We're bottling tonight, should be a great time.
I have a ton of wine that's ready, but I have empty bottles for maybe 15 gallons. Having an issue with some labels. If the adhesive remover I got works it's magic, I might get upwards of 100 bottles and be able to bottle more.
What's on deck? All from last fall: Chardonnay (came out awesome...I can't believe it), Diamond (It will be great once sweetened) and the Backyard Blush, the concoction I made last year from the concord, catawba and niagara gapes in my yard. We'll see about that.
I'll post the pics when the hangover is gone.
Sean
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
While I was out....
So, yeah, I haven't been good with the updates. Sorry, I'm a bad blogger. I haven't been writing about wine..guess I'll just have to have my nose rubbed in wine to make sure it doesn't happen again.
What has been going on???
Winemaking has NOT been fun this year, and it bother me to no end.
I had planned on taking a week off when the grapes came and taking my time with crushing, destemming, measuring, etc. That could not happen for reasons beyond my control. So when the grapes came, I had that night to crush the reds and press the whites.
Every year Tony and I have a crushing party. I was leaving for a business trip on that day...which meant having to press on Saturday morning, by myself. There was some frantic racking to get room for the new carboys, and the red are still sitting in plastic buckets as I type this (I ran out of carboys and haven't had the time to bottle.)
It was all very rushed this year. Family and work come before winemaking, so what can one do?
But now its all turning around. This coming Saturday I'm bottling and I'll have the room for my Sangiovese and Zin.
How DID everything turn out? Not half bad! The Chardonnay tasted good after the primary fermentation. The Zin had great color and tasted about the same as every other week old Zin I've ever had. The Sangiovese was thin...we'll see how it goes. Might end up being mixed with the Zin to be a Chianti...we'll see. I didn't get to start the malolactic, and I have to order the cultures tonight. Sigh.
I'll post the pressing pictures soon, and will have a rundown of pressing night next week.
And...with the rush to get clean carboys, I racked the blueberry wine into a 5 gallon carboy and got 1/2 gallon left over. It's like blueberry flavored jet fuel, but in a good way. It's settling now, can't wait to taste it once it's cleared.
Go drink something...
Sean
What has been going on???
Winemaking has NOT been fun this year, and it bother me to no end.
I had planned on taking a week off when the grapes came and taking my time with crushing, destemming, measuring, etc. That could not happen for reasons beyond my control. So when the grapes came, I had that night to crush the reds and press the whites.
Every year Tony and I have a crushing party. I was leaving for a business trip on that day...which meant having to press on Saturday morning, by myself. There was some frantic racking to get room for the new carboys, and the red are still sitting in plastic buckets as I type this (I ran out of carboys and haven't had the time to bottle.)
It was all very rushed this year. Family and work come before winemaking, so what can one do?
But now its all turning around. This coming Saturday I'm bottling and I'll have the room for my Sangiovese and Zin.
How DID everything turn out? Not half bad! The Chardonnay tasted good after the primary fermentation. The Zin had great color and tasted about the same as every other week old Zin I've ever had. The Sangiovese was thin...we'll see how it goes. Might end up being mixed with the Zin to be a Chianti...we'll see. I didn't get to start the malolactic, and I have to order the cultures tonight. Sigh.
I'll post the pressing pictures soon, and will have a rundown of pressing night next week.
And...with the rush to get clean carboys, I racked the blueberry wine into a 5 gallon carboy and got 1/2 gallon left over. It's like blueberry flavored jet fuel, but in a good way. It's settling now, can't wait to taste it once it's cleared.
Go drink something...
Sean
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