2023 Chambourcin
October 2023
This morning I drove to a friend’s vineyard in Glade Springs VA, a 4 hour drive. She and her husband picked Chambourcin and Vidal yesterday, and we crushed 120+ pounds each of Chambourcin and Vidal for me, plus the remainder for them along with Chelois. We were done in about 1-1/2 hours.
Then I drove 4 hours home … my butt was whooped. But I had to carry the buckets downstairs, organize the batches, and make yeast starters.
Now I’m enjoying a glass of the 2022 Merlot/Tempranillo.
This wine is yet another experiment — I’m dividing the batch in half, using two totally different yeast strains on each. Post-fermentation I will blend the wines, but am keeping a sample of each for later comparison.
Ingredients
| Fruit | 128 lbs Chambourcin, divided into 2 batches |
| Maceration Enzyme | 1-1/2 tsp ScottZyme Color Pro enzyme, divided |
| Yeast | 2 tsp Renaissance Avante 2 tsp Renaissance Bravo |
| Starter | 1/2 tsp Fermax + 3 Tbsp sugar for each yeast |
| K-meta | as required |
| Nutrient | 5 tsp Fermax (divided) per batch |
| Fermentation Oak | 2 cups American oak chips per batch |
| Aging Oak | 1-1/2 oz medium toast Hungarian cubes |
| Glycerin | 15 oz |
Method
| Crushed the grapes and divided into two containers. Each container received 3/4 tsp Color Pro.
Made starters with 1 cup 92 F water, 2 tsp yeast, 1/2 tsp Fermax, and 3 Tbsp sugar. Didn’t bother checking brix or pH — that will be done tomorrow. |
10/07/2023 SG — |
| Checked pH — Batch #1 3.40, #2 3.24. No changes at this time.
Initial pH of both batches was 1.084; added 2 cups sugar to each batch. Added 3 tsp Fermax and 2 cups American oak chips to each batch. Inoculated Batch #1 with Avante, Batch #2 with Bravo. |
10/08/2023 #1 SG 1.090 #2 SG 1.090 |
| Punched down 4 times each yesterday — color is amazing.
SG didn’t drop as much as expected, so at the first punch down added 2 tsp Fermax to each instead of 1, as there may be more wine in each batch than I anticipated. |
10/10/2023 #1 SG 1.072 #2 SG 1.070 |
| We pressed tonight, using rice hulls. Grossed about 11 gallons. The wine is segregated into Avante, Bravo, and mixed. The plan is to let the wines settle for a week, then rack. I will reserve 2 gallons of Avante and 2 gallons of Bravo, and blend the remainder. After the wine rests another month I’ll rack again to net 1 US gallon each of Avante and Bravo, for later comparison. | 10/13/2023 SG 0.997 |
| Racked the Avante and Bravo carboys, reserving 4 liters of each, and blending the remainder. Racked the third carboy (pressings from Avante and Bravo), adding to blend.
Added 1/4 tsp K-meta to each carboy during racking. |
10/26/2023 SG 0.997 |
| Added 1-1/2 oz oak cubes to the carboy.
Racked all smaller containers, reserving 1.5 liters each of Avante and Bravo; all else blended and in 4 liter jugs. |
02/01/2024 SG 0.997 |
| Racked the 12 liter carboy into 4 liter jugs, which went into the fridge for cold stabilization. | 02/06/2024 SG 0.997 |
| Racked the 4 liter jugs back into a 12 liter carboy. Very little acid dropped. | 02/27/2024 SG 0.997 |
| Bottled 1 bottle each of the reserved Avante and Bravo wines.
Racked the 12 and 23 liter carboys into a 20 gallon Brute. Added 1 gallon 2023 Merlot. Added 15 oz glycerin and 1/2 tsp K-meta. Bottled. |
10/22/2024 SG 0.997 |
Notes
| Yield | 56.5 bottles |
| Alcohol | 12.2% ABV |
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