2009 Gowden Winery Gewurztraminer

There's some concern in my cellar today...

Pressed my Gewurztraminer this afternoon. It was cold pressed, just like yesterday's Riesling, and 108 lbs of juice easily gave up 7 gallons of juice. I saved some must for testing and put campden tablets in.

Sugar content was very good, 1.9 or 23 brix.

My acid was way, way low...coming out at 2.0. I have to figure out the amount of acid to add back to the must, but I'm not happy that the acid is THAT low. 4 or 5, I can expect that. This is just wrong.

I rechecked the Riesling and it was still around 6.1. The pinot...more concern: 2.8.

For the record, I'm lousy in math and chemistry, so it's a crapshoot from here on out.

This can go either way.

2009 Gowden Winery Johannesberg Riesling

Got an unexpected, yet pleasant email today that the grapes were in a few hours early. That meant the crush could begin today!!!

The Riesling grapes were plump and ridiculously sweet. They tasted like candy, with bitter little seeds. Chucked them right in the press for what's called a 'cold press' and 2 hours later I had a 5 inch ring of pressed grapes and 7 gallons of juice.

Checked the sg: 1.100. The acid level is 6.1. I added 7 campden tablets to the must, along with Premier Grand Cuvee yeast and 2 nutrient tablets.

And now I wait.

The plan for tomorrow is to press the Gewurztraminer. The Pinot Noir was crushed today, and I'll talk about that in a few days, when there's something to write about.

Yeah, this weeks posts will be dry, I'm using it as a way to track my wines' progress, since I'm terrible at logging this stuff in a notebook.

See you tomorrow.

It's that time...

Grapes are coming in tomorrow: 108 lbs each of Riesling and Gewurtz, 216 of Pinot Noir.

Whites: Right into the Press (probably Monday)

Red: Crush tomorrow or Monday.

I wish this was happening yesterday, or that I could take Monday off.

Regardless, it's going to be a fun week.