2011 Chilean Curico MalbecI've always been partial to this Chilean Malbec and prefer it over the Argentinian Malbecs we have made in the past. Always deep in color, plenty of fruit and approachable when young. If I could only make one type of spring wine this would be the hands down winner. I almost didn't get some this year but luck (and a good friend) prevailed.Preliminary Plan:
72 lbs
Crush –100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 6 - 8 g
Tannins 5 g
[
2011 Chilean Colchagua Cabernet SauvignonI've always found the Chilean Cabernet (from Curico and Colchagua) a bit too restrained for my tastes. I prefer my Cabs a bit more lush. This year, instead of a standard Bordeaux style yeast, I am going with Enoferm RP15. I've had good results with Petite Sirah and RP15 in producing a wine with lush fruit. We shall see how it works with this Cabernet.Preliminary Plan:
72 lbs
Crush –100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster R
This spring I don't plan to do much in the way of red wine given the volume of fall wine I made. This leaves me some hard choices but I finally decided to make some Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec. Why no Carmenere? I've always had reduction issues with it and the wine has a certain gaminess I don't find appealing at volume. I have enough from last year that I'll use as a minor blender so I'm going to skip it this year. The Chilean Syrah can be good but its quality has been spotty from year to year.
2010 Amador Gold Grenache
For use in Rhone style blends.
Preliminary Plan:
72lbs.
Crush – 100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 6 - 8 g
Tannins 5 g
[*]Yeast: ICV-D80[*]Oak: 35 Cubes Hungarian Medium Toast
Thoughts:
This wine will provide a fruity lift to my Rhone style blends.The color and depth from the Amador Grenache is some what lacking so it is doubtful I will varietal bottle any of this wine. Will try to find better fruit next year.
2010 Russian River Iron Oaks Vineyard Merlot
I made this wine last year for use in my Bordeaux blends. The resulting wine was so good it was almost a shame to blend most of it away (the blends are the better for it though). I did retain a gallon for varietal bottling and you can bet I'll be holding on to those few bottles carefully.
Preliminary Plan:
108 lbs
Crush – 100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 3 - 5 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 10 - 12 g
Tannins 8 g
[*]Yeast: MT[*]Oak: 7
2010 Amador Gold Sangiovese
Used these grapes in a 2008 Super Tuscan blend with 16% caberent. The wine was very delicate which seems to be the case with Amador Sangiovese but of late it has begun to pick up some grilled meat notes. Looking forward to trying this again.
Preliminary Plan:
72lbs.
Crush – 80% Whole Berries / 20% Whole Cluster (if stems have lignified)
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 6 - 8 g
Tannins 6 g
[*]Yeast: BM45[*]Extended Maceration (for ad
2010 Amador Gold Barbera
Last year this wine turn out very well. Blended 5 gallons with 1/2 gallon each of the Lanza Caberent and Iron Oaks Russian River Merlot. However, the early candy fruit barbera nose receded after about 6-8 months of aging replaced by deeper darker fruit. Not sure which I prefer yet.
Preliminary Plan:
72lbs.
Crush – 100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 6 - 8 g
Tannins 5 g
[*]Yeast: BRL-97[*]Oak: 35 Cubes Hungarian Medium T
2010 California Vinemount Pinot Gris
Clean, crisp, fruity.
Preliminary Plan:
Pinot Gris – 6 gal. Juice
Additives:Booster Blanc or Opti-White 10 - 12 g [*]Yeast: R-2[*]Treatment: Cold Stabilization[*]Bulk Aging: 6 months in carboy
Thoughts:
Pinot Gris is for my wife. Straight up fruit, plain and simple.
2010 Italian Mosto Imperatore Pinot Blanc
I'm not quite sure how I want this wine.
Preliminary Plan:
Pinot Blanc – 6 gal. Juice
Additives:Booster Blanc or Opti-White 10 - 12 g [*]Yeast: CY3079[*]Treatment: MLF?/Surlie?/Cold Stabilization[*]Bulk Aging: 6-12 months in carboy
Thoughts:
The only Pinot Blanc I've ever made was from a kit and I treated that wine to oak and surlie. It was an outstanding wine but I am thinking I might prefer to use this as a blender to add some fattness
2010 Suisun Valley Lanza Vineyards Syrah
I've had a rocky relationship with Syrah. Some seasons great, other times trying. Most successes, for me, come with blending but I'm still searching for that singular wine.
Preliminary Plan:
72 lbs
Crush – 100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 6 - 8 g
Tannins 5 g
[*]Yeast: Syrah[*]Oak: 30 Cubes Hungarian Medium Toast
Thoughts:
The Lanza Syrah from last year was blended into various Rhone style ble
2010 Suisun Valley Lanza Vineyards Petite Sirah
The Lanza Petite Sirah is one of my favorite wines to make. The fruit is always beautiful and the wines distinctive and powerful.
Preliminary Plan:
108 lbs
Crush –100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 3 - 5 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 10 - 12 g
Tannins 8 g
[*]Yeast: RP15[*]Oak: 80 Cubes American Medium Toast
Thoughts:
I still have 4 gallons of the 2008 Lanza Petite in bulk having blended away 5 gallons into other wines. It
This year I'm going to try to blog about all of my wines for the Fall California season. If it works out well I'll continue into the Spring South American season and so on. There will be a separate post on each wine so people can read their interest. Please feel free to comment.
2010 California Lodi Gold Chardonnay (#2 - Naked)
The target style for this wine will be fruit forward, un-oaked chardonnay.
Preliminary Plan:
Chardonnay – 6 gal. Juice
Additives:Opti-White 10 - 12 g [*]Ye
This year I'm going to try to blog about all of my wines for the Fall California season. If it works out well I'll continue into the Spring South American season and so on. There will be a separate post on each wine so people can read their interest. Please feel free to comment.
2010 California Lodi Gold Chardonnay (#1 - Oaked)
The target style for this wine will be restrained oaked chardonnay.
Preliminary Plan:
Chardonnay – 6 gal. Juice
Additives:Booster Blanc 10 - 12 g
Oak:
Without starting a ideological war I'd like to comment a bit on the appropriateness of additives in winemaking as the topic often comes up just prior and during crush season.
Every winemaker has a philosophy about the wine making process. Some are strict non-interventionists. Some draw a line at certain things. Others say bring it on. I'm probably somewhere in the middle. However, it is important to recognize that winemaking, like most human endeavors, is a manipulative process from beginnin
FWIW, here is my basic wine plan for fall 2010. What's not mentioned is that many of these wines will ultimately be blended together but I have only a vague idea about the blends and need to wait to see how each wine develops. I'll try to address that in a later post.
Red Wines
Suisun Cabernet Sauvignon – 72 lbs.
Crush –100% Whole Berries
Additives:Color Pro 2 - 4 mL
Opti-Red or Booster Rouge 6 - 8 g
Tannins 5 g
[*]Yeast: ICV-D21[*]Oak: 35 Cubes American Medium Toast
Suis
As a programmer I've spent years searching for information on the internet, blogs and boards that will answer my question(s). The one thing I have learned is that you MUST be tenacious and methodical.
This board is a wealth of winemaking knowledge & experience. I would hazard to say that any question you might have has been asked and answered (or at least opined upon) several times. If you stay long enough you will begin to see question repetition. This is not unexpected as new winemaker