to give […]
I started my second reserve wine kit today, a barolo. This is my first kit from Mosti Mondiale. It’s “all juice” (read as: even heavier than the muller-thurgau yesterday), and has all sorts of fancy stuff, including “select oak” a bag of “red raisins.” Bentonite was stirred into the juice, and no water was added. […]
Time to rack and check the home merlot. I splash racked again, and tested/tasted it. The Free SO2 seemed to be below 20 ppm, so I’m going to try to restart MLF with the dried bacteria I got in December. I’m not optimistic, because I’m pretty sure the bacteria is no good after this long, […]
Nose of raspberry and cherry, with hint of the soapiness. Still foamy. Tasting very young. Sour cherry and oak. More integrated and tasty, but not ready yet.