2006 Sour Cherry, aka "The Shy Bride"

Came home tonight to a dinner of Thanksgiving leftovers--turkey, roasted potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. While that was warming up, I went down into the cellar for a bottle and decided to pull out one of my library wines. I settled on my dry 2006 Sour Cherry because it's been over a year since I've tried a bottle and I only had 2 left!

2006 Sour Cherry, aka "The Shy Bride"

Specs: 11% ABV, 100% montmorency cherries from Friske Orchard, MI
Appearance: Clear, light orange-pink
Aroma: Light and fruity with a citrus & lightly floral finish. Light cherry aroma (gee, what a surprise!).
Taste: Smooth, light cherry fruit foretaste. There's those cherries again! Light body and a bright, mildly acidic finish that lingers on the tongue.

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this wine, which was officially the 7th wine I made (third whole fruit wine from scratch). Was the first wine where I attempted to control the fermentation temperature by moving to the basement where the ambient temperature was ~60 °F. Don't know how much that actually helped. I fermented on the fruit skins for 4 days and then pressed and completed fermentation in a glass carboy. Ended up with what I would call a cherry rose.

The "Shy Bride" nom de plume was a joke. I had overshot the acid level a bit due to a low-titrant NaOH standard and the wine ended up a bit acidic when I bottle it (TA = 0.8%). At the time it had quite a bite to it, so I had an inspiration for a cute label and dashed off the following:

Like a shy bride, this light blush starts

with gentle hints of cherry in the nose,

but ends with a tart finish on the tongue.
Served Chilled

I could make all kinds of ironic remarks about how prophetic, appropriate, and applicable that passage has proven to be in my former marriage, but I will hold my tongue... On the other hand, the wine has mellowed quite a bit. That original tart flavor has died to a nice, bright finish that is quite nice on this rose-style wine. Just a reminder that when all else fails, just let the wine sit.

This wine also formed the basis for a Cherry Cordial by blending with amaretto. I'm going to keep the exact blend ratio and other details of the Cordial secret as it was a big hit and frankly I've never seen a similar offering elsewhere. I don't believe that any of those bottles are still in existence as the folks that I gave some to as gifts have sucked 'em down!

Cheers,
a MA Winemaker

Another Summer Santa Treat!

Well, folks, it has been awhile since my last post. Been dealing with some personal upheaval in my life that occurred this summer that drained a lot of energy and time. Now that part of my life is over and closed, time to get back to some drinkin' and bloggin'! Don't worry, faithful readers, I've been saving tasting notes and stories in a big stack that I will slowly recapitulate over the next few weeks.

Starting where I left off in June, I wanted to relate some information on another bottle of wine I received during the Winepress.us Summer Santa Swap. This little gem came from Mr. Hart of Hart's Wine Cellars in western NY. Mr. Hart is an extremely knowledgeable (and quite skilled) winemaker who specializes in making wine from hybrid and vinifera grapes grown in western NY. I feel privileged to be the recipient of two of his wines and wanted to share my tasting report on his 2006 Dry White.

Hart's Wine Cellars 2006 Dry White

Specs: 40% vidal, 35% vignoles, 25% cayuga

Appearance: Clear, light straw yellow, good legs!

Aroma: Light and fruity with a bright acidic finish. Citrus and floral aromas dominate with the aromas of vignoles shining through.

Taste: Smooth, light fruit foretaste. Good mid-pallette body (there's the vidal standing up) and a slightly buttery finish.

All in all a very nice wine from a talented wine maker. The blend of grapes was very nice and balanced and produced a wine that was perfect for summer sipping.

Santa Claus came early this year from Paradoxx Winery

I'm fortunate to be a member of the on-line home winemaking forum Winepress.US. Last December, a great tradition of Secret Santa wine swapping was started. I wasn't able to participate because I was in the midst of moving and unpacking, but I jumped at the chance when the suggestion was made to repeat the swap in July as an Early Secret Santa. All participants are put through a highly specialized and technical system to match swapping partners (OK, we draw names out of a hat!), and then we send 1-2 wines to each of our partners.

I recently received a package from KC from Texas, proprietor of Paradoxx Winery, and decided to try a bottle of Russo Fortissimo (Bin #807) tonight. Folks, this is a very good wine. Deep and dark in color, the nose begins with dark cherry and vanilla and ends with a hint of oak and leather. A well integrated taste profile of fruit and mild tannins. A very good drinking wine. I wish I had a big old italian sausage pizza to go with it! Great, now my mouth is watering...

Thank you for sharing, KC!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Chilean Syrah

I've alluded to also getting Chilean Syrah grapes this spring, but have been too busy to actually describe the fermentation! Will have to recap in 1 post.

Grapes were picked-up from M&M Produce on May 31 and crushed within 3 hours of pick-up while still cool. I was a little disappointed that these grapes actually had moldy clusters in just about crate. Not as bad as I've seen before, and I probably shouldn't complain too much given that they were picked on April 16 and have traveled about 3000 miles!

Sugar levels were pretty good (Brix = 23.8), but acid levels were a tad low (pH = 3.67 and TA = 4.8 mg/mL). I'm going to wait to adjust until after fermentation is over.

I innoculated with RC-212 yeast about 6 hours after crush and fermentation had started by the next morning. The syrah fermented slower than the malbec and had only fallen to Brix = 1.1 by Friday, June 6. My darling wife had a triathalon race in New Hampshire that weekend and I was strongly urged to attend to maintain marital harmony. I took Friday morning off from work and pressed must and let the fermentation continue in carboys under an airlock. This should give a smoother, more fruity wine that will be ready to drink earlier. I got 3 6-gal and 1 3-gal carboys and a 1-gal jug full of wine. By Sunday afternoon, when we returned, it still wasn't done (Brix = -1.3). I didn't have time to rack on Monday night, so I finally was able to rack off the gross lees on Tuesday, 6/10. I ended up with 4 5-gal carboys, and 3/4-gal amongt some smaller jugs. I innoculated with Lalvin VP-41 ML bacteria and MLF has noisely commenced within 24 hrs. I'm a little concerned because I think I detect a bit of H2S aroma. Can't do much about it at this point. I'm off the gross lees and MLF is in progress. Hopefully, that will blow off most of the H2S and I can splash rack to my heart's content to get rid of any residual.

The past couple of days have been HOT in Boston! I've discovered that my garage is wonderfully insulated and only reached >80 °F after 2 days of 90+ °F temperatures. After racking of the gross lees, I brought both the syrah and the malbec inside (76 °F A/C!) and have them lined up in the spare bathroom. I'll have to post a picture because it's rather hilarious to see a bathroom FULL of wine!.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Chilean Malbec In Carboy and MLF!

I did end up pressing the malbec on Sunday, 6/1. One of the Brutes had fermented dry by Friday night, so I covered with Saran Wrap and got an extra day of extended maceration while I was waiting for free time. Very easy pressing once I got going. Having sat unused for 18 months and moved from Michigan to Massachusetts, my press required a bit of scrubbing to get the cobwebs off. I ended up filling 3 6-gal and 1 5-gal carboys, as well as a 750-ml and 375-ml bottles, which sat for 24 hrs to settle the gross lees. I then racked off the gross lees into 3 6-gal carboys, 2 1-gal jugs, a 1/2-gal jug, and a 375-mL bottle. I hydrated a packet of Enoferm-beta malo-lactic bacteria and dispensed amongst the 'boys to initiate malo-lactic fermentation. And that's pretty much were things sit. The ML fermentation is going strongly, although my chromatography test still shows significant malic acid present after 1 week.

Why the ML fermentation, you ask? Well, this is commonly done on red wines to help soften the acid profile and give a little more roundness. Lactic acid has a low pKa than malic acid, so it reduces the acidic taste. Lactic acid is perhaps most famous for giving that round, buttery taste to California chardonnay, but it does the same thing in red wines. If you don't purposefully initiate MLF, you run the risk of having it start on its own by naturally occurring ML bacteria after you've bottled it. That can lead to exploding bottles due to the CO2 released, and the native ML bacterial strain may give off-flavors that you don't like.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Prior Chilean Malbec 2008 posts:
Chilean Malbec Grape Crush
Malbec Fermentation Has Commenced!
Malbec Mid-fermentation Update

Malbec Mid-Fermentation Update

Seems like just a few days ago that I had added the yeast culture starter to the malbec fermenters and was anxiously awaiting the first signs of fermentation--oh, wait a moment, it was! The yeast took about 18 hrs to get going, and they haven't looked back since! Each fermenter has warmed up to about 76 °F just from the fermentation activity. The rise in temperature is good for color extraction and setting. I honestly was hoping for a little higher temperature, but that's the best I could do without external heating. After only 3 days of fermentation, the Brix sugar levels have dropped by more than half. I'm hoping to pick up my syrah grape order this weekend, but I think I will also be pressing the malbec wine off the skins on Saturday or Sunday if this fermentation rate keeps up. So far, I'm very pleased with the result. Very, very dark color--looks like ink when I'm punching down the cap. And no sign of H2S formation thus far.

Salute,
a Wine Student.

Prior Chilean Malbec 2008 posts:
Chilean Malbec Grape Crush
Malbec Fermentation Has Commenced!

Malbec Fermentation has commenced!

Just a quick note--malbec fermentation has commenced in good form! Woke up this morning to find a very thick cap of grape skins that had been pushed up by the CO2 gas produced during the yeast fermentation. Gave each fermenter a good punch down and checked for sugar levels (Brix = 21-21.8) and temperature (66.7-68 °F). Juice looks incredibly dark!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Prior Chilean Malbec 2008 posts:
Chilean Malbec Grape Crush

Chilean Malbec is here!

Memorial Day weekend has turned out to be far more exciting that I would have thought! My Chilean grape order from M&M Produce finally arrived--or at least the malbec part of it! Silly me wanted to make a syrah (because I love a big, rich syrah). However, due to weather conditions in the Curico Valley this year, the syrah harvest was delayed past the 2nd week in May ETA. The very nice folks at M&M try to combine a person's order into one shipment so you wouldn't have to make multiple trips. Last week, I got the notification that the malbec grapes would be here on Tuesday, May 20, but the syrah was still delayed until May 27. I decided to screw the gas prices and go get the malbec and at least get that fermentation going.

I took Friday, May 23 off from work and drove down the Hartford, CT and finally located M&M Produce. Having never been there, I didn't know what to expect, so I was a little surprised to find that M&M is located in the Regional Produce Market alongside several other produce wholesalers (wonder if they'd help me obtain some Montmorency cherries?). Very nice folks--they quickly loaded me up with 270 lbs of malbec grapes and sent me on my way. The trip back was uneventful besides some brief rain showers a few miles from home that made me glad I had bundled my 15 cases of grapes under a tarp.

I had brought everything I needed up into the garage the night before so all I had to do was to give Vinia (my crusher/destemmer) a good cleaning and sanitize my other equipment before I started crushing grapes. The grapes were actually picked on April 2, but they looked to be in pristine condition with very few leaves. Tasted like plum jam, with greenish-brown seeds. They had been packed with a pad of sodium metabisulfite packets on top of the grapes. You can see my crusher/destemmer setup in the picture. The grapes fall into the Tupperware bins underneath, while the stems fall out into the bin at the rear. I quickly found that lifting a bin of 36 lbs of crushed grape must was about all I could handle without making a mess as I poured into my Brute trashcans that I use as fermenters. I also found that I couldn't simply lift the crate and dump in the grapes because the tissue paper that they were wrapped in would fall into the auger in the receiving bin and go through the crusher! I ended up scooping up handfuls of grapes and tossing them in. One other discovery--I had to elevate the must receiving bins to right underneath the crusher. Otherwise, the must would get sprayed all over place!

Took me about 2.5 hours to get everything crushed. I ended up splitting the must between two Brute fermenters (8 cases in one, 7 cases in the other) to allow for expansion of the must during fermentation. Sugar levels of the must was decent (Brix = 22- 22.5, PA = 12-12.5%). I treated each fermenter with Lallzyme EX, Opti-Red, and pectic enzyme to aid in color & juice extraction. I opted not to add sulfites to suppress wild yeast growth at this point and instead added 4 gallon jugs of ice to do a 12 hr cold-soak. The biggest pain of the whole operation was the clean-up!

The next morning on Saturday I removed the ice jugs and did my pH and acid tests. The pH was a little high (3.56) and total acid was a little low (4.5 mg/mL) so I added tartaric acid to raise the pH = 3.30-3.49 and TA = 5.9-6.6 mg/mL (the range is for the two Brutes and will be averaged out when everything is blended together). I made some yeast starters with RC-212 yeast and added to the Brutes after a couple hours of vigorous starter growth.

Sunday update--beginning to see some signs of yeast activity. The must was a little cool when I added the yeast and the garage didn't get much over 60 °F on Saturday. It's much warmer out today and I left the garage door open to get things warmed up a bit.

Looking good so far...
a Wine Student

Hidden Lake Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2006

It accorded to me earlier this week that I haven't spent a lot of time describing the results of my previous winemaking trials in this blog. Allow me to correct that deficiency with a review of one of my favorite white wines that I made in 2006 during my Hidden Lake Cellars days.

Hidden Lake Cellars Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Country of origin: USA
Region: California
Appellation: Central Valley
Stats: 11.5% ABV, dry (RS = 500 ppm), pH = 3.56, TA = 0.85%, 75 ppm malic acid

Appearance: Light clear yellow
Aroma: Pineapple, pears, honeysuckle (I can recognize that aroma having grown up with a honeysuckle vine outside my window), and a hint of green asparagus.
Taste: This wine starts with a smooth fruity & floral burst with good body and a lightly buttery, tart finish.

This wine was made from CA Central Valley grape juice that I purchased from Home Winemaking in Dundee, MI. The juice was fermented with Cotes de Blanc (Epernay 2) yeast over 13 days. After clearing for 3 months, I had to add some chitosan to help clarify the wine. I did not add anything to expressly prevent malolactic fermentation from happening after bottling other potassium metabisulfite. A year later, I think the wine is beginning to undergo spontaneous ML fermentation in the bottle, resulting in a slight effervescence and light buttery taste. Fortunately, I only have 5 bottles left. If my faithful readers have a bottle on hand, I'd suggest drinking within the next 3-6 months. Spring is a perfect time to enjoy this wine!

Salute!
a Wine Student

p.s. I took this wine to a Christmas Party that we were invited to shortly after moving into our new house in Westford, MA. Big hit!! And my wife likes it, so I think this was a winner!

Pressure, Pressure.. oh, the relief!

Spring has sprung in eastern Massachusetts over the past few weeks. The birds are singing and gettin' busy--last week I backed out of the garage in the morning to find two pairs of wild turkeys in my yard with the males in full courtship display. The snow is gone, and it's been shorts weather a couple of days. What I've found interesting is how the weather has affected my cranberry-niagra grape wine. A couple of posts ago, I mentioned how stubborn this wine has been in clearing. In contrast to the cranberry-banana that was started and fermented at the same time, the cran-niagra has very, very, very slowly clearing. A couple of weeks after the first racking in February, there was a definite strata in the wine with the bottom 2/3 cloudy while the top 1/3 began to clear. And this strata stayed there through the month of March and first week of April. But rather interestingly, the high pressure system that moved into New England and stayed over the past 2 weeks with 60-70° temperatures suddenly caused the wine to drop all of its sediment. The carboy is clear from top to bottom with a good layer of lees on the bottom. It's still not as translucent as the cranberry-banana, but I would call it clear.

I believe this atmospheric pressure-initiated clearing may be a result of degassing as the wine has risen in temperature about 10 °F. My basement has gone from about 45 °F this winter to about 55 °F this month. Cold wine dissolves more residual CO2 from the fermentation. The warmer temperatures brought by the high pressure system may have let the wine warm up to get enough CO2 to degas and let the small protein particles fall out of the suspension. The warmer temperatures have also caused the wine to expand as it warms, as I've had to suck a little out of each carboy to keep it from expanding into the airlock.

Not only is wine all about the chemistry, but it's also all about the physics! If only I had been told that in high school physics!

Salute,
a Wine Student

A Blending Experiment

Had some free time on Sunday afternoon, so I decided to get drunk. Oops, I mean I decided to take a stab at blending some of my 2006 red wines!

I've been thinking about this for some time because I'm just not all that happy with the zinfandel that I made from grapes shipped from the Central Valley in California. I bought them from a winemaking store in southeast Michigan that was sourcing grapes for the first time. I don't think they had a very good grape source because the grapes just didn't taste all that good when I picked them up. Hard to explain, but they just weren't very flavorful and had a rather chalky aftertaste. That lack of flavor and chalky taste persisted through the fermentation and aging. I also didn't get a lot of color and tannin extraction, so I ended up with a pretty light colored and bland, chalky wine. I may be overstated things, but the wine is not something I look forward to drinking or giving away, which is not good because I've got 4 cases of the stuff!

I've also been tasting some of the red wines that I made from grapes purchased in the Finger Lakes of New York and have been much more impressed with the flavors, colors, and tannin profiles. After some mulling, I decided to see what I could achieve by blending the CA zinfandel with some NY cabernet franc and noiret wines. Of course, blending requires multiple bench tests of different blend ratios to determine the optimal ratios, so I was in for an afternoon of drinking! I will admit that I had to take a break for a couple of hours to sober up and continue. I have not mastered the art of sipping and spitting!

I started with blending the zinfandel with noiret because the noiret came out with strong cherry and pepper flavors/aromas, heavy tannins, and just black as night, and I thought it would add a lot that the zin was missing. I was very pleased to see that I was correct. Adding the noiret really perked up the zin! I started with a 90/10 zinfanel/noiret ratio and worked my way up to a 50/50 blend. After tasting through the panel several times, both my wife and I agreed that we liked the 50/50 and 60/40 zin/noiret blends the best.

I was pleased with the zin/noiret blend, but wanted to try a tertiary blend by adding some NY cabernet franc as it has a lot of the same cherry & pepper flavors as the noiret, but also some interesting creamy vanilla notes that I thought might help round the aroma and taste. I didn't do a complete investigation because I was getting a little loopy by now and simply couldn't last through a 3-dimensional blending test. I decided to take the 60/40 zin/noiret blend and see what would happen if I added a little cab franc in increments for 60/40/10 to 60/40/50. Interestingly, the vanilla came through even at the 60/40/10 ratio, but was soon overpowered by some emerging tartness. In the end, I felt that a 60/40/25 zin/noiret/cab franc blend was the absolute best of the evening. And guess what--my wife agreed!

My plan for the coming weekend is to pop open some bottles and make 3 gal of this 60/40/25 zinfandel/noiret/cabernet franc blend. Going to have to brush up on my fraction math so I get the right amount of the different varietals into the carboy! It will be interesting to see how the wine chemistry works after blending. I'm anticipating that I might see some additional sedimentation after everything is mixed and the wine pH stabilizes. I may even decided to do some additional oaking on the blend--we'll see.

It took quite a bit of additional wine to make this zinfandel more palatable, since I'm diluting it at almost a 1:1 ratio with the other wines. However, I'm pretty pleased with the result. I'm going to give it about a month or two to meld together before rebottling and reporting on the results. Stay tuned!

Salute,
a Wine Student

p.s. Someone once told me that all blends were crap wine. In some respects, I am trying to pass a substandard wine off as something drinkable. On the other hand, I'm doing what I need to do to produce a wine that I'll drink!

p.s. #2 Just to be clear, I strongly disagree with the notion that only single varietal wines are "good". Look at the Bourdeaux blends! Winemakers have been blending wines for years to make an improved product.

Silcone--Better Wine through Chemistry!

I've been intrigued with breathable silicone bungs for quite some time. They (upper picture) are supposed to allow dissolved CO2 and other gases slowly escape from the wine, while not allowing air (and dreaded O2) back in. Now, the water-filled airlocks (lower picture) do the same thing, although if there is a change in the barometric pressure when a storm comes through or winter slowly turns to spring, the wine can shrink in volume and suck water back into the wine risking bacterial contamination. Plus, you do have to keep an eye on the water level in the airlock to make sure that it doesn't evaporate below the entrance and let O2 into the carboy.

I've heard good things from folks who have used the breathable silicone bungs, so I've been wanting to purchase some. Only problem has been that every time I got serious about placing an order, Valley Vintner was out of stock and back-ordered. My luck changed a few weeks ago and they were in stock when I needed to purchase supplies for the upcoming Chilian grape season. So I bought some!

I decided to give one a try last weekend when I racked the 2008 blueberry off the lees layer. Instead of an airlock, I rammed in a fancy new breathable silicon bung into the carboy. So far, so good. A warm front came through last night and the the pressure differential in the carboy and the atmosphere pushed the bung slightly out. Not enough to break the seal fortunately, so I pushed it back in and adjusted the moveable flap to allow less pressure to move it.

This is something that's going to take a long time to evaluate whether I want to completely switch from the airlocks to the breathable silicon bung. In the meantime, I certainly do enjoy some new toys and feel like I'm living up to my chemistry background by utilizing products that could only be produced by a chemist. OK, I suppose a chemical engineer could come up with this as well, but it would have been a stretch!

Apologies to all you chemical engineers that just so happen to read this blog....

Salute,
a Wine Student.

p.s. You know, the pictures looked just fine on the camera, but man are they dark! I'll have to take new brighter pictures and replace these.

Blueberry 2008 in the carboy

Well, the blueberry fermentation is finally complete. Seems like it took forever to ferment to dryness (it has actually been 34 days). I'm actually not entirely sure if it had completely stopped fermenting. I could see a very slow, but steady evolution of tiny bubbles that led to a bubble in the airlock about every 2-3 minutes. However, the brix level had remained steady over 3 days at Brix = -1.5. I double check with a hydrometer and found that the SG = 0.995, which is considered dry. So I decided to rack last Thursday (3/18/08) and treat with an extra heavy dose of sulfites. Given how long the fermentation took, I'm wondering if I should increase my yeast nutrient dose? I've never had fermentations last this long...

After racking, I filled a 3 gal carboy and a 1.5L bottle (picture to the right). What a lovely, deep, deep, dark purple color! The taste is actually pretty good, as well. Still rather sharp from the dissolved CO2, but some nice dark fruit flavors and good mouthfeel. I think I'm going to need to add some more tartaric acid after it clears, but we'll wait and see.

Let the clearing begin!

Salute,
A Wine Student

Blueberry 2008 prior posts:
Initial Mix
Yeast Addition and Oxi-Clean
Pressing Blues

Cranberry Clearing

It's been a little over a month since I last racked the cranberry wines off the gross lees. On Saturday, I went down to the wine cellar for another reason, but was struck by the different rates at which my Cranberry-Niagra and Cranberry-Banana wines are clearing. During the last racking in February, the Cranberry-Banana had won the prize for the most sediment, so I wasn't overly surprised to see how much clearer it was. However, that wine is almost crystal clear. The picture on the right shows how clear it is (carboy on the right). The Cranberry-Niagra (on the left in the picture) had dropped a lot of sediment in the past month, but still has a long way to go.

I was expecting this difference, as banana wines are known for their fast clearing rates. However I've never seen this in person until these wines.

Salute,
a Wine Student

Prior Cranberry 2008 posts:
Starting the Body Experiment
Fermentation Almost Done
Racked the Cranberry-Grape
Racked the Cranberry-Banana
Racking off the Gross Lees

Introducing the Macchine Enologiche!

I recently received a bonus at work, so I decided to spend it on myself and bought a new crusher/destemmer (I'm doing my economy stimulus part)! I'm proud to introduce my latest baby--the Macchine Enologiche! This recent arrival to these shores sports 100% Italian craftsmanship, stainless steel hopper and working parts, and an electric motor to make short shift of those pesky grapes. No grape can stand up to its awesome crushing power--bwahahaha!

Sorry, I think I was channeling Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor there for a moment!

During the 2006 grape season, I used an antique crusher for my cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel grapes. I had bought it from the same folks that sold me a grape press. They used to run a winemaking store in Colorado and both the crusher and press were the store's equipment. Lots of good karma there. Unfortunately, the crusher did not have a destemmer, so I literally spent 4 hours bent over a bin full of 100 lbs of grape must, hand sifting out as many stems as I could. My back simply can't take that again. During the trip to New York to pick up some grapes, I made use of the vineyard's crusher/destemmer. These lovely devices crush the grapes and then sift out the stems before dropping the grape mush into your collection bin. What took me 4 hrs of back-numbing work before was done in 15 minutes, and the only sweat I worked up was in moving the collection bins into the back of my truck. Ever since then, I've been lusting after one of these beauties. With the upcoming Chilean season, and my recent bonus, I took the plunge! Now that it is in my basement, my first thought was "Wow, that's big!" Oh well, it will certainly make my life easier this spring and fall, and many subsequent years. It will keep my wife from getting bored while we hand destemmed. And it is large enough for a small winery, so let's call it an investment in the possible future!

Say hello to my new baby--the gleaming Macchine Enologiche! She needs a better name--something feminine in Italian. Perhaps Vinia (Latin for wine)? Other suggestions?

Salute,
a Wine Student

Blueberry 2008--A Pressing Issue

The past few weeks have been very busy--computer troubles, a sick guinea pig (now there's an interesting story), and the usual work load, so I've been thankful that the blueberry wine that I started on Feb 12 has been quietly bubbling away in the kitchen corner. However, all good fermentations must come to an end, and indeed, the yeast activity on this batch began to significantly drop in the past few days. On Thursday night, it had reached Brix = 2.6 so I decided to press and transfer to a carboy.

Now some people use a small press for their fruit wines. Not me, I use a hands-on approach. I line a plastic bucket with a nylon mesh bag, pour the must into the bag/bucket, and then lift up the bag to let the wine drain out. Yes, it's a little labor and time intensive, but it's cheap (no wonder I fit into New England well), and easy to clean up. Plus, I get to get my hands dirty!

Disclaimer--I am not and never was a member of any "Athletic Department". Although lifting a 4 gal bag of fermenting mush isn't trivial! And I do seem to have the hairy chest to match!

For those who recall the mess I made when I added the yeast (see post), I am sitting on a layer of plastic. Note the stain free wall and cabinets behind me (Thank you, Oxiclean)! Now, don't freak out--there is no fire hazard in this process, that's just where I keep the extinguisher because I haven't yet hung it on the wall. Trust me, I'm not that dangerous in the kitchen!

After pressing, I poured the liquid into a carboy and topped with an airlock to let the fermentation finish. I'm not worried about the airspace in the carboy at this point because the must is still giving off CO2 that will displace the air in the carboy. I've moved the carboy to the warmest place in the house (the guest bathroom) to finish fermentation, and it is dutifully slowly bubbling away. Will probably be done within a week. At that point, I'll rack into a smaller carboy and top off to protect it from oxidation.

I'm quite pleased with the color extraction that I achieved. Adding the Lallzyme EX during the cold soak really gave a boost of color. Of course, a lot of that color will drop out as the wine clears, but we're starting at a very inky reddish-purple, so the final result should still be very dark.

So far, so good!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Blueberry 2008 prior posts:
Initial Mix
Yeast Addition and Oxi-Clean

Cranberry 2008 #4--First Racking

Oh dear, look at the date. It's been awhile since I've updated you with my efforts. Had a little minor computer hard drive problem--it crashed. A lesson learned about storing your life on a computer, it costs a lot of money to get it back after a hard drive crash! Could of bought a new computer by the time it was over. Oh well, I can at least take comfort in the fact that by fixing the old one, I'm reducing my carbon footprint. Although given that I'm sick of snow, a little global warming sounds like a good idea at the moment!

Anyway, back to the wine...

About 3 weeks after completion of fermentation, both batches had dropped a pretty good layer of lees (these are the solids--yeast cells, fruit solids, seeds, etc--that drop out of the wine as it clears). The cranberry-banana had dropped significantly more and was much clearer than the cranberry-grape. I decided to rack off the lees to avoid any possible off-tastes from autolysis of the dead yeast cells. Each carboy was racked into a new sanitized carboy with 1/8 tsp of k meta and I used the extra bottles of cranberry-banana to top off the carboys.

Some observations:
1) the Cranberry-banana is much clearer (and tastes more like pure cranberry). It is just slightly translucent at this point.
2) Neither wine gave off much CO2 when I tried to degas.
3) The cranberry-grape is very pleasant tasting with a distinctive grape aftertaste. Perhaps a better balance of the cranberry tartness and the grapey flavor--time will tell!
4) Interestingly, within a week of racking, the cranberry-grape had dropped another good layer of lees. The picture below highlights this new lees layer and the difference in clearing rates.


Some lessons learned:
1) Adding bananas to a wine really DOES help a wine clear faster.
2) Niagra grape juice can make a good blending component for fruit wines.
3) Hand pressing really helps degas a wine!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Prior Cranberry 2008 posts:
Starting the Body Experiment
Fermentation Almost Done
Racked the Cranberry-Grape
Racked the Cranberry-Banana

Skirted Disaster...

On Tuesday morning, I brought the pail of blueberry must up from the basement where it had been cold soaking for 72 hr at a nice, chilly 45 °F and let it warm up while I was at work. I came home and got my starter made and set it aside to grow while I double-checked my Brix and acid levels.

A couple of interesting observations were noted. One, the pectic enzyme and Lallzyme EX had worked wonders in breaking down the fruit solids to give a very liquidy must with this wonderful, deep, deep, inky dark color (more on that later...). Second, both my Brix and acid levels were lower that my tests when I mixed everything together. The Brix level had dropped slightly to Brix = 22.2 and the total acidity was back around 3.1 g/L. I added another 10 oz of sugar to reach Brix = 23.8 and another 10 g of tartaric acid to reach total acidity = 4.4 g/L. The acid levels are still on the low side, but I'm more worried about the pH at the moment because that has a big affect on getting fermentation started in blueberries.

So everything was going pretty hunky dory. After several hours the yeast starter was fermenting well, so around 10:00 PM I went to add the starter to the must. After dumping it in, I reached around for my sanitized spoon to scrape out the remnants of the starter, lost my grip on the bowl, and watched helplessly as it fell into the must.

KER-SPLASH!!

Inky dark blueberry juice went flying all of the kitchen wall, floor, and nearby cupboard doors! It wasn't a lot of juice, but it sure made one heck of a mess.

It's late, my wife is in the bedroom doing her pre-bed relaxation routine, and I've got blueberry juice all of the wall. I grabbed a dishcloth and start scrubbing, only to find that the juice easily wiped away, but it left a purple stain on the paint and everything else it touched! Panic began to set in. I carefully eased open the bedroom door and asked quietly if we had any bleach in the house. No--crud! (to her credit, my wife did not come running in distress to see the horror that I had made of her new kitchen). Wild thoughts are running through my mind--can I repaint the kitchen by morning? And how many counts of paint will it take to cover up the stains? A quick scan of the laundry room to see what strong soaps were available, and I spied a container of OxiClean. What the heck, let's give it a shot...

Oh salvation! Wiping the walls down with a concentrated solution of OxiClean removed the juice stains with nary a trace! I did have to admit what had happened the next morning to my wife, but I'm proud to say that she could find no trace of stainage even after practically examining the walls with a microscope!

No, this was not a thinly veiled commercial for OxiClean. Although, I am open to an endorsement deal if the company would like to recreate the event--let's just do it in someone else's kitchen. I didn't have the luxury of time to take pictures of the mess and the end result, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

OxiClean--that stuff kicks a...!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Blueberry Wine 2008

January/February seems to be my time to make a batch of blueberry wine! One of the first wines I made was a blueberry wine in January, 2006, I made another batch in January, 2007, and here I am again. It does really help when blueberries freeze so well!

I really liked how the 2007 batch turned out (see recent review post), so this year, I just want to tweak the recipe a bit. My main objective is to produce a rich, full-bodied red wine, so I'm going to try to extract as much color and tannins as possible with a cold soak, enzyme addition, and yeast choice.

2008 Blueberry Recipe:
10 lbs frozen blueberries from Trader Joe's
10 lbs frozen wild Maine Blueberries from my local Market Basket
6 L H2O
3/8 tsp grape tannin
3 tsp pectic enzyme (8.1 g)
Lallzyme EX (0.8 g)
RC-212 wine yeast
Yield = ~3 gallons

I let the blueberries partially thaw on the countertop and then poured 6 L of boiling water over the berries in the fermenter to help set the color. At this point, I got my hands dirty and crushed the berries by hand. The larger cultivated blueberries from Trader Joe's were much easier to crush than the small, wild Maine berries. Fortunately, freezing the berries does a pretty good job in breaking down the cellular structure and release the juice. Boy, does blueberry juice stain human skin--my fingertips were almost black after the squishing was complete! It's hard to see in the picture, but I did put down a layer of plastic so I wouldn't stain my wife's kitchen floor!

I added pectic enzyme, as well as Lallzyme EX, which is a pectic enzyme designed for optimal color extraction and stabilization in red wines. I also added the grape tannin, a dose of potassium metabisulfite, and lysozymes to sanitize the must and prevent malolactic fermentation. Blueberries contain citric acid, which is metabolized to acetic acid by ML bacteria and I don't want that in the finished wine.

At this point, the raw must had Brix = 7.4 (SG = 1.028), so I added 5 lbs 12 oz white sugar to reach Brix = 23 (SG = 1.094, PA = 12%). I'm a little bit concerned about the acid levels, which were really low at total acidity = 1.08 g/L and pH = 3.45. The must tasted very flat and lifeless. A malic acid tested indicated only ~160 mg/L, so I'm assuming that the rest of the acid is citric acid (good thing I added the lysozyme). I added 8 tsp of tartaric acid (41.3 g) to bring the total acidity = 4.05 g/L and pH = 2.93. I decided to do any more acid additions after fermentation was complete as I'm getting worried about the low pH. Loyal readers will recall that the 2007 batch also had a low pH, but total acidity was ~6 g/L from the fruit alone without having to add additional tartaric acid. At the moment, I'm chalking this up to a difference in Michigan & Maine blueberries. The must tastes good at this point, maybe still a little low in acid, but much improved and much more lively than the starting point.

At this point, the must looks like the picture on the right--a lovely dark purple and thick must. I moved the bucket downstairs to the basement for a 48 hr cold soak at 45 °F (New England winters are good for something!). The must is currently resting comfortably, and I plan on letting it warm up to the kitchen room temperature for about 8-9 hours before pitching yeast starter on Tuesday evening. I'll keep you updated with fermentation details!

Salute!
a Wine Student

Cranberry Update #3--My babies are asleep...

Sorry, folks! Haven't had much time in the past week to add the latest news of the cranberry saga.

The cranberry-banana batch finally reached the same Brix level as the cranberry-grape after a very slooowwww fermentation (Brix = -1.7, SG = 0.994), so I decided to rack and sulfite to keep the outcome consistent. This batch was a comparative breeze to rack as the lees were very compact, although the wine itself is much cloudier. I obtained 3 gal and 2.25 L of wine. I'm keeping what didn't fit into the carboy in some wine bottles for use in topping up during future rackings. Everything received 100 ppm addition of sulfite and 1.5 g of lysozyme to prevent MLF.

All of the cranberry is now safely resting in the basement (current temperature is 50-55 °F) and beginning to clear. The cranberry-grape is on the left and the cranberry-banana is on the right in the picture. Yes, I'm pretty low tech with my carboy labels--masking tape and magic marker works just fine for me! You may not be able to tell from the picture, but both wines are throwing a pretty significant layer of lees even after a couple of weeks. Not too much to do on these wines for now, but to sit and wait for them to clear. Ah, the agony of patience!

Salute,
a Wine Student.

Chilean Grape Order Placed!!!

I am rather excited this week because I placed my order for Chilean grapes from M&M Produce in Hartford, CT that will be delivered around the 2nd week of May. I ordered 270 lbs each of malbec and syrah grapes which should yield of 15 gallon of wine each. I'd like to produce a big, full-bodied red with a lot of concentrated flavor from both varietals. There's two ways to accomplish that. One involves barrel aging. The other is to remove some of the free run juice, which concentrates the tannins and flavors that are extracted from the grape skins by the remaining fermenting juice. Since I currently don't own a barrel (donations are greatly appreciated!), I can't do the first option. My current plan is to remove about 3 gal (20%) of the free run juice and ferment that separately as a rose. I haven't quite decided whether to ferment each of the varietal free runs separately, or combine them for a 50/50 malbec/syrah rose blend.

The rest of the details are still up in the air (yeast selection, cold-soak, extended maceration, etc). If anyone has suggestions for their favorite malbec or syrah fermentation practices, I'd love to hear them!

Salute,
a Wine Student

Cranberry Update #2--Cran-Niagra Racked...

The tale of the dueling cranberry fermentations continue. On Jan 21, the specific gravity of the Cranberry-Niagra had stabilized at Brix = -1.7 (SG = 0.993). My Accuvin test strips indicated that there as about 750 mg/L of residual sugars, which is in the dry range. I decided to rack into a 3 gal carboy, sulfite, and let the wine clear. The racking turned out to be fairly tricky because the lees were a thick, fluffy layer--not compact. I ended up transferring over just over 3 gal of wine, but had to leave quite a bit behind. It's very curious that the lees are this fluffy. I added 100 ppm of potassium metabisulfite and 3 g of lysozymes to prevent malolactic fermentation. After racking, I moved the wine to the basement to begin to clear.

The wine actually tastes pretty good--very lightly tart with a grapey/cranberry nose and good body! Pretty heavy on the yeast, but that's to be expected at this stage.

The cranberry-banana is still fermenting. As of Jan 25, I still see gas evolution with Brix = 7.8 (Sg = 0.995). It hasn't stabilized yet, so I'm continuing to let this one go. The biggest difference besides the slower fermentation is that the lees are much more compact. Racking should be a breeze compared to the other wine.

Interesting...

Cranberry Update #1

A brief word on the current status of the Cranberry experiment. I've been patiently monitoring the fermentation progress, and these little buggers are taking their sweet time.

As of today (January 19):
Cranberry-Niagra OB = 7.6, SG = 0.993, Actual Brix = -1.7
Cranberry-Banana OB = 8.2, SG = 0.997, Actual Brix = -0.8

I was just about the rack the Cranberry-Niagra grape wine when I measured the residual sugar with Accuvin test strips. RS = 1000 mg/L--still on the off-dry side.

Both wines are still bubbling CO2 gas through the airlocks (cranberry-banana is generating the most bubbles through the airlock.

I must be patient, even though Martin Luther King Day weekend would have been the perfect time to get everything racked, sulfited, and starting to clear. Patience, grasshopper, patience...

Salute!

2006 Winter Dry Apple

I seem to be on a bit of a trip down memory lane recently! I was perusing my collection tonight and decided to open my last bottle of the second fruit wine I ever made--my 2006 Winter Dry Apple.

This wine earned the "Winter" moniker because I started it in March 2006. A couple of months earlier, my first attempt at apple wine ended in a disaster. I was reading Terry Garery's book The Joy of Home Winemaking and followed her recipe for apple wine, choosing a mixture of Granny Smith, Braeburn, and Fuji apples. The only problem was that I chopped the apples into ~1/8 inch pieces and tried to mash further with a potato masher. Didn't work that well. I went ahead with the sugar and pectic enzyme addition, and then added the yeast 24 hours later. Even after fermentation was complete, I still had big chunks of apple left--almost nothing had broken down like I had expected. It smelled pretty bad at the time, but I plunged ahead reasoning that it was just the fermentation aromas. A couple of weeks later after the first racking, it still tasted like rotten apple juice and vinegar. Needless to say, it went down the drain shortly after.

To recover from that disaster, I decided to start with apple juice and forgo the fruit mashing. I came across some Santa Cruz Organic Apple Juice at Meijer in Ann Arbor. The bonus was that the juice came in gallon glass jugs, exactly what I needed for making smaller wine batches!

Winter Dry Apple Wine recipe:
2 gallon Santa Cruz Organic Apple Juice (mostly red & yellow delicious apples)
2 lbs 8 oz sugar
1/2 tsp grape tannin
1 tsp pectic enzyme
2 tsp yeast nutrient
2 tsp ID Carlson acid blend (TA = 0.7%)
Lalvin EC-1118 yeast

Fermentation proceeded smoothly. After it was completed, I split the batch into 2 gallon jugs and added dark toasted French oak chips to one jug (this batch become my Apple Clipper). Three months and two rackings later, I bottled each batch. I bottle aged an additional 3 months and have been very slowly consuming since then. This bottle happens to be my last bottle of the Winter Dry Apple.

The Tasting results:
Appearance: Golden yellow, perhaps a little bit hazy.
Aroma: Heavy apple aromas, but also some kiwi notes
Taste: Tastes a lot like it smells. Full mouth feel, and smooth finish with just a little tingle on the tongue.

Having made this and one other apple wine, I must admit that I'm not huge fan of apple wines--at least those made from Delicious apples. But I learned a lot of technique while making this wine, and it gave me confidence that I could make a decent wine from scratch instead of just the wine kits that I had been making.

Since I've moved to one of the cider capitals of the country and birthplace of Johnny Appleseed, I want to get some cider from late harvest apples this fall and try to make a clean, crisp apple wine and see how I like a non-Delicious Apple wine. Seems like I should figure out how to work with the local produce!

Salute,
a Wine Student

2006 Blackberry, a beginning to the quest

To begin my quest for a full bodied fruit-based red wine, I'm first going to to a retro-assessment of my previous attempts. The entertaining tale of my 2006 Blueberry wine batch is a couple of posts below. I also made a 2006 Blackberry wine that I tried the first bottle in late Dec 2007 after aging for 12 months.

Hidden Lake Cellars 2006 Dry Blackberry
Stats: 11.5% alcohol
Appearance: Clear light orange-garnet. I can see through the glass.
Aroma: Blackberries (duh!), lightly sweet on the nose, hints of vanilla.
Taste: A lot like it smells. Initial fruity burst, some tannin on the back of my tongue, but not a long finish. It comes and goes pretty fast.

Recipe:
15 lbs frozen blackberries (purchased from Gordon Food Service)
1.5 tsp pectic enzyme
3/4 tsp grape tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
2.25 gal water
Red Star Montrachet yeast

The frozen blackberries were thawed by pouring 1 gal of boiling water over the fruit and mashed. After addition of 1.25 gal water, pectic enzyme, tannin, and yeast nutrient, Brix = 5 (SG = 1.015, PA = 2%), so 6 lbs sugar was added to reach Brix = 21.5 (SG = 1.086, PA = 11.5%). The TA = 0.4%, so I added 5 tsp tartaric acid to reach TA = 0.6%. Fermentation was quick and the cap was punched down 2-3 times per day. After 5 days Sg = 1.000, so the wine was pressed (3.66 gal total yield) and transferred to a carboy where fermentation was completed after an additional 8 days. The wine was racked off the gross lees into a 3 gal carboy and a 1 gal jug, which was topped off with water. The wine was racked an additional 2 times over the next 4 months, using the 1 gal jug to top off the carboy. The carboy was treated with 1.5 oz medium toast French oak for 1 month. After aging in the carboy for another 2 months, the wine was bottled.

I'm reasonably pleased with the wine, but it's not as full bodied and is lighter in color than I was hoping. The oak added some nice smooth vanilla flavors and structure. I wonder if adding Lallzyme to the must would give better color extraction? This batch was at the 5 lb fruit/gal ratio, and I think I could go higher to get more flavor and body since the TA was pretty low and required a lot of tartaric acid to increase to the proper level. I also wonder about the initial quality and flavor of the fruit--the frozen berries just didn't have as much blackberry flavor as I was expecting. I wonder if canned fruit puree would give more flavor and body? What about malo-lactic fermentation to give some roundness and depth?

Question, questions, question...

a Wine Student

Dry Fruit Wines, What's your favorite?

This year, I've decided that I want to focus on making a dry fruit wine that could mascarade as a dry, grape-based red wine. Some may say why bother when you can buy grapes, but this is a personal desire. Whenever I've found commercial wineries that make fruit wines, they almost always range from semi-sweet to sweet dessert wines. My assumption is that when people know they are drinking a fruit wine, they expect it to taste and smell just like the fruit from which it's made, and that invariably means a sweet wine.

My question is--if you make a dry fruit wine that mimics a dry grape wine and give it a creative label with no clue towards its origins, would people notice? Since I'm more of a red wine fan(atic), the corollary question would be can you make a full bodied fruit wine that mimics a dry red wine?

Several examples come to mind that affirmatively answer that question. Blueberry wines can be made in a full-bodied style that are reminiscent of a light merlot (see my recent Bartlett's Winery Blueberry review and tale of my own 2006 Blueberry wine). Blackberries, elderberries, and black currants are other examples of possible contenders. I made a blackberry wine in 2006, but I have no experience with elderberries or black currants. I'd like to develop a fruit blend that mimics a cabernet sauvignon or pinot noir. I'm currently gathering recipe ideas to start my experiments, but I welcome any comments from readers.

What has been your favorite dry fruit wine?

Salute,
a Wine Student

2006 Michigan Blueberry

A couple of nights ago, I decided to crack open a bottle of my 2006 Michigan Blueberry wine to taste it for the first time after bottling. This wine is rather dear to my heart because it was the last wine I made in Michigan, plus it has a rather fascinating story.

The blueberries were grown in northern Michigan and purchased from Kroger Supermarket in Ann Arbor in July 2006. They had a sale on 5 lb boxes of blueberries--the cashier's eyes got rather big when I showed up with 8 boxes! I will stress that I bought some for my wife's use in the kitchen, not just my winemaking! My aim for this wine was to try to reproduce the dry, full-bodied blueberry wine style that I had tasted from Bartlett's Winery in Maine (see my review here).

MI Blueberry Wine recipe:
20 lbs blueberries
4 L water
3 tsp pectic enzyme
3/8 tsp grape tannin
4 lb 4 oz sugar to achieve Brix = 23.5 (SG = 1.096)
White Labs Merlot liquid wine yeast

The blueberries were frozen until January 2007. After preparing the very thick must, the total acid = 0.65% and pH = 2.88, so no additional tartaric acid was added. Fermentation commenced quickly within 24 hr of adding the starter, but proceeded at a rather slow pace. The very thick cap was punched down twice a day, and 4 g of Fermaid-K was adding prior to yeast addition, after 4 days at SG = 1.050, and after 11 days at SG = 1.046. The wine was pressed off the fruit skins on day 13 at SG = 1.038 and moved to a glass carboy to complete fermentation. However, after another 2 days, I detected very little active fermentation (even after heating to must to ~70 °F). I was a little concerned that the low pH was causing the yeast to go dormant, so I diluted the wine with 2 L of Brix = 25 water with TA = 0.65 %) and added lysozyme to prevent any possible MLF (blueberries contain citric acid which ML bacteria convert to acetic acid). Fermentation recommenced (SG = 1.039).

This is where the fun began! The day after moving into a carboy, a massive ice storm swept through Michigan and knocked out our power for 4 days. Needless to say, it got rather cold in the house. In fact, I moved the wine to the basement just to keep the temperature above freezing. My wife, our guinea pigs, and I lasted 1 night and day in the house. The first night was spent huddled in front of the fireplace, while I threw a log on the fire every 45 minutes. I took the pigs to work with me the next day (rather amusing considering I worked at a pharmaceutical research facility--thank goodness for back doors and cardboard boxes). We ended up fleeing to a friend's house who had power so that the pigs would stay warm. Once the power was restored and the house reheated, I brought the wine back up stairs and heated back up to ~70 °F with an electric heat pad. Fortunately, fermentation recommenced, but still proceeded very slowly. After two months, the SG = 1.006 with 1.5 g/L residual sugar.

Having been informed at the end of January that research site where I worked was being shut down, and a out-of-state move was highly probable, I really did not have the luxury to let the fermentation abide by its own terms. The taste at this point was pretty good--medium body, good fruit burst, and nicely balanced. I decided to halt the fermentation by chilling the wine in the garage (it was a cold spring in Michigan). After 24 hrs at 42 °F, the wine was racked off the lees and treated with 100 ppm SO2.

I will admit that the wine didn't receive the attention I would have liked during the next 3 months while I was looking for work. It spent about 3 weeks over a 1:1 mixture of American & French oak cubes (heavy toast) before being bottled. I also would have liked to come up with a more inventive label (Ice Storm Blues, or something similar), but I was in a pinch to bottle and get my wine collection ready to move. Since then, the wine spent 4 months in our friend Shelly's basement before making the trek to Massachusetts. Needless to say, I was rather excited to see how the final product turned out. Drum roll please....

Appearance: Medium garnet color. Tannin granules in bottom of glass.
Nose: Fruity and citrus. Hints of cherries, strawberries and vanilla.
Taste: Delightfully fruity palatte, medium bodied, with a good lingering finish. Slight sweet taste, but nicely balanced. "This is good stuff!"

Admittedly, with a little residual sugar I probably shouldn't have labelled it as "Dry". However, 1.5 g/L falls in the dry to off-dry range, so I think I'm safe. To all those that managed to secure a bottle before I moved, it is very enjoyable and drinkable now. You might consider cellaring for anther 3-4 months, but that's your call!

Salute!
a Wine Student

A Cranberry (Out-of) Body Experiment

For my first fermentation in Massachusetts, I decided to conduct a little experiment on the state's native fruit--the cranberry. One deficit that many people encounter with fruit wines is a lack of body. The wines just don't have a very long finish. In my winemaking studies, I've come across several suggestions for ameloriating the problem by adding chopped (1) raisins, (2) grape juice concentrate, or (3) bananas to the must. In 2006, I made a cranberry wine with a recipe that called for golden raisins. The final product was OK. I had to sweeten it to a residual sugar level of 2.5% to balance the tartness and to cover up a metallic tang that came from letting the wine sit on the gross lees too long. The biggest issue I faced with that wine was simply getting the fermentation to occur in the first place. I didn't quite appreciate how much sulfites are in golden raisins, and added additional meta bisulfite to the must to sanitize the must prior to adding the wine yeast. Needless to say, it took 3 packets of wine yeast (1 is usually plenty) and a lot of aeration effort to kick off the party.

For my second attempt, I wanted to avoid my previous mishaps and conduct a little experiment to see how grape juice and bananas affect the body in comparison to each other and raisins. First, I lowered the amount of cranberries per gallon from 4 lbs/gal in the 2006 vintage to 3 lbs/gal. Second, I carefully controlled the acid levels in the must to target a final total acid of ~6.0 mg/mL. Third, I added only half the recommended dosage of potassium metabisulfite to the must prior to the yeast to sanitize the must. Fourth, I decided to make 2 side-by-side 3 gal batches of a cranberry/banana and cranberry/grape juice wines. To aim for a fruity dry wine, I elected to use Red Star Cote Des Blanc wine yeast for both batches.

Cranberry/Banana Wine Recipe:
9 lbs Ocean Spray cranberries (frozen)
12 ripe bananas
3 gal water
0.16 oz pectic enzyme
3/8 tsp grape tannin
0.2 oz Fermaid-K (0.1 oz at beginning and 0.1 oz at 1/3 sugar depletion)
7 lbs 6 oz cane sugar to reach Brix = 22
TA = 6.1 mg/mL, pH = 3.13

Cranberry/Niagara Grape Wine Recipe:
9 lbs Ocean Spray cranberries (frozen)
2 64 oz Welch's White Grape Juice
2 gal water
0.16 oz pectic enzyme
3/8 tsp grape tannin
0.2 oz Fermaid-K (0.1 oz at beginning and 0.1 oz at 1/3 sugar depletion)
6 lbs 2 oz cane sugar to reach Brix = 22
TA = 6.1 mg/mL, pH = 2.89

Both batches were cold-soaked for 24 hours prior to addition of the yeast starter, stirred 2-3 times per day to keep the fermentation cap moist, and pressed at Brix = ~6. They are currently finishing fermentation in carboys in my bathroom (the warmest place in the house).

Update (1/12/08): After 2 weeks, both wines are at Brix = 0.5 to 0.9. Almost done!

Observations:
The banana and Niagara grape juice lent their distinct aromas to the respective musts. The banana aromas seemed to have dissapated during the fermentation more than the grape juice. The Cranberry/Niagara grape must seemed to be a brighter red, perhaps due to the lower pH. The Cranberry/banana must was red, but it seemed muted by the bananas. The Cranberry/banana was more difficult to press with a greater volume of residual solids that retained more liquid. However, after pressing, it has a smaller volume of lees on the bottom of the carboy. Interestingly, the Cranberry/grape wine has fermented at a slightly faster rate. I started it 24 hours later, but the rate of decrease in the Brix level caught up and passed the Cranberry/banana on day 4.

I won't have a final answer until later this spring. At the present fermentation rate, I'm expecting secondary fermentation to last for another 1-2 weeks. I'll draw final conclusions on the respective bodies after clearing and aging for at least 6 months. Stay tuned for the results!

Salute!
a Wine Student

A New Wine Cellah

Now that we've moved into our new house, gotten unpacked, and slowly getting settled, I got around to installing my wine racks in the basement (or "cellah" as they're known in New England) over the holiday weekend. I had a good laugh, because like all of my projects, this one also required a trip to the hardware store. My former basement had cinder block concrete walls that yielded relatively easily to my regular power drill and a masonry bit. My new basement has poured concrete walls that were pretty resistant to my drilling attempts. After whirring away for several minutes without getting anywhere, I gave up and made the trek to Home Depot and bought a hammer drill. What a difference the proper tool makes. Once I got the hang of it, that drill cut through the concrete like buttah, although I still broke two masonry bits when I hit a rock that I couldn't break through. Once all the holes were drilled, it was a simple matter to install the racks that I had moved from Michigan. The final product is shown in the top right photo.

The racks are made of redwood and were purchased from International Wine Accessories as a pre-made kit. The vertical supports were already assembled, I simply had to fasten the horizontal supports and attach the base units. While not the most inexpensive wine racks, these were a quick and easy way to get some professional looking wine racks. The IKEA dowel and stick rack beside the redwood racks has been around since my graduate school days! A cheap alternative, I keep it around out of shear inertia and because I have more wine than fits in the main racks! The second photo tells the rest of the story. I started unloading some of the boxes yesterday (the wine on the floor), but I've still got all the other boxes to unload and rack. The pile in the center of the floor is the commercial wine, while the boxes along the wall are my homemade wine. Methinks that I'm going to need to expand my racking system to fit everything!