2020 Meritage
October 2020
I’m great at complicating things. My intention was to produce 2 wines this fall: 1st run Merlot-heavy Bordeaux blend that includes Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot — and a 2nd run wine using the pomace from the 1st run.
Then Lorraine & I toured the Biltmore Estate, and in the wine tasting I tried a wine that is a mixture of Bordeaux and Rhone grapes + Zinfandel. That got me thinking.
So … I ended up substituting 4 lugs of Zinfandel for 4 lugs of Merlot. Still gonna make 2 wines, a 1st and 2nd run …
During pressing I got a hare-brained idea and put free run wine (wine drained from the pomace without pressing) of both Merlot and the Vinifera Blend in the 54 liter demijohn, with the intention this goes in barrel #1. That wine is tracked in this log and is called Meritage (see below).
The pressings from the Merlot and Vinifera blend, plus all the Zinfandel, goes in barrel #2, which is Meritage Plus.
Eric & I tasted both Merlot — one had French and the other had American fermentation oak. They taste totally different. So I want to preserve 5 bottles of each varietal for later comparison.
Plus I’m making a 2nd run wine … dang! I’m good at complicating things!
Meritage — this is a name coined by the Meritage Association in the late 80’s to provide non-Bordeaux wineries with a way to identify their wines as a Bordeaux-style blend, without infringing on the “Bordeaux” copyright & trademark.
This wine is made only from Bordeaux grapes … grown in California. I thought of many names, but Meritage (rhymes with “heritage”) fit the bill, so I’m using it.
This wine is the free-run wine from 3 batches, which I’ve condensed into this log. As I’m keeping 1 gallon of each of those wines, those logs remain available.
I bottled 1 gallon of the unoaked wine for later comparison.
In February 2022, Eric & I bottled the main batch.
Ingredients
| Grape | Merlot 1: 144# Merlot from Lanza Vineyards, Suisun Valley, CA, American fermentation oak, SG 1.102
Merlot 2: 144# Merlot from Lanza Vineyards, Suisun Valley, CA, French fermentation oak, SG 1.102 Vinifera Blend: 36# each of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. French fermentation oak, SG 1.100 |
| Maceration Enzyme | 6.5 total tsp Scottzyme Color Pro |
| Fermentation Oak | 2 lb shredded French oak, medium toast
1 lb shredded American oak, medium toast |
| Yeast | 3 packages Red Star Premier Rouge |
| Nutrient | 12 tsp Fermax + 6 tsp Fermax each |
| Sulfite | potassium metabisulfite added at various points (see below) |
| Aging Oak | 5 oz medium toast Hungarian oak cubes in the barrel |
Method
| This first section is an amalgamation of the starting of the 2020 Merlot and Vinifera Blend wines. 1 gallon of each of these wines is preserved so I’ll have 5 bottles of each available for later comparison. | 10/10/2020 |
| Crushed & destemmed the grapes. Grapes at 52 F, have to warm up to 65 F before inoculation.
Added Scottzyme Color Pro for improved color extraction and 1 lb fermentation oak. |
10/10/2020 SG 1.100 to 1.102 |
| Temperature rose to 67 F in the afternoon. Added 12 tsp Fermax and yeast to each fermenter.
Average SG is 1.101 |
10/11/2020 SG 1.100 to 1.102 |
| Added 6 tsp Fermax to each fermenter. | 10/14/2020 SG 1.059 to 1.060 |
| Drained the free run wine from each batch, which is combined to create this blend.
Medium pressed the pomace, which is the Meritage Plus blend. |
10/20/2020 SG 0.998 |
| Racked, filled barrel with excess in smaller containers. | 11/20/2020 SG 0.996 |
| Racked smaller containers, prepping to rack barrel. Homogenized all smaller containers, including the the excess from the Merlot and Vinifera blend. This produced 2 gallons of topup wine. | 02/25/2021 SG 0.995 |
| Racked the barrel and mixed in the topup wine to homogenize the wine. Added 3/4 tsp K-meta. Racked back into the barrel + topup jugs. | 03/07/2021 SG 0.995 |
| Added 3/4 tsp K-meta. | 06/05/2021 SG 0.995 |
| Added 3/4 tsp K-meta. | 09/06/2021 SG 0.995 |
| Bottled the reserved gallon of unoaked wine, producing 5 bottles. | 09/26/2021 SG 0.995 |
| Added 3/4 tsp K-meta. | 12/10/2021 SG 0.995 |
| Racked the barrel. Added 1 tsp K-meta and 12 oz glycerin, and bottled. | 02/12/2022 SG 0.995 |
Notes
| Yield | 5 bottles unoaked wine 68 bottles of barrel aged wine |
| Alcohol | 14.4% |
| 02/12/2022 | At bottling time, the wine tastes very much like a Bordeaux, with prominent but not dominant oak. Eric and I are very pleased. |
| 03/20/2024 | This one is difficult to judge. The nose is weak I don’t get much from it.
The initial taste is fruity Merlot, but it’s quickly overshadowed by darker fruit flavors which fade into an oaky finish. The oak is noticeable in the middle of the tongue, not on the tip, sides, or the gums. It’s just a bit harsh, but not detracting. The wine needs another year in the bottle, possibly two. The color is possibly too dark. I put a knife into the wine and anything under the surface was hidden, completely invisible. I overdosed with Color Pro, and it stains the inside of the bottle. I have to soak the Meritage and Meritage Plus with Oxyclean to get the staining out. This is not a horrible thing, but it’s a lesson moving forward. |
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5 Responses
[…] Meritage — One barrel contains only free run wine, a blend of 2/3 Merlot and 1/3 Vinifera Blend. This wine is tracked in a separate log. […]
[…] Meritage — One barrel contains only free run wine, a blend of 2/3 Merlot and 1/3 Vinifera Blend. This wine is tracked in a separate log. […]
[…] During pressing I got a hare-brained idea and put free run wine (wine drained from the pomace without pressing) of both Merlot and the Vinifera Blend in the 54 liter demijohn, with the intention this goes in barrel #1. That wine is called Meritage. […]
[…] Meritage — Free run Merlot and Vinifera Blend went in the other barrel. […]
[…] Meritage — One barrel contains only free run wine, a blend of 2/3 Merlot and 1/3 Vinifera Blend. This wine is tracked in a separate log. […]