Syrah- Pressed into Barrel; and Winemaking Decisions
After a grueling 2 hours of traffic from work to the winery, Tom, his friend, Mike and I pressed 2 wines: my Syrah and one of Tom's. It is a big day, because I'm about to go out of town for 4 days for my sister's wedding. Also, I make some winemaking decisions about inoculating my Pinot tomorrow.
2002 Eno: Syrah- York
I'm happy that this has 1.5 Brix left; this will allow for slight barrel fermentation Aussie style. Tom and I basket pressed this wine with one filling from about 6:30-7:30.
Here are pictures of the process: 1) using a strainer to pump the juice; 2) bucketing the must into the press for free run, and 3) packing the press.
We pressed until the 4 setting with the juice showing no signs of tannins. If you press too hard, the seeds will make the wine tannic.
Check out the video of the press juice(3.8 MB) into barrel.
| 2002 Syrah- York Vineyard (Amador County) | ||||
| Bin 1 | Hydrometer- 1.5 Brix | ?° | Filled 2001 Vernou: Hybrid barrel with free run. Filled neutral barrel 2/3 with press. Total yield: approx: 100 gals. Used Ferm-Rite bungs. At 10:30, pushing C02 with beautiful, tight foam. | |
2002 Eno: Pinot Noir- Dutton Ranch
The must is looking good after cold soaking for 2 days. I'm hoping for one more day of cold soak. I plan to inoculate tomorrow one T-bin with RC 212 yeast and the other with Assmanshausen. I will also add yeast nutrients, DAP and Superfood, to help the fermentation along.
With the high sugar content, I have been paying attention to the West Coast Wine Network Legalized Watering Down the Must thread. The reknowned UC Davis professor, Carole Meredith's post summarizes the change in law:
...in April the California Department of Health Services, Food and Drug Branch issued a new interpretation of the law. It is now acknowledged that high sugar grapes may not undergo “normal fermentation” because the alcohol concentration may rise so high as to inhibit the yeast and cause the fermentation to stick. So now water additions are allowed to the extent necessary to prevent a fermentation from sticking and allow it to go to complete dryness...
For the full information on change in water additions, check out the PDF:
The Letter to Wine Institute reg. Water Additions
Around midnight, after 4 hours of manual labor and 2 hours of winemaking decisions, I went home exhausted.