Winemaking: Wine Trail Traveler » Winery Tasks

Stomping the Niagara Grapes

admin — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:38:13 +0000

After the Niagara harvest we sorted the grapes and weighed them. Having almost 13 pounds we had to decide to make jelly or wine. We decided to make a very small batch of wine from the juice. Since we didn’t have a press we were uncertain of how many liters of juice we could press. To get the juice we went with the old-world technology of stomping the grapes. Since Kathy is lighter, she was drafted to do the gentle stomping.

Her first comment was that the grapes were cold. They were picked early morning before sunshine illuminated the vines. Kathy then began to stomp the grapes. Although there looked like a lot of juice, it didn’t amount to as much as we hoped for. The pulp and juice were put in cheesecloth and strained. After the day we collected about 2.8 liters of juice.

I added some peptic enzyme to the juice to prevent peptic haze during fermentation. Next year I’ll add it to the crushed grapes since it will also increase juice extraction. Also added to the juice was potassium metabisulfite This too was added to the jucice before adding the yeast. I’ll research the possibility of adding it to the crushed grapes before straining the juice next year.

Cheers,
Terry

Bottling Day

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:38:03 +0000

I’ve been collecting bottles for the past few months. After finishing the wine, the bottles are rinsed and then placed in a wine rack. However I am paranoid about cleaning the wine bottles. After retrieving the bottles from the wine cellar, I placed them in the dishwasher and ran the SaniWash cycle. I did not use dishwashing detergent. Then I shot a solution of potassium metabisulphite into the bottles using the Avvinatore bottle rinser and sulifter (Is that a word?). Then the bottles were placed on a bottle tree. Much easier than what I formally did by pouring the potassium metabisulphite into a bottle, then from one bottle to another and so forth. I then placed the bottles on the racks in the dishwasher. Now we have made progress!

We bottled two wines, the Cabernet Sauvignon/Tannat blend and five bottles of Zinfandel that I rescued from a press as we were breaking it down and cleaning it. I was going to use the pomace for wine jelly but I ended up with a gallon of wine after filtering it through tripled layered cheesecloth. I thought that a gallon would make too much jelly so I placed it in a gallon carboy. I added a French oak spiral and let it sit and age for a couple weeks. After that I removed the spiral and let the wine do its thing in a gallon carboy for nine months.

It took Kathy and me about two hours cleaning and sanitizing things, bottling 35 bottles and cleaning up. I recalled the first time I bottled wine. It took four of us four hours to bottle 29 bottles. Again on with the progress!

Cheers,
Terry

A Winter Day at the Winery

admin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:18:20 +0000

We had an opportunity to help winemaker Dave Zuchero at Tine Lizzie Wineworks in Clarksville, Maryland yesterday. The sun was radiant which helped melt the several feet of snow. Yesterday was one of the first days since the back-to-back blizzards hit the area earlier this month, which Dave was able to drive to the winery. The pastoral country setting looked beautiful, however winds kept part of the roadway covered with snow. It did get plowed, but then was quickly filled again.

Our task at hand was to rack wine from a stainless steel tank to a container, clean the stainless steel tank and then rack the wine back again into the tank. We also tested the pH and sulfates. Dave will bottle the wine soon. We did add some tartaric acid to the wine to lower the pH 3.7 to 3.6. The sulfates were a bit low, so sulfates were also added to the wine.

Dave then tested the wine in three barrels that seem to have stalled with malolactic fermentation. He was testing a new product that resembled litmus paper. Placing a measured quantity of wine on the strip and waiting for a specified amount of time, one can match the color or the strip to a color chart indicating the progress of the malolactic fermentation. The Syrah barrels had a way to go. The chardonnay barrel may need to reinoculated.

As the wine ages during the winter there are always winery tasks to address. Sampling the wine, testing it and topping off the barrels are a few of these winery tasks.

Winter Task May Take Longer than Fermentation, Part 1

admin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:06:41 +0000

You make a barrel or two of wine and are asked to design the label. Little did I realize that the label is going to take longer to create than the wine took to ferment. The wine I made and bottled at home during 2009 had no labels. However, now that I am making more wine, I should probably label my bottles at home so I will know what is in them. I will also have to design a label for wine made at Vint Hill Craft Winery and Tin Lizzie Wineworks.

In this entry, I’ll discuss the labels for the wines made at home and Tin Lizzie. Those wines will not be sold. They are for personal use. I believe that they do not require the government portion of wine bottle labels required for wine that can be sold. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Label design is easier said than done. Once on the bottle, I don’t plan to take it off and put a newly designed label on. I need to get it right on the first try. Since I plan to give some of the wine as gifts, the label has to be meaningful. This past Christmas, I gave several bottles of the mead I bottled in 2009 as gifts. The mead was made from honey from my wife’s family homestead. I decide to call the mead, “A Taste of Home.” For decades we observed, photographed and drew pictures of a lone tree in the field at the Marcellus property. My son, Kevin, painted a picture of the tree and field and I used a photo of his painting as a part of the label. The label made a big impression on one family member who received some of the mead as a gift. Hopefully the mead also made an impression.

The design for the mead was easy from the standpoint that there was a story to tell. Now I have to design a label for some Cabernet Sauvignon that I have at home and at Tin Lizzie. Other than having the words “Cabernet Sauvignon 2009” I am not certain what else to add or what image to use. Of all the decisions for winemaking, the label seems to demand the most time and thought.

While the Wine Ages

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:01:51 +0000

Most wineries in the Northern Hemisphere have wine aging in tanks and barrels. Many home winemakers have wine aging in carboys and occasionally tanks or barrels. So what is there to do for winemakers and cellar masters during these cold winter days? Hibernation come to mind, however there are always winery tasks to attend. Generally this is a good time of year for cleaning and moving equipment. Winemaker D.J. Leffin moved several stainless steel tanks from the side of one wall to the side of the opposite wall. It was observed that water collected under these tanks every time the floor was washed. The floor of the opposite wall is a bit higher so the water will drain from that area. Winemaker Dave Zuchero also moved equipment around.

We helped Dave at Tin Lizzie Wineworks clean equipment, wash the floor and move equipment. Although extremely cold outdoors, the temperature in the winery was warm enough to encourage one to keep busy. The only challenge was washing equipment outdoors, a bit too cold for that.

Barrels do need some attention. Testing to see if malolatcic fermentation completed is one task. Topping off barrels is another task. Checking acid levels and determining how much if any acid to add is another activity. Racking to clean barrels and washing out barrels is an activity that helps pass the winter days.

Do winemakers ever get a vacation? Some do, often during the winter when they can spare a week or two. It helps if the winery has more than one winemaker or cellar master who can keep an eye on things. While on holiday, do they visit other wineries? Many do and enjoy the opportunity to exchange ideas. Every winery takes on it own personality. It is like meeting people, everyone is unique.

Topping off a Barrel with What?

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:06:43 +0000

The home winemaker tries to keep the wine in a carboy at the neck to minimize oxygen contact. At times it may be necessary to top off the wine in the container, perhaps due to evaporation but more likely due to tasting it. If the container is small, one option to increase the level of the liquid is to add sanitized marbles. Add enough marbles and the liquid will rise. Of course wine can also be added. Many home winemakers will simply go to their local wine store and purchase an inexpensive bottle of wine to top off their wine.

A winery is dealing with larger volume so using marbles is not likely. Usually the winery has extra wine that can be used to top off barrels. However at custom crush wineries, clients should not assume that the wine used to top off their barrel is the exact same wine that is in their barrel. If a custom crush winery has 100 clients with wine in 100 barrels it would be unheard of to also have the identical wine in 100 carboys to be used for topping off. Wineries have wine to top off with, and it may or may not be the same variety that is in the barrel.

Will topping off a barrel with a different wine make a big difference? Probably not. There is little wine added to the barrel compared to the quantity of wine already in the barrel. That which is added is likely to take on the characteristics of the wine already in the barrel.

Another option used by some winemakers instead of adding wine to the barrels is to add a gas that is heavier than oxygen. It will replace the oxygen in the barrel.

Angels’ Share

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:59:21 +0000

There are many activities that take place in a winery. One of those activities is topping off barrels of aging wine. Wine in barrels will evaporate. This is referred to as the angel’s share. I don’t know if angels are happier in California with all of its wine regions or Kentucky with its bourbon industry, but in either case there is evaporation. One difference, though, between winemaking and distilling bourbon is that winemakers top off. Law does not permit distillers to top off a barrel of bourbon. It is not uncommon to hear of a twenty-year old barrel of bourbon being opened just to discover that it has all evaporated. To make matters worse, the distillery had to pay taxes on that barrel all those years. Perhaps this is why many bourbons are bottled after eight to 14 years and you pay more for the longer it was aged.

The winemaker will check the barrels and add more wine to the barrel to keep it full. Home winemakers who age their wine in carboys have less evaporation, but may still have to top off. You may have noticed glass carboys at wineries. Often the wine in these carboys is used to top off barrels. Other wineries may keep the wine used for topping off in a variable capacity stainless steel tank.

The reason to keep the barrels topped off as well as the carboys filled to the neck is to reduce the amount of oxygen that can contact the wine. At this point in the winemaking process, oxygen contact is a bad thing. Not all winemakers use wine to top off barrels. Some will use an inert gas that fills the space in the barrel replacing the oxygen.

Winery Task: Rebottling Wine

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:45:58 +0000

Twice this year we’ve come across a winery that had cases of bottled wine that had a buildup of CO₂in some of the bottles. At a Texas winery there were only a few bottles detected, however the winemaker didn’t want to take any chances and decided to open all the bottles, dump the wine into a tank and rebottle. This same technique was also used at Tin Lizzie Wineworks and we helped with the process that was rather quick.

I for one like a little fizz in my wine, just enough effervescence to tickle the tongue. But others do not especially if it is unexpected. So we tackled several cases of wine that may have had a CO₂build-up. Some of the bottles had some CO₂while others did not, but it was decided to dump the entire batch and rebottle. The process went quickly: sanitize the top of the bottle, remove the cork, pour the contents into a stainless steel barrel (this allows the CO₂to escape), sanitize the inside of the bottle and place on a bottle tree to dry.

We left before rebottling took place. I wonder how often this occurs at wineries. With small batches of wine it doesn’t seem to be an issue. However with large volumns of wine at large wineries, a million bottles or so would certainly challenge arms and wrists.

Winery Task: Racking Barrels

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:40:25 +0000

Winemakers do not often get a vacation. In the winery, there is always something to do. One of those tasks is racking the wine. Kathy and I helped winemaker, David Zuchero, at Tin Lizzie Wineworks rack the wine in seven barrels. It took the three of us about five hours, although I do believe that we were increasing speed throughout the day rather than slowing down.

Racking is relatively simple. Moving and lifting the barrels (while empty) was the hardest part. We racked the wine from the first barrel to an empty barrel. While transfering the wine, we kept careful watch for the lees that settled at the bottom of the barrel. We wanted to discard the dead yeast cells. Once empty of wine, we moved the barrel to an outside area to drain the lees and power wash the barrel’s inside. The lees look like a gooey red-purple sludge. The power washing didn’t take long. For the first minute the water that exited the barrel was red-purple in color. It then changed to clear. The head of the power washer rotates while in the barrel blasting water to all parts of the barrel. We washed each barrel for about five minutes. Now the barrel was clean inside and wine could be transferred to it.

After a couple of barrels, Kathy and I knew what we were doing. Everyone was constrained by the speed of the pump. Although it should have emptied the barrels sooner, it was taken much longer than manufacturer specs. With a larger, faster pump, we would have trimmed an hour or two from our total time. We did seven barrels. I can imagine the hours this task would take for wineries with hundreds of barrels.

Sometimes Jobs are Just Messy

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:26:26 +0000

The last two tasks at Vint Hill Craft Winery were pressing the must and racking to barrels. Both tasks were simple, however they were messy and cleanup probably took longer than the tasks. There was plenty of help to clean up after pressing the California Cab. Using a plastic knife, we had to remove the part that was jambed between the wooden slats of the press basket. The leftover must was compacted and looked like a cake. We had to break the pumace apart and throw it out.

Then the group hosed down everything. Of course that placed a lot of water on the floor of the winery. I began thinking of the wineries in areas where there are water restrictions. We used a lot of water. Of course the drains were uphill. So brooms and squeegees were used to push the water towards the drain.

A couple days later Kathy and I helped with the clean up after pressing Zinfandel. The Zin was very liquidy and splattered everywhere. So the first thing to water blast was the walls. Then we cleaned the floor and equipment. The only mishap was a burst of water from the hose directed at my face. It was only for a moment and of course everyone saw it but unfortunately no one snapped a photo.