Peter Lynch

10/9 07:00 - Punched cap - 70F - Slight formation First nutrient addition - 8g DAP/8g Fermaid-K 10/9 18:00 - Punched cap - 73F - Good formation 10/9 23:00 - Punched cap

17:30 - 12.0 Brix @ 72F. Second nutrient addition. 7g Fermaid-K

10/8 10:00 Measurements: Brix: 24.4 RM PH: 3.73 @ 62.5F Began RP15 yeast stater @ 12:00 AM. 10/8 12:00 Adjustments: 40g Tartaric PH: 3.41 @64.5F 10/8 16:00 Additions: 7mL Color Pro 6g OptiRed/6g Booster Rouge 8g VR Supra Tannin Powder 10/8 18:00 Inoculation: Pitched Enoferm RP15 yeast starter - Must temp: 65F 10/8 23:00 - Stirred must. Good colony formation.

10/7 15:00 - Hand destemmed 3) 36lbs. lugs of fruit. Clusters were clean and ripe. Very little raisined or unripe berries. Fruit cold from cold storage. Tight clusters make hand destemming a challenge.

09:00 - 15.2 Brix @ 72F.

09:00 - Brix 12 @ 72F. Second nutrient addition. 8g Fermaid-K

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 blends. Will probably end up doing the same this year.

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 brings such fruit and finish to blends that it's hard to resist using it in just about everything. My goal this year is to bring out more fruit with whole berry fermentation for use in 2010/2011 blending. The 2008 is destined for 1 more gallon in blends and then the rest bottled straight. Fermented warm and MLF'd with MBR 31 post fermentation. Oak to be added after fermentation. After Wine to be filtered with 1 micron pads prior to blending/bottling.

07:00 - First nutrient addition. 5g DAP/5g Fermaid-K

07:00 - First nutrient addition. 5g DAP/5g Fermaid-K

Adjustments: 40g Tartaric PH: 3.45 Additions: 10g Opti-White Inoculation: 19:00 - Pitched Lalvin K1-V1116 yeast starter - Must temp: 67F Thoughts: I decided not to adjust the Brix upward because I wanted an under 13% ABV white. We drink a lot of white in our house and the 14%+ stuff just wears me out. Looking forward to 12% and more then one glass on a week night.

Adjustments: 40g Tartaric PH: 3.44 Additions: 5g Booster Blanc / 5g Opti-White 40g French Medium Toast Oak Chips Inoculation: 19:15 - Pitched RedStar Montrachet yeast starter - Must temp: 70F Thoughts: I decided not to adjust the Brix upward because I wanted an under 13% ABV white. We drink a lot of white in our house and the 14%+ stuff just wears me out. Looking forward to 12% and more then one glass on a week night.

Measurements: Brix: 19.6 RM / 19.8 HM @ 65F PH: 3.81 @ 65F Began V1116 (K1) yeast stater @ 11:30 AM.

Measurements: Brix: 19.6 RM / 19.8 HM @ 65F PF: 3.80 @ 65F Began Montrachet yeast stater @ 11:30 AM.

Received juice yesterday. 6 gallon pail Lodi Gold Chardonnay. Placed in frig to keep cold. Transferred to 7.9 gallon PF bucket this morning. Juice color was dark yellow/brown. Took a 500 mL sample for testing and yeast starter. Will measure Brix/PH from sample once it warms up a bit. Will begin yeast starter after measurements. Will make any adjustments prior to pitching the yeast in about 6-8 hours.

Received juice yesterday. 6 gallon pail Lodi Gold Chardonnay. Placed in frig to keep cold. Transferred to 7.9 gallon PF bucket this morning. Juice color was dark yellow/brown. Took a 500 mL sample for testing and yeast starter. Will measure Brix/PH from sample once it warms up a bit. Will begin yeast starter after measurements. Will make any adjustments prior to pitching the yeast in about 6-8 hours.

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[*]Yeast: V1116 (K1)[*]Treatment: Cold Stabilization[*]Bulk Aging: 4-6 months in carboy Thoughts: Unlike many critics who find the chardonnay boring unless dressed up with oak, butter and yeast, I find naked chardonnays compelling. Great fruit - sometimes peach, sometimes tropical fruit - certainly not boring. Fermented cool and cold stabilized post fermentation for 1 months @ frig temps (43F). After CS bulk aged 4-6 months in carboy. Wine to be filtered with 1 micron pads prior to bottling.

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: 60 Cubes American Medium Toast [*]Yeast: Montrachet[*]Treatment: MLF/Surlie/Cold Stabilization[*]Bulk Aging: 1 year in carboy Thoughts: While going for a new world style I'm not interested in getting gob smacked by oak, butter and bready yeast. Towards that end I like RedStar Montrachet for a more burgundian profile (or as near as one might hope to get with CA grapes). Fermented cool and MLF'd with MBR 31 post fermentation. Oak to be added after fermentation and wine cold stabilized post MLF for 1 months @ frig temps (43F). After CS lees stirred at least once a month for 4-6 months. Wine to be filtered with 1 micron pads prior to bottling.

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 beginning to end. Hundreds if not thousands of decisions manipulate the product in an attempt to produce the best (sell-able, drink-able, etc) wine possible. I do not assume that because a wine was less or more "manipulated" (for whatever that means to any given person) that it will be intrinsically better somehow. It may be, it may not be. Additives are tools, nothing more. Can they be used badly - of course - but that does not make all use inherently bad. If using an additive produces a generally better result then otherwise would have been possible should we considered it inappropriate to have used the additive? At least I don't think so. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Steve, yes tannin polymerization can occur but because every wine's chemistry is different it's sometimes hard to predict the results. Many times we cross our fingers and hope for the best BUT always take good notes and don't introduce too many variables at once. This will help you backtrack over a few years to determine what works best and assist you in developing your own style.Good luck with your wines this year and I will do my best to post my results!

Steve, thanks for the kind words. To answer your question tannins can do more then simply add astringency. They bind with many other wine phenolics, specifically color molecules early on in the fermentation. This may enhance color but, more importantly, it can stabilize color molecules which could otherwise switch into a colorless form thus maintaining better color throughout aging. This is the primary reason I add tannin (Tannin VR Supra) . There are other types of tannin products used for various purposes on the market and you should take time when you have it to read up on the uses of these tannin supplements. While first starting out I would probably avoid such products until I was comfortable with the basic process unless I was working with small experimental lots. The best route to making good wine is good material (fruit, must, etc), a clean fermentation and mindful stewardship. Everything else is icing on the cake. Good luck with your Pinot and Merlot this fall!

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 Suisun Merlot – 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: 70 Cubes French Medium Toast Suisun Petite Sirah – 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 Suisun Syrah – 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 Sangiovese – 72 lbs. 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 additional tannin and woody extract from stems. Seeds must be brown. Attempt at a more tuscan style sangiovese)[*]Oak: 35 Cubes Hungarian Medium Toast Barbera – 72 lbs. 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 Toast Grenache – 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-D80[*]Oak: 35 Cubes Hungarian Medium Toast White Wines Chardonnay – 6 gal. Additives:Opti-White or Booster Blanc 10 - 12 g[*]Yeast: VL3 Chardonnay – 6 gal. Additives:Opti-White or Booster Blanc 10 - 12 g Oak: 60 Cubes American Medium Toast [*]Yeast: Montrachet Pinot Gris – 6 gal. Additives:Opti-White or Booster Blanc 10 - 12 g[*]Yeast: R-2 Pinot Blanc – 6 gal. Additives:Opti-White or Booster Blanc 10 - 12 g Oak: 60 Cubes Hungarian Medium Toast [*]Yeast: CY3079

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 winemakers have to address all of the challenges that the experienced have. The issue is that perhaps many experienced board members (I can speak only for myself of course) after having addressed a question (usually several times) might be less inclined to re-address it in depth (if at all). This is a loss as this board contains those in-depth answers BUT you have to search for them. It can be tedious. You have to keep poking at the search engine - modifying keywords, the display order, looking at ultimately unrelated threads (tangential learning experiences ) but there a great pearls of winemaking wisdom to be had here. Don't give up, keep at it and, more often then not, you will be rewarded with a better understanding and more refined questions. Just my 2 cents.

This is my first ever blog. I'm not sure if I'll end up using it but thanks to Joel for allowing us the ability to blog about wine. Cheers!