2024 Wines in Detail
Last updated 10/14/2024
I sort of changed my mind regarding the “In Detail” posts. This post details events of the 2024 winemaking season, but without intending to explain the details of any specific thing in winemaking. It just documents events as I see fit to post them, a flow of consciousness.
Will this interest anyone other than myself? I don’t know and I can’t say that I care. What it does is help ME remember events and dates, and gives me a place to post pictures.
Menu (Dates of Activity)
10/05/2024
10/06/2024
10/07/2024
10/08/2024
10/10/2024
10/13/2024
10/14/2024
Regular Notes
My normal notes for each batch are here:
10/05/2024
For us, the 2024 grape season officially started today. We are purchasing Chambourcin, Chelois, and Chardonnel.
My son & I left the house at 6AM, driving 230 miles to Glade Spring, VA. Our vehicle was loaded with 4 cases of empty bottles (saved for the vineyard owners), along with almost all the containers we own.
We arrived at Highland Meadow Vineyards just before 10 AM. Once there we crushed 300 lbs of Chambourcin, 300 lbs of Chelois, and 125 lbs of Chardonnel.
The Chardonnel was frozen a few weeks ago, and started defrosting Thursday.
This year the crusher is motorized, which is much easier than hand cranking, especially for 725 lbs of grapes. My back and shoulders are thankful for the change!
The Chelois look great!
The yellow jackets were not fun! The sugar attracts bees, and the more we crushed, the more the bees arrived. I got stung once on the leg. This wasn’t fun, but could have been worse.
We were planning to purchase 150 lbs of Vidal, but it wasn’t ripe yet. This actually worked out, as we didn’t have enough room. Fully loaded we had:
- three 8 gallon buckets of Chardonnel
- two 6 gallon buckets of red
- three 20 gallon Rubbermaid Brutes about half full of red
- one 32 gallon Brute about one-third full of red
The drive home was pleasant, if a bit long. Once there we unloaded the grapes and moved them into the cellar. The containers the grapes were in are for travel purposes. We needed them light enough for us to easily move them.
Once home we divided them up so the Chambourcin is in two 32 gallon Brutes, the Chelois was in the same, and the Chardonnel was in two 20 gallon Brutes.
I was supposed to make yeast starters, but was out of energy. That will happen in the morning.
10/06/2024
At 7AM I made 6 yeast starters, one for each container. The plan is to ferment each grape in 2 batches with different yeast strains. Post-fermentation each varietal will be blended into a single batch, so we’ll have 3 different batches at that time.
For the Chardonnel, we are using Lalvin QA 23 and Lalvin 71B.
For the Chambourcin, we are using Renaissance Avante and Bravo.
For the Chelois, we are using Renaissance Avante and Bravo.
I use this method for making starters, using 4 tsp yeast for each starter, as I anticipate about 9 gallons from each batch.
In addition to producing a larger initial colony, the starter proves the yeast is viable. Folks will sprinkle yeast on top of a must and wait up to 3 days for it to take off. My starters typically take 10 to 30 minutes for the yeast to start reproducing.
My preference is to use clean and sanitized bottles from which I have not soaked the labels off yet — I write on the label with a Sharpie to mark which is which.
In this case, the Bravo (bottle marked with a “B”) proved to be VERY viable!!!
At 6 PM I inoculated each batch.
10/07/2024
Following are details for each batch.
Chardonnel:
125 lbs Chardonnel
2 ml Cinn Free maceration enzyme, divided
Lalvin QA23 and Lalvin 71B yeast
2 lbs sugar, divided
6 tsp Fermax, divided
SG chaptalized to 1.090
Chambourcin:
300 lbs Chambourcin
12 ml ScottZyme Color Pro maceration enzyme, divided
Renaissance Avante and Renaissance Bravo yeast
6 lbs sugar, divided
12 tsp Fermax, divided
SG chaptalized to 1.094
Chelois:
300 lbs Chambourcin
12 ml ScottZyme Color Pro maceration enzyme, divided
Renaissance Avante and Renaissance Bravo yeast
5 lbs sugar, divided
12 tsp Fermax, divided
SG chaptalized to 1.097
Evening Update:
In the evening I planned the first punch down, and inoculated with the Lalvin 31 MLB at that time.
The problem? the packet is designed for 66 gallons of wine, but it’s a tiny amount of material. However, since it’s best to rehydrate first, I reserved a small amount for when the Vidal arrives, and dissolve the remainder in water, which I let set for 5 minutes. The package says to rehydrate for no more than 10 minutes.
Then I added 1 part to each Chardonnel batch, and 2 parts to each Chambourcin and Chelois batch.
As I prepared to do the punch down, I realized I had not yet added fermentation oak! Worse, I discovered I had less than a pound remaining!
So I added 1 cup to each Chambourcin and 2 cups to each Chelois. Then ordered more, which arrives Thursday. We are planning a 1 week EM (Extended Maceration) so the oak will have time to work.
10/08/2023
I checked SG today:
- Chardonnel — 1.048
- Chambourcin — 1.062
- Chelois — 1.042
Note that I am looking at relative SG, so I only check one container of each varietal. Since all are below 1/3 depletion of sugar, I added nutrient:
- Chardonnel — 1 tsp YAN per batch
- Chambourcin — 2 tsp YAN, 1 tsp Fermax per batch
- Chelois — 2 tsp YAN, 1 tsp Fermax per batch
Last year I ordered Fermax online and vendor sent YAN. I complained, they refunded my money and told me to keep the product. So I’m using it up as 20% to 30% of the nutrient for each batch. Waste not, want not!
The wine in the test jar is Chambourcin — it’s got a very dark color, like last year.
The Chardonnel is looking good!
I took before and after photos of a Chelois bucket before punching down. This illustrates why I never fill a primary more than 3/4 full of grapes. The difference in height after punch down is significant.
This also shows my racking jig in action. In the left photo (above) the jig is in the lower right corner with a FermTech wine thief inside it.
The next photo shows the jig with the mesh bag. I purchased the narrowest bag I could find that was tall enough. The larger the bag, the more there is to clean after use!
10/10/2024
New oak chips arrived late last night.
Added 6 more cups to Chambourcin and 4 more cups to Chelois, upping the total to 4 cups per fermenter.
10/13/2024
We pressed the Chardonnel today.
To avoid unnecessary labor, we first rack or pump the free run wine from the fermenters. We press on the concrete in front of the garage, and racking the wine from the fermenter saves carrying the wine up a flight of steps and through the house, then reversing the trip later.
We carry only the unpressed pomace.
Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off immediately!
Since we used different yeast strains (Lalvin QA23 and Lalvin 71B) for the two batches, we racked each into a separate carboy. The wines will eventually be blended, but at this moment we kept them separate.
The amount of free run wine is a bit of a surprise — roughly 4 gallons from each fermenter.
We checked SG and both are at 0.994. I was expecting this value, plus or minus a point. This is a heartier white, and it’s fermented on the skins, so I expected a slightly higher SG than lighter whites.
I hadn’t checked SG in several days as it didn’t matter. We planned to press today and I was certain the fermentation was complete.
A taste test of the raw wine showed that they taste very different. The 71B eats malic acid, and that one is definitely less acidic. The QA23 has a strong grapefruit taste.
We reserved 1.5 liters of each wine to use as a control. In a few weeks we’ll rack these bottles and will eventually bottle one 750 ml bottle of each.
The current plan is to bottle at about 6 months, and roughly 3 months after bottling the main batch we will contrast the 3 wines to see how they compare.
Pressing only 125 lbs of grapes went quickly.
We added rice hulls to help with extraction. Sprinkling rice hulls in layers in the must as we add it to the press makes conduits where wine can escape. I’ve noticed a significant increase in the amount of wine extracted when using rice hulls.
My hope was to get about 2.5 gallons more wine from the pomace, so that after volume loss due to sediment, we’ll net two 19 liter carboys of wine.
This was a real surprise, as we grossed about 3.5 gallons from the pomace.
We racked enough wine from the pressings to fill both carboys, then have nearly a full 4 liter jug in addition.
We’ll definitely get 2 full carboys, the two reserved bottles, plus probably one more.
It’s interesting how small the “cake” looks after pressing, with all the liquid removed.
10/14/2024
The Chardonnel started clearing immediately, which is expected since fermentation is complete. For a white wine, an SG of 0.994 is probably final.
It’s interesting to watch, as wine clears from the top down. The 4 liter jug looks about half clear, which is misleading. The gross lees (fruit solids) drops first, then fine lees (yeast hulls) will continue to drop for several months.
At this time I’m expecting to rack off the sediment in 2 or 3 weeks. An important goal is to limit the number of rackings.
Each racking exposes the wine to air.
Each racking causes a loss of volume of good wine.
I typically do a “dirty” racking the first time, as the sediment dropped once so it will drop again. The point is to remove the gross lees without sacrificing too much good wine.
The next photo shows the gross lees that has dropped so far. I’m happy if this is a thin layer, as it means less volume loss to sediment.
My current expectation is to net about 11 gallons of wine.
Very cool stuff and love the pictures. I’m able to get my mind wrapped around the scope and volume of wine being made. I’m impressed with your starting SG not being over 1.100.
Outstanding documentation of the process. I look forward to continuing updates.