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.

Think you are going to save money-think again!

I mentioned on my last post that I was going to write about the costs involved in making your own wine. Understanding the costs involved is important for clarifing your reasons for starting this hobby. Think you are going to save money, think again!...

Below is the cost breakdown for two of the wines I'm making this year, the Nebbiolo and the Sauvignon Blanc. I'm going to divide the costs into three sections for reasons that I hope to make clear... Also I'm using current prices as quoted on my favorite wine making supply store.

1. "fixed" cost per bottle
2. Cost of the grapes
3. Equipment

1. "Fixed" cost per bottle

These are "fixed" costs since they typically do not change with the variety of the wine I'm making, e.g. a $1.25 cost per glass bottle does not change depending on the wine put into it.

Wine Bottle	$1.25	Yes I recycle, but need to buy also. Some times it's worth buying 2 buck chuck just for the glass!
Corks	$.23	I use 1 3/4" Agglomerated corks...e.g. easy to work with, good compromise between quality and price.
Label	$.25	an estimate of paper and Ink costs. I print my own labels on self stick label stock 4 per page
Chemicals	$.40	Yeast, ML culture, Potassium Metabisulfate, yeast food, etc.
Cap	$.10	These are the metalic heat shrink capsules. Probably the lowest cost cap... I use wax and also plastic slip on when I can find them .
Total per bottle	$2.23	So already it's more expensive than 2 buck chuck!

2. Cost of the grapes....

Nebbiolo	$2.60 per bottle	$.75/lb x 250 lb = $ 187.50 yield @ 6 cases
Sauvignon Blanc	$1.88	$180 for 22 gallons yield @ 8 cases

3. Equipment: I think it's best to look at the equipment costs as a startup or investiment cost and then perhaps a yearly replacement or maintenance cost.

So for startup costs for a typical 6 case {250lbs of grapes} I think you'll need:

Cusher/destemmer -- probably don't need one, most grape suppliers will crush for you at grape pickup time.

Press: you need one, or at least be able to rent one: new #35 press --$435 This is the press I have, and I expect to be the only press I'll ever need. Rentals run about $35 a day.

Siphon hoses, rubber stoppers, fermentation locks, glass carboys, Hydrometer = @ $110

Wine Pump: not needed but recommended... I use a siphon hose to move all my wine around. However, to do this I have to be able to lift carboys up onto a counter to get the siphon to flow {heavy, arkward...}... you should consider a pump. Low end cost @ $140

Bottle Filler: for bottling less than 15 cases at a time, use an inexpensive filler tube = $4

Bottle Corker: You should have your own. While you could get by with a $25 hand corker, I recommend the Italian Floor corker at $125. It will last a lifetime.

So I would say it takes about $415 to get started if you rent a press... Of course if you can borrow or share some of the equipment, costs will go down. Also you could skip some recommend equipment or go low end until you are convinced this is the hobby for you.

Yearly replacement or maintenance costs: I make about 60 gallons a year, and find that I typically spend anywhere from $20-$50 for more minor equipment, e.g. stoppers, fermentation locks, etc.

What's it all mean...... It means that my Nebbiolo costs me $4.83 a bottle to produce, not counting equipment costs, time, car wear and tear and gasoline.

The Sauvignon blanc cost less at $4.03 a bottle.

Are these costs typical? If anything, I'd say they are on the low side, due to great deals on the grapes.

Since there are plenty of good wines out there to be had for under$7.00 a bottle, you have to be making very good wine to beat the cost of buying retail.

I've made a few wines that I think would justify a $20 bottle price, but my typical wine costing me @ $5.00 to produce could be had retail for about the same price with careful shopping.....throw in equipment and time and you're losing money!

So why make wine? It's a hobby! You do it because you enjoy it! The making of wine, learning about wine, sharing your wine with friends, the bottling parties! and of course drinking wine!

Playing Cellar Rat - Checking the wines

Feeling the need to check this year's wines before I leave on vacation for a few days; I tasted them all and racked the Sauvignon Blanc.

The Pinot Grigio is tasting OK... it seems lacking in any real character, not bad, just an ordinary white. Isn't that the rap on Pinot Grigio anyway?

Malvasia Biance is tasting very good just like my 2007 at this stage. The 2007 turned out very good. Thick, floral, clean with good acid.

The Sauvignon Blanc is going to be a big wine. Lots of flavor, but perhaps a little hot in the finish with some bitterness as well. Acid level may need some adjustments... I'm thinking I may need to do some blending with this one...

The Nebbiolo is very light in color. I'm disappointed since I thought I was making a heavier red wine. That said, it has great fruit flavors, a little coffee in the nose, and a bramble like finish... It will make a pleasant light red.

The Zinfandel is also light in color. More raspberry in color where the Nebbiolo is more brick red.
The flavors mirror the color with light raspberry fruit and good acid.... another light red.... {good thing I've made some heavy reds in the past that are available in the cellar!}

So, no disasters wine making wise, but maybe no real standouts either this year... but really too early to tell.

On another note: I always check out Trader Joe's wines to see what bargains they may have. The "Blue Fin" Pinot Noir at $3.99 is a nice light red with good fruit character and clean finish.

I mention the "Blue Fin" wine since I'm going to post an entry very soon talking about the costs involved in Home Wine making. "Think you are going to save money-think again!" So watch for that and check out "Blue Fin" and also "Down Under" Chardonnay.

Grape acid levels, PH, what to do about it, or not

So you get some grapes from a grower you are interested in the "numbers".

Measurments of the sugar level {Brix}, Acid level {PH} , and Total Acidity {TA} are typical measurements that home wine makers are interested in.

Brix and PH should be easy to measure with a hypdometer and a PH meter. TA is not so easy.

I always measure brix since this will determine if I can just start fermentation or if I have to adjust the sugar level before fermentation starts. Sugar level adjustments will get a separate blog entry.

I'm not so concerned with meauring PH and TA, though perhaps I should be..?? Mostly I am relying on getting good grapes {proper numbers} from a good source.

For me, acid level adjustments are done by taste and usally late in the wine making year when the wine is more of less finished with whatever changes it will go through.. The key question for me is; does it taste the way I want it to? e.g. is the acid level too high or too low?

A reason I rely more on taste than a PH measurement is that I have seen widely different numbers from different sources on the same grapes! What if the PH number is not accuate!

Note: a low PH wine tastes like it has high acid taste-wise. e.g. the lower the PH number, the higher the acid level to the taste... can be confusing no?...

If the acid level is too high, I can lower the level through blending in a lower acid wine.

If the acid level is too low, I usually add tartaric acid to bring the acid level up....I'm talking about small levels of acid adjustments like 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons of wine. I can always add more if needed....

Though I don't usually measure the PH, I probably should since it is a quantifable number to tell me where the wine is, and how I have changed it during adjustments.

What is "normal" PH for wine? Does that make a difference? --> Yes! for stability. See the article link below!

What is most important is what tastes good to you! This is your wine, make it for your taste! But it should not be out of a normal acid range due to spoilage and stability.

Here's a good general description of PH levels and how it impacts wine and the making process:

http://www.eutechinst.com/techtips/tech-tips42.htm

Wine Characteristic
Low pH Range(3.0 - 3.4) --> more stable, less Bacterial Growth, tastes more acidic...
High pH Range(3.6 - 4.0) --> less stabled, more Bacterial Growth, tastes bland, flat...


The Sauvignon Blanc numbers were: 24.5; TA = 4.7 & pH = 3.7

A PH of 3.7 is on the high side {lower in acid} and would indicate that something should be done to get a more stable wine. I think both Joe and Mike added acid to lower the PH. Perhaps they could comment on this...

There are formulas for computing how much acid to add to change a PH of x to y for z gallons of wine, so it is a fairly straightforward process, just don't add too much!

My thinking about the Sauvignon Blanc is that I have two other wines that I think are high in acid, the Malvasia Blanc and Pinot Grigio, and that blending for these wines with the Sauvignon Blanc is definitely in the plans.

Here's another link that points up the value of tasting the wine when adding acid...

http://www.winemakermag.com/stories/article/indices/6-acid/344-high-ph-low-ta-bottles-wine-wizard

But now that I say that the Malvasia and Pinot Grigio are high in acid {low PH}; I'm thinking that a PH number would be good to have.... Think I'll get a new PH meter....

All the 2009 wines are now aging, what's next?

Wine making seems to proceed at a frantic pace for a short time, followed by a more leisurely period during late fall and winter, then picks up again in the spring.



With the heavy rains in the bay area today, fall has finally arrived and wine making has changed speeds from fast to slow...



So what's next?



All of my wines have finished fermentation and are now in the cellar, clearing, and beginning the year long aging that is my wine making cycle.



The main task right now is racking the wines off the sediment when they clear, checking for any problems, tasting, and thinking about any blending that I may do with this years wines. This is a very relaxing and reflective time during the wine making year.



Time to reflect on what went right, what went wrong, talk about some wine making topics that I didn't cover, and to think about how I might want to improve my process next year.



Here are some topics I am thinking about for the next few posts:

• Grape acid levels, PH, what to do about it, or not.


• High sugar levels in grapes.


• Grape sources


• The wine making year - a one year cycle


• Make wine yourself or with a group?


• Blending


• Do you even want to consider wine making as a hobby?


• ....

Since the acid level in the Sauvignon Blanc was a topic of conversation between me, Joe and Mike who all got the same juice at the same time ; this topic seems like a good place to start.



If the rain continues I should get this blog entry posted soon - "Grape acid levels, PH, what to do about it, or not."

Sauvignon Blanc - Day 1- Juice Pickup

I've gotten behind in my posts as events began happening at a furious pace during the last week. A faulty computer that contains my video editing software and image library hasn't helped either.


In my last post I talked about pressing the Nebbiolo and Zinfandel. That was Sunday Sept. 20. On Monday Sept. 21 I was scheduled to pickup Sauvignon Blanc from Mendocino county.



Monday, Sept. 21: Day 1 for Sauvignon Blanc.

My friend, Joe, has worked out a sweet heart deal for a source of grapes from Mendocino country, and we have made a very good wine from the Mendocino Sauvignon Blanc for a few years now.

One big advantage of getting grapes directly from a vineyard/winery is that they know what it takes from a grape growing standpoint to make good wine.

I'll talk more about grape sources in a later post.


Anyway, the deal Joe has worked out, allows us to get pressed juice, so that the work of crushing/de-stemming and pressing is saved. We just bring our containers to the winery and they pump juice from the large holding tank directly into our containers.


So Monday morning early, Joe, Mike who is also getting the Sauvignion Blanc and I drove to Hopland to pick up the Sauvignon Blanc.

The winery workers know us now, and made short work of pumping the juice into our containers.


We added dry ice directly to our containers to chill the juice and also to provide a layer of CO2 to protect the juice from oxidation during the 5 hours we took to get back home. {A stop in Healdsburg for a Cheeseburger and Truffle fries was mandatory.}



Once home I added more dry ice to my container and left it to sit overnight.


The next morning I racked off the clean juice into carboys, put them into a water bath, and added Champagne yeast. {This is the same process I described for the Malvasia Bianca.}


After 7 days, I added the yeast food and ML culture to help finish off the fermentation.

Temperatures have cooled some in the last few days, so the fermentation may be a bit longer than with my other wines.

It's now Oct. 2 and the fermentation is just finishing. I plan to taste the Sauvignon Blanc today, and rack it if the fermentation is finished, e.g. if I do not taste any sugar left in the juice...

Nebbiolo and Zinfandel - Day 10 Pressing

Sept. 20. This is day 10 for the Nebbiolo and Zinfandel, and it's time to press. The fermentation was a fast one lasting about 8 days. I let the must sit for another two days to hopefully extract more color and some tannins since it seemed like the wine(s) will be light in color and body.

You can tell when the fermentation is finished by measuring the brix, or by the amount of CO2 coming off when you punch the cap down. Measuring the brix will give you a false reading since the must now contains alcohol which is lighter than water... there should be a formula someplace for adjusting the reading..... I should research that.... anyone know? please comment!

Anyway, when the CO2 has blown off the must it is time to press, since the wine is now getting air exposure.

Step 1: is getting all the equipment ready... If you cleaned everything from your last pressing; it's not too much work. See the pic on the right... clean press, catch bucket, clean carboy waiting...

Step 2 :I like to rack off as much of the "free run" wine as possible. I found a great tool to aid in this step... it's a stainless steel tube about 2 feet long with holes in the sides. It is wide enough to insert a racking hose into it. The holes in the tube will allow the wine in and keep the skins out...

Step 3: While I'm racking off the free run, I use a bucket to scoop out the skins and fill the press. My wife watches the catch bucket under the press, and changes the full bucket for a empty one as needed. The wine is poured into the carboys.

Step 4: When the press is full, put on the top, add the wood blocks and press. Ratchet down the blocks, watch the wine flow, wait for the pressure to ease, then repeat.... You're done when the resistance makes it very difficult to ratchet down the blocks another step, or the handle gets down to the top of the basket.

Step 5: be sure to taste the new wine. Yes, the wine will be changing quite a bit over the next couple of years, but this first taste is telling; how is the color, what's the tannin level, high or low acid, any off odors, varietal character in the nose, etc. See the video where Doris, my wife and I taste the Nebbiolo and Zinfandel.

Step 5: Add fermentation locks to all the carboys, and move them into the cellar. Not an easy step for me as the cellar is full!

Step 6: Clean everything...this step takes as much time as all the previous ones... So we saved some time by pressing both the Nebbiolo and Zinfandel one after the other.

Here's a video of the process and first taste of the reds.

And fitting the carboys into the cellar....