2020 Merlot 2
October 2020 – I’m making a Merlot-heavy Bordeaux style blend this year. As part of that I’m fermenting 2 batches of Merlot, one with American oak as a fermentation oak, and one with French oak. They will probably get blended together, but this is an experiment to see if it’s worth paying a bit more for shredded French oak.
This one has French oak.
Ingredients
| Grape | 144# Merlot from Lanza Vineyards, Suisun Valley, CA |
| Enzyme | 2 tsp Scottzyme Color Pro |
| Fermentation Oak | 1 lb shredded French oak, medium toast |
| Yeast | 2 packages Red Star Premier Rouge |
| Nutrient | 12 tsp Fermax + 6 tsp Fermax |
| Acid | |
| Sulfite | potassium metabisulfite added at various points (see below) |
| Fining Agent | |
| Aging Oak | |
Method
| 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 1.102 |
| Temperature rose to 67 F in the afternoon. Added 12 tsp Fermax and yeast. | 10/11/2020 SG 1.102 |
| Added 6 tsp Fermax. | 10/14/2020 SG 1.059 |
| Drained the free run wine and reserved it. Medium pressed the pomace.
5 gallons of free run is part of the 2020 Meritage blend. 1 gallon each of the free run and pressed wines will continue to be tracked in this log. The intention is to bottle 1 gallon of varietal wine. All remaining wine is part of the 2020 Meritage Plus blend. |
10/20/2020 SG 0.998 |
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Notes:
| Yield | ? bottles |
| Alcohol | ?% |
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