Winemakers' Daily Notebook for 2018 Production
13 October 2pm
Picked up macro bin from Uhaul with Mike Pav. Thanks to Becky and Isaac Jenkins as always for picking and vineyard management as well as transporting to UPS Supply Chain Solutions in Sacramento. Thanks also to the Kovac/Maher family for continuing the vineyard tradition with us!
Grapes arrived in San Antonio - and transported by truck to Austin UHaul where Mike and I picked them up.
Crew started crushing at 2pm. 110 gallons of must. Full clusters of fruit, ripe.
Added 15mg of Zyme-o-color and 60ppm of SO2 to must in macro bin. Using new wiine making facility room. Air conditioner on - 67 degrees. Added 5 blocks of dry ice to cold soak.
Tuesday 16 Oct 8pm
Ambient wine room temperature is 66 degrees. Must is 62 degrees. Brix is 28.5 (!). Added 250 grams of Pasteur Red yeast, first mixed into 100 degree temperature water, then sitting for 20 minutes before folding into must. Set ambient temperature to 70 degrees. Like to warm it up a bit.
Wednesday 17 Oct 7pm
Punched down. Sprinkled 2 packets Vinaflora Oenos in must (secondary fermentation yeast) and dissolved 40g of Microessential Oenos (nutrients) in warm water and added to the must. Fermentation has started, just.
Friday 19 Oct 7pm
Ambient 70. Must 70. Brix 26. Cap beginning to form. Added 110g of Presque Isle Super Ferment yeast nutrient (first in water then into must)
Sunday 21 Oct 5pm
Punch down. Ambient 70. Must 76 degrees. Brix 21
Thursday 25 Oct 9am
Must 76. Brix 10.
Friday 26 Oct 7pm
Brix 7. Must 76.
Sunday 28 Oct 3pm
Brix 4.5. Must 72 (cooling off a bit).
Just added an extra 0.5g of SuperFerment (55gm total) - bring the total nutrient to 1.5g per gallon - top end of the range. Just in case. I will also talk to Presque Isle to make sure they don't think there is a problem with the slowdown.
Monday 29 Oct 6pm
Ambient 68.2 (and this has probably been the correct temperature thoughtout - added different thermometer). Must 72 degrees. Brix 3.
Wed 31 Oct 7pm
Ambient 67.8. Must 70. Brix 1.
Saturday 3 Nov 10am
Ambient 67 degrees. Must 70 degrees. -1 Brix and 0.5% with Clinitest.
Press tomorrow!
Sunday 4 November 2pm
Cllinitest 0.4% resiidual sugar. Press 74 gallons of wine. Placed in smaller stainless steel tank. Added 30ppm SO2.