I just purchase two 100L stainless steel tanks from Midwest Supplies and couldn't be more excited. I like the taller profile of these vs. the current, wider 100L tank I have.

Since I'm using new oak barrels for the first time this year, I need to pull the wine out sooner than normal so they don't soak up too much oak flavor. The idea is to rack them out of the barrel an into these tanks to finish the ageing process.

The 2010 harvest will also see these tanks in new ways. My intention is perform primary fermentation in my plastic brutes, then perform malolactic conversion in these tanks THEN transfer the wine into barrels when MLF complete.

This way, I'm not worrying about stirring lees in the barrel, scratching the insides and can simply add SO2 until its ready to bottle. Which I can bring these tanks back to make any final blends before bottling too.

I will likely make my own stands with heavy duty caster wheels so I can move them around as I need regardless whether they're filled or not.

On a another note, I recently got a professional bench-top pH meter and gobs of new lab equipment. Pictures to come!

After adding Bentonite to the Rose and letting it settle for 10 days, I racked off the lees and sludge this afternoon and retained 8 gallons of juice.



The lees and sludge was nicely compact at the bottom; much heavier than I've seen in the past so racking was effortless. The sludge didn't move much and even as I moved my finger across it to see how viscous it was, I was impressed how well it worked.



The color was a lot darker though for a typical rose. I only let the juice in contact with the skins for a day and a half but I still managed to pick up a LOT of color. It's an intense magenta color that's practically neon in the glass.

I'm looking at possibly filtering it one last time or trying a product called Sparkaloid to fine the sediment out and make the juice sparkle in the glass.

It's tasting nice in my opinion and my wife's. Bright strawberry notes with crisp, spicy finish. So far, I'm impressed especially being my attempt at making a rose wine.

This is a LOT more than I expected to make. Seriously. Granted I bought new barrels and corny kegs for topping up but the carboys were NOT part of the plan. I read a bunch of notes and articles about making great wines and many of them said Petite Verdot was a magic bullet to those. While I was there picking 100 pounds of Petite Verdot, I figure picking another 150 pounds of Malbce was another smart choice. Winemakers everywhere say you should keep Malbec on hand at all times if for blending if nothing else.

Oh, and the Zinfandel Rose was a complete blind-sided surprise. I didn't expect to make one but the red Zinfandel required plenty of bleed off and its not like I'm just going to dump the juice... and thus a Rose was in the making. Thank goodness I had a stainless steel tank to contain all the juice. Otherwise, that would have been consumed carboy than I own.

Let the aging BEGIN!

Admittedly, this was an impulse buy.



I was up at MoreFlavor looking for some last minute items to wrap up the 2009 red wines I've been working on. I was still looking at pumps and canes to rack the wine out of my barrels when their showroom guy told me their floor model, inert gas racking tool was the last one they had and that I could have 15% off the retail cost. SOLD!

This thing is sweeeeeeet. I already have the gas tank and upgrade to a butterfly valve. This is the tool of the professionals and when you hold you realize, this is one hard-core toy.

Basic premise is this: inert gas like nitrogen or argon is fed into the cane then the pressure pushes the wine on the barrel up and out of the cane through a second tube. It's perfect because its clean, sanitary and eliminates unnecessary air exposure during rackings.

I know its sorta overkill for 3, 15-gallon barrels but com'on, this is fuckin' cool. I want to get the sight glass piece to put in the middle so I can see when fine lees are being fed through thus ceasing the transfer.

...maybe this is the start to increasing production for next vintage since I can move more wine more easily. Shhh... don't tell the wife!

When determining  the vessel to do your fermentation in, don't forget that the must will RISE HIGHER than you may expect... and in my case, might go over the edge and on the floor.





I knew would come close but I didn't expect it to go over the edge. I'm using the VQ-15 Rockpile yeast strain which I've found in the past to be a slow starter but never violent. I'm amazed how thick that cap was getting so maybe my ignorance got the best of me. I ended up breaking the must out into two bins but equaled them out so, hopefully, they'll finish around the same time.

Lesson learned.

In an effort to make better wine this year, I'm taking the leap to build a small lab so I can run my own tests to make adjustments where needed. The most important factors to me are knowing:

- Sugar (brix)
- Total Acidity
- PH
- SO2
- Malolactic Conversion rate

I picked up a number of pieces of equipment though I'm not totally there just yet. I've acquired a refractometer to measure brix at harvest, a burette with a stopcock, clamp and stand, magnetic stir plate. I just need a few more pieces to measure SO2 and then I'm all set. Videos to come.

This is my first year working with new oak barrels so I had to figure out a good way to prepare them for wine. I didn't have to worry about sanitizing the barrels since they're brand, spankin' new so I was only stressing leaks and seals.

I picked them up at a warehouse in American Canyon which is just south of Napa. They were well packaged and came with branded, silicon bungs. They smelled sweet and yearning for quality wine to be stored in them.

Can you tell I'm super excited to be using barrels instead of oak chips?



I started swelling the barrels with cold water; filling it one third of the way for a few hours. After, I filled it another third thus making it two thirds filled then waited. After another few hours and checking for obvious leaks and with all looking good, I fille the barrel completely.



As you can see, the leaks were really minor and they all sealed quickly. There were a few leaks around the heads but nothing that lasted long at all. I let the water sit in the barrel for a day and half or so then slowly rotated the barrels on their racks as the water poured out.

Then, it was time to fill with wine now that leaks and seals were made.

Thanks to Artisan Barrels for the great advice on barrel selection, toast levels and wood type. I will definitely check them out when looking for more new oak in the future.

The day was supposed to start early but we got there a little later than hoped. My father came with for assistance picking to for photo ops really. We wasted no time getting the fruit in bins.



Bob Bennet, the property owner and vineyard manager, has a couple different trellis systems for his Cabernet Sauvignon. One system, he uses the Geneva Double Curtain where the vines are trained to grow over and down to the ground. Then he also has a U-shaped or Lyre system where the cane of the vine grow upward leaving the fruit underneath.

We picked crop from both systems to get a better expression of the terrior or site itself. Thefruit from the Lyra shaped was much larger bunches and bigger berries where the Geneva were smaller clusters with smaller berry sizes. Regardless, the fruit looked great.

When we got home, we started crushing destemming with a rental from MoreWine.



Word of advice: don't assume the machine are setup properly. It was too late by the time we realizes the crushing pads were probably too close together.

I would have like them further apart to collect more whole berries than crushed berries but alas, these machine are a little too effective and this process took all of 10-15 minutes tops.



The fruit came in at 24 brix, 3.35 PH and .65g/ml of TA. The acid is ultimately where I want to end up so I added some tartaric acis to get me through the MLF process which will chew up a point or so. I also added SO2, Opti-Red, Lallzyme and neutral oak chips; all for color, extraction and more complexities-- especially since the berries crushed more than I wanted. I'm intended to keep ice bags in the must for a couple days before pitching my yeast and starting fermentation.

It was a long but enjoyable day. Drove to Russian Rivery Valley, picked some Cabernet Sauvignon on a cool, breezy California morning. Then crushed and destemmed and made all my must additions. Even got to sneak in some football towards the end there!

There's not much technique. Add 'em or don't... it's a personal choice but let's see what the rationale is to start.

Full disclosure: I added neutral oak chips to my Syrah. 8 Pounds for 42 gallons of must.





I actually heard of this technique when I was talking with Morgan Twain-Peterson, winemaking of Bedrock Wine Co in Sonoma. He mentioned how he does it with all his reds now as increases color intensity and stability, increases the mid palate and helps bring oak nuances through the wine once barrels are introduced.

Addresses the mid palate was something I was hoping to improve this time around as my first vintage fell short there in my opinion. So I thought, why not...

An article on Wines & Vines talked about oak alternatives and the methods using powders, chips and staves in conjunction with neutral barrels. They say,

"Lightly toasted or even untoasted, they add tannin structure from the oak, while increasing perceived mouthfeel and softness due to heightened polymerization of grape and oak tannins. They also contribute a sense of sweetness from the vanillin in the wood, and can enhance the fruit character in the wine. The oak helps stabilize color in red wines."

I purchased 40 pounds of neutral oak chips to use on my fermentation this year. I purchase the bundle from XtraOak who claims,

"Addition of oak during fermentation can yield a number of benefits. With white wines, fermenting on oak can add sweetness, roundness, and complexity. The integration of the oak and wine in white wines is greatly improved by early additions of oak. With red wines, oak additions to the fermenter can help bind red color, assist in softening tannins, and minimize vegetal character (i.e. bell pepper). Recommended 20-30 lbs. per 1000 gallons. Contact times varies."

I don't have a basis of comparison since this is the first time I've used chips but when my Cabernet Sauvignon is picked, I intend to split into two batches, one with chips and one without, then compare.

Anyone have experience using oak chips in your fermentation?

Not sure I'm a fan of this technique at all. Fuck, it's messy.



Here's the premise. Depending whether you need to raise or decrease the temperature of your fermentation, you drop these "grenades" in the core of your must. Fill with cold water and freeze or fill with hot water to warm things.

I tried to add warm water to help kick off fermentation. I wanted to get some high heat-- like low 90s at least but all this did was heat the core and lose it's heat VERY quickly. You could tell it does work because the activity at the edges of the jug were there but only there. Which means you have to stir like mad to keep the temps from core to edges consistent.

At a couple times when I refreshed the jugs, they were actually too heavy and falling beneath the cap. Yeah, that's what I need... the potential for a half gallon of water ending up in my must.

Maybe this would work better to chill must if your temps were running too high but if that was your problem, why not just toss a small chip of dry ice in your bin? Not only does that cool things down but it emits CO2 which acts as a  barrier against oxygen, protecting your wine.

If someone else has used this "grenade" technique with success, I'd love to hear but I'm sceptical. I'm sure as hell not ever going to try this again without some clear evidence of it working.

Oh well. Worth a shot I guess.