Winemakers' Daily Notebook for 2004 Production
Friday 9/24 8:30 am
Richard, Tania, and David were met by Alberto and a colleague, two of Linda’s pick team, at the Nelligan Road vineyard. We moved the macrobin into the truck.
Shortly after we started picking, Linda arrived and summarized the status of the vines, the grapes, and the work they had done. Most importantly, the vines are very healthy, with strong stalks and full leaves, few of which are yellow. The fruit mostly looked good, with some shriveling due to lack of development. Fruit was pruned to be very near the main stalk in good bunches.
Later joining the pickers were Jaim and then Romano and Nancy. Most of the picking was done by Alberto and his colleague.
We slightly over-filled the macrobin, pressing the top down when we were done picking shortly after 11:00.
Richard, Tania, David, Jaim, Romano, and Nancy had lunch at Kenwood Restaurant.
David drove the macrobin to Livermore (in a truck without air conditioning) to be shipped out of Stockton.
Saturday 9/25 midday
Richard and Mike Pav got things ready for the crush and associated party, including cleaning the crusher/destemmer, PFCs, and buckets and putting down plastic tarps over the areas where the must will be moved around.
1:30 pm
Richard and Mike picked up the grapes (and David) at the Austin airport and took them to Richard’s, parking the truck next to the crusher/destemmer.
After guests started arriving at 3:00, Richard got the crush going. After the start, Mike and Manlio organized the crushing and did a lot of it, with help from many of the guests, some for only a few cranks, with only occasional visits from David and Richard. Sherry and Andre, with the help of a few guests, moved buckets of grapes from the macrobin to the hopper of the crusher/destemmer.
The main complication this year was the suppleness of the young stems, which the crusher/destemmer could not separate well, so it got jammed. Mike and Manlio regularly unjammed it by hand. Switching to cranking clockwise instead of counter-clockwise seemed to help
5:00 pm
The crush resulted in a total of 90 gallons of must in three PFCs: 31 + 30 + 29 gallons.
We cleaned, washed with citric acid solution, and rinsed the macrobin.
We moved the macrobin and emptied the must into it.
Sugar was 26° Brix.
Must temperature was 82°, which must be due to the warmth of the must during transportation. Richard lowered the room thermostat to 70°.
The must is very dense as a result of there being smaller berries with less juice.
Richard added 30 ppm = 21.6 g of K2SO4 to the must.
Beth Pav catered the harvest party. <<link to menu>>
Sunday 9/26 10:30 am
Some fruit aroma, not overpowering.
Must temperature was 75°, making it clear that the ambient temperature affects the must temperature (more than David previously thought). This is higher than it has been at the start in Redwood City. This should help the rehydrated yeast get the fermentation going faster.
Richard changed the spreadsheet for 90 gallons of must.
Richard mixed 211 g. of yeast with 2.1 liters of 100° water, per the spreadsheet.
We spread the yeast evenly over the top of the must.
Richard sprinkled the first of the three doses of 140 g. of Superfood over the top of the must and and folded it in.
Pushing the wine puncher down is hard due to the density of the cap and there being less juice than previous years at this stage.
David punched down and then seriously mixed the must, scooping grapes from one side of the macrobin to the other.
Sunday 9/26 9:30 pm
Sugar was 26° Brix.
We took the 25 g. packet of Biolat Acclimatee bacteria out of the freezer to start the required half hour warming.
We punched down the must.
Must temperature was 72°.
We calculated how much Fermoplus Malolactique (food for the Biolat Acclimatee) to add and sprinkled 180 g. over the top of the must and folded it in.
Fermoplus Malolactique
2 lbs per 1000 gallons 2.2 lbs per 1 kilogram 0.91 kg per 1000 gallons 0.06 kg per 66 gallons 66 gallons 1 packet 0.06 kg per 1 packet 60 grams 1 packet
2 packets 120 grams 2 packets 180 grams 2 packets (with margin)
Monday 9/27 8:30 pm
The winery was filled with the deep, hearty aroma of berries.
David punched down the must.
Room temperature was 70°.
Must temperature was 82°.
Sugar was 16° Brix (a drop of 10° in a day!). As expected earlier from the initial warmth of the must, the fermentation started very quickly.
It is most likely that the fermentation period will be shorter, raising the possibility of pressing next weekend.
Since the wine was more than a third through the fermentation, Richard sprinkled the second of the three doses of 140 g. of Superfood over the top of the must and punched down the must again.
Tuesday 9/28 9:00 pm
Room temperature was 70°.
David punched down the must.
Must temperature was 86°.
Sugar was 6.3° Brix (a second drop of almost 10° in a day!), reinforcing temperature as a key driver for fermentation time.
Since the wine was more than two thirds through the fermentation, Richard sprinkled the third and last dose of 140 g. of Superfood over the top of the must and punched down the must.
Wednesday 9/29 8:00pm
Switched to +5 to -5 hydrometer for Brix.
Room temperature was 70°. Must was 80°. Sugar was 2° Brix. Punch down.
Estimate of Saturday/Sunday for Pressing.
Thursday 9/30 8pm
Room temperature was 70. Must was 76. Sugar was 0.3 Brix. Punch down.
Friday 10/1 7pm
Room temperature was 65. Must was 68 degrees. Sugar (clinitest) was 0.4%. Added layer of Co2 to help preserve. Pressing scheduled for Sat afternoon.
Saturday 10/2 1pm
Sugar (clinitest) was 0.4%.
Pressed must. 51 gallons of wine.
Transferred 2003 wine from stainless tank plus 60 + 30 gallon barrels to PFC then to stainless (washed) to blend. Racked back to 60 gallon plus new 30 gallon plus roughly 20 gallons remaining in stainless. Added 30 ppm SO2.
Transferred 2004 wine into existing 30 gallon barrel plus 15 gallon barrel (emptied of water as stored). No extra. Added 30 ppm SO2.
From left to right:
Stainless steel tank: 2003 60 gallon barrel: 2003 30 gallon existing barrel: 2004 15 gallon existing barrel: 2004 30 gallon new barrel: 2003
Sunday 19 Dec 1pm Austin
Racked 2004 barrels into PFC, cleaned, refilled with 2004. Extracted sample for Wine Lab, THEN added 30ppm SO2 to both 2004 barrels. Tasted -- clean, crisp, no off odor or taste. Etracted sample of 2003 from 60 gallon barrel as well for the Wine Lab -- did not add any SO2 - but expect I will need to with Lab results. Special note -- Clancy had a good time playing in the hose water while we were cleaning.
Nicole Haller-Wilson, Laboratory Director TTB Certified Laboratory
ANALYSIS REPORT
Date Submitted: 12/22/04 Report Date: 12/29/04
Sample Test Result
2003 Cab (PREBOT) Pre-bottling Panel
Alcohol, NIR 14.36%
Volatile Acidity 0.100 g/100 ml (high)
Total Titratable Acidity 0.73 g/100 ml
pH 3.68
Free SO2 (a/o) 18 ppm
Total SO2 (a/o) 92 ppm
Brief Micro exam Very sparse population of
Acetobacter.
Direct Culture for No growth of spoilage bacteria.
Spoilage Organisms 138 CFU Dekkera/Brettanomyces
per ml.
2004 Cab (BASW) Basic Wine Chemistry
Alcohol 14.67%
Volatile Acidity 0.085 g/100 ml
Total Titratable Acidity 0.63 g/100 ml
pH 4.15 (very high!)
Free SO2 (a/o) 3 ppm
Total SO2 (a/o) 6 ppm
(MAD) Malic Acid, Enzymatic 0.01 g/L (MLF complete)
(RS) Residual Sugar, Enzymatic 0.26 g/L glucose
0.15 g/L fructose
0.41 g/L G+F
· Dekkera/ Brettanomyces is a spoilage yeast found in many wines throughout the world. This yeast may produce off aromas and flavors of barnyard, wet dog, wet wool, band-aid and others. Maintaining a molecular SO2 level of 0.4 ppm (or greater) in wine may control the growth of Dekkera/Brettanomyces. Dekkera/Brettanomyces may be removed from wine during bottling by sterile filtration (0.45 um membrane absolute filter). This yeast is resistant to sorbate.
· We advise that wines to be cultured are sampled several weeks after an SO2 addition to the wine. If the wine is cultured within two or three weeks after an SO2 addition, the results may be erroneous (showing no growth).
Sunday 23 Jan 05 Austin
Added 30ppm to 2004 barrels (30 gal and 45g). Topped off all 4 barrels. Measured tubing for Enolmatic -- 5/8" outside and 1/2" inside diameter.
Saturday 7 May 2005
Stainless steel 60g 30g 15g 30g
empty water 2004 2004 water
Added 30ppm to 30gallon barrel. Added approximately 30ppm to 15 gallon barrel. Mistakenly added water rathen wine (approx 750ml) to 15 gallon barrel. Added 60ppm to water barrels.
Sunday 14 August 2005
Added 50ppm to 30 and 15 gallon barrels with 2004 wine. No off smell. Added nearly 100ppm to 60g and 30g barrels containing water.