Time to get Serious!

OK, the weather has warmed up and the wines are going through their final fermentations...How's that you ask? Well I find that the Malo Latic {ML} fermentation may not really finish until the wine warms up in hot weather.....

I do have an air conditioner in the wine cellar, but the temperature in the cellar may reach into the 70s when the outside temp is in the 90s...and that's the kick the wines need to finish ML and the reason I wait till late summer to bottle.

You can tell that the wines are going through the final ML by observing the fermentation locks: e.g. the wine will push up into the lock, and there will be some CO2 bubbles along the edges of the wine when poured into a glass.

Also at this time, I need to make my final blending decisions, Mix the blends, add fining agents, and do acid adjustments. Blending now will allow me to rack the wines in July/August and bottle a couple of weeks later.

So, time to get serious. All the trial blending and early tastings must come to a close and I need to make the final decisions. So out to the cellar for final tastings and inventory.

The inventory is critical piece of the blending decision, as it is important to have full containers when finished. e.g. a make a blend of 50% wine A and 50% wine B works great using 5 gallon carboys of each wine that goes back into the 2 -5 gallon carboys, e .g. full containers. Factional percentage blending, e.g. 33% this and 12% that and 55% other, leads to problems filling containers.

My 2009 wine Inventory:

• 10 gallons of the "Tre Palme" blend {mentioned in my last post. }The wine is stable and waiting to be bottled.


• 10 gallons of Pinot Grigio (PG) "press" wine. slightly pink from harder pressing, a different wine from the regular "free run" Pinot Grigio.


• 14.5 gallons Sauvignon Blanc (SB).


• 8 gallons "free run" Pinot Grigio (PG)


• 12 gallons Malvasia.


• 17 gallons Zinfandel (Zin)


• 17 gallons Nebbiolo

I tasted all the wines again, did another couple of trial blends and some taste tests with my WGWNN {Wine Group With No Name} friends and came up with this plan:

Make a "Harvest Festival" blend of 50% SB and 50% Malvasia. I made this blend in 2007 and liked it a lot. The floral orange blossom nose of the Malvasia and its richness tone down the grassiness and high alcohol of the SB. Make 13 gallons {2-6.5 gallon carboys} of the blend.

This will leave a 5 gallon carboy of the Malvasia to bottle on its own, and a 3 gallon and 5 gallon carboys of the SB to bottle on their own.

Bottle the "non-press" PG without blending. It is a nice wine on it's own, not that complex, but nice pear nose, very clean, and with good acid.

I'm finding that I like Rose' wine more these days, and the warm weather has me thinking of sitting in the shade with a nice chilled Rose'..... But I didn't make one you say! A trial blend of 4 parts "press" PG and 1 part Zin produced a nice Rose' wine...Nice color, clean, good acid and some nice stawberry/raspberry flavors from the Zin. {We should talk about how Rose is made sometime...}

I "tested" this Rose' blend on my WGWNN friends and it seemed to be a hit.

Use all the "press" PG {10 gallons} and 2.5 gallons Zin to make 12.5 gallons Rose'. I will probably put this into a 5 gallon carboy and a 6.5 gallon carboy, and bottle the rest {5 bottles}

This leaves about 9.5 gallons Zin. This Zin is a light, low{er} alcohol wine with good fruit and acid. The perfect "picnic" wine according to my WGWNN friends. Bottle this by itself.

And that leaves the Nebbiolo.... Quite a story behind this wine and I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet. I may want to hold over some for possible blending for next year. For now, bottle 1 case for tasting and evaluation. That leave 14 gallons in a stainless steel beer keg.

So after bottling I'll have:

4 cases "Tre Palme" blend {equal parts, SB, PG and Malvasia}

4 cases "Harvest Festival" blend {equal parts SB and Malvasia}

5 cases "Rose" blend {the "press" PG and some Zin.}

2.5 Cases PG

2 cases Malvasia

2 cases SB

4 cases Zin

1 case Nebbiolo and 14 gallon in stainless steel

Whew! Glad I got that figured out..... Now I just need to do it! So it is time for a few days of cellar work!

Slow time in the Cellar ; my wine making year

I say it's a slow time in the cellar {Feb.-March}, not much happening, but perhaps it's just the way I organize my wine making, a yearly cycle-from vineyard to the finished bottle in one year

I can make wine in one year because of the style of wine I want to make; that is a lighter easily drinking style with lighter varietals. Also I don't use barrels to age wine and I have the limited space to store wine which forces the issue.

So here's a typical year. I going to start with August but of course it is a yearly cycle, so read to the end to see what led up to the start month..... got to be a better way to say that...

August: Get equipment ready, harvest will be here soon.

Clean all the fermentation containers, press, crusher, etc. Most of my equipment sits outside when not in use, so even though I put it away clean, it needs to be checked and cleaned.

Plan for what you will need... e.g. do you have enough fermentation containers for the wine you are making this year? Enough carboys?

Organize space in the cellar; e.g. where will the fermenters go, carboys of new wine?

Bottling time!
Design your label,
Host a bottling party
Store wine in the cellar
Firm up grape sources/price for the coming harvest


Late August - November: Harvest time:
Arrange time off as needed, the grapes are ready when they are ready, too bad if you have to work.
Call grape sources, check brix levels, get schedules worked out. Note you may only get a few hours notice to go pick up grapes.
Travel to vineyards, pick up grapes, crush, press, ferment, rack, taste, rack again, repeat for each variety you are making. Busy Busy!

December - Christmas and New year, too much else going on to do much in the cellar. All the wines should have finished fermentation and been racked a time or two and can be left on their own for a month or two. Get out of the cold, take a vacation....went to Cozumel.

January-Feburary: my "slow time in the cellar..." It's cold out there! So I'm not real motivated to do much. But here are some suggestions of things to do, where you don't spend all your time in the cold...

Taste your wines and create trial blends:
Visit tasting rooms, network wine and grape contacts
Repair Equipment
Do a Inventory of your cellar
Plan a dinner to drink those wines you have been saving, or old bottles discovered during inventory.
Make sure your wine making notes are up to date.
Throw a party to celebrate last year's vintage

March - May: Time to get serious about your blending strategy.

Taste again, make more trail blends
Throw a blending party.
Make final choices
Make blends, add fining agents, and acid if needed {or wait till you see how blend comes together...}

June-July:
Rack blends of any fining agent
Taste blend, make acid decisions,
Plan the wines you will make the next harvest.
Network/find your grapes sources.
Line up supplies for bottling next month... enough bottles, corks, etc.?

August/September:

I try to wait till August to bottle so that the wines have has a chance to warm up, and that any secondary fermentation that is going to kick off has done so. August/September is also a great time for bottling parties with a lunch afterward to celebrate.