2019 Merlot #3
October 2019
This is my 3rd batch of Merlot this year. The first two were kits, this is fresh grapes from Suisun Valley, CA.
The group I purchased grapes with unloaded 10,000 lbs of grapes Friday morning and crushed 8,000 lbs Saturday morning. it was a helluva day.
April 2022
As with the 2018 Metheglin and 2019 Zinfandel, I’ve chosen to relabel the remaining bottles with a new label that uses the original label graphic, faded and stretched, as a background.
Ingredients
| Grape | 180# Merlot from Lanza Vineyards, Suisun Valley, CA |
| Pectic Enzyme | 60 drops liquid |
| Yeast | 2 packages Red Star Premier Rouge 1 package Red Star Premier Rouge |
| Yeast Nutrient | 2 tsp, initially |
| Fermentation Oak | 8 oz American oak chips, heavy toast |
| Fermax | 10 tsp |
| Sulfite | potassium metabisulfite added at various points (see below) |
| Fining Agent | 4 tsp bentonite |
| Acid | acid blend added at various points (see below) |
| Aging Oak | 4 oz medium toast French oak cubes |
Method
| Crushed & destemmed the grapes, let rest. | 10/19/2019 SG 1.110 |
| Added pectic enzyme, yeast rehydrated with 2 tsp nutrient, and fermentation oak. | 10/20/2019 SG 1.110 |
| Added Fermax, punched cap down. Fermentation is fine, but I added another package of yeast like I did for the Malbec and the Zinfandel. Cap is punched down daily, will not check SG again until Friday.As with Malbec, acid is low but amount not accurately determined. Added 1 tsp acid blend at punch down 3 days in a row. |
10/21/2019 SG 1.110 |
| Drained free run juice and pressed lightly. Moved to carboys. Pomace used for second run wine. | 10/27/2019 SG 1.012 |
| Racked. Stirred wine to reduce CO2 and added 4 tsp bentonite and 1/2 tsp K-meta, as I have about 11 gallons. | 11/11/2019 SG 0.995 |
| Racked, added 1/2 tsp K-meta and 5 tsp acid blend as pH is still around 4.0. Total volume is a about 11 gallons. | 11/24/2019 SG 0.995 |
| Did a pre-tasting, doing blends with the Zinfandel and Malbec. Eric & I agreed that 80% Merlot with 10% each Zinfandel and Malbec produced the best flavor. | 01/18/2020 SG 0.995 |
| Racked. Added 1/4 tsp K-meta and 2 oz medium toast French oak cubes to each carboy. | 03/01/2020 SG 0.996 |
| Racked, oak removed. Added 1/4 tsp K-meta. | 06/28/2020 SG 0.995 |
| Racked, 1/4 tsp K-meta added. Homogenized carboys by racking half of each into separate containers, then racking half of each back into the carboys. | 08/22/2020 SG 0.994 |
| Added 10 oz glycerin (5 oz/carboy) for body. Bottled. | 09/27/2020 SG 0.994 |
Notes
| Yield | 50 bottles |
| Alcohol | 15.8% |
| 09/27/2020 | The wine does not taste as hot as it is. The overall most and taste is great, although a year in the bottle will make a difference.
Note on the glycerin: We reserved a glass of wine, then added glycerin to the remainder. The wines tasted nothing alike. The glycerin makes a tremendous difference! |
| 12/21/2021 | At 2 years old, this one has nice fruit. The one drawback is the ABV, which is noticeable in the taste. |