White Cabernet Sauvignon Placed in Refrigerator

Our first white Cabernet Sauvignon needed to be racked. With only 1 1/2 gallons, by the time I finished racking I had 1 1/4 gallons and a little to taste. The aroma and taste reminded me of red berries. This is a different tasting profile for the Cabernet Sauvignons that ferments on the skins and sees oak contact for months to years. The color of the white Cabernet Sauvignon is a light salmon and seems to be lighter than it was a couple months ago.

Now that the turkey vacated the refrigerator and Thanksgiving left overs have been handed out to family or frozen, there is room on the bottom shelf to place a carboy. The airlock required the removal of one shelf in the refrigerator. My plan is to cold stabilize the wine. Since I don’t have to rush, I’ll let the wine in the refrigerator until it gets very clear. I’ll rack one more time and add potassium metabisulfite. Then I can filter and bottle. I expect to leave the wine in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks minimum. When I remove it depends on when I need extra refrigerator space.

This white Cabernet Sauvignon was made from Cabernet Sauvignon juice from Virginia. We were visiting Chris Pearmund at Pearmund Cellars while he was destemming and crushing some Virginia Cab. He offered a couple gallons for us to experiment. The juice had about 30 minutes contact with the skins. Fermentation was finished in October and the wine has been racked twice. In contrast, I am also making a white Cabernet Sauvignon with juice that I bought from Thanksgiving Farm in Maryland. I started fermentation in the beginning of November and have been fermenting it in a cold room that maintains 59º F to 62º F temperature. It is still fermenting so I’ll let it go a little longer before racking it. Besides, I don’t have the refrigerator room at the moment.

The last time I used the refrigerator for wine cold stabilization was a Niagara Kathy and I made a couple years ago. The wine was hazy when it went into the refrigerator. Three weeks later it was crystal clear. I’m hoping for the same with the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cheers,
Terry