Our jelly making only used a small portion of the pomace we collected from the bladder press at Tin Lizzie Wineworks on Saturday. We collected two more containers of pomace on Sunday. With all this pomace and a little research, we decided to make a second run wine, something that we have not done before.
I read about second run wine and was expecting a light red wine that didn’t have much flavor. On the other hand, our pomace was from grapes harvested from the Stagecoach Vineyards in Napa Valley. That region experienced a wonderful grape growing season. So a second run wine with excellent grapes shouldn’t be all that bad. The research I had done stated that with excellent grapes, a second run wine should be better than most wine kit wines.
We emptied two buckets, about eleven gallons into a 20 gallon fermentation bin. To the pomace we added six gallons of sugar water that measured 25 brix. We also added some yeast nutrient. The mixture took off fermenting and the brix level was down to four brix the next day. On Sunday, with two other buckets of pomace we added sugar water to two seven gallon fermentation bins and added the pomace. It too took off and began fermenting rapidly.
By Monday, with Hurricane Sandy bearing down on us, we pressed the must from the twenty gallon fermenter. We were able to fill one and 2/3 three gallon carboys. We took some of the wine from the two other fermentation bins to fill the remaining 1/3 of the carboy. We then placed the remaining must into the empty 20 gallon fermentation bin since the smaller bins kept overflowing.
The wine in the two carboys continues to ferment. Both carboys measured about 1 Brix. I also added some tartaric acid to each carboy. Since we expected a pale red wine, we were surprised to observe that the wine had the same color as the wine jelly we made. It is a dark purple to almost black color. For now, we’ll let it stay in the carboy for awhile and rack to another carboy after the sediment builds up on the bottom. We are anxious to discover if this second run wine is any good.
We went to Tin Lizzie Wineworks this weekend to punch down our wine. While we were there, other clients were pressing their wines and racking to barrels. When the press was taken apart to clean, the pomace was placed in a bin to later take to a compost pile. Kathy and I filled a few containers with this pomace to add to our compost pile. But first we decided to make wine jelly and try something new.
The pomace was so dry that if it spilled onto the kitchen floor, you could clean it up with a broom and dust pan. We weren’t going to be able to extract much liquid for jelly, so we took about a gallon of pomace and placed it in a strainer. We added a quart of water and boiled the liquid for about thirty minutes. We then used the liquid to make jelly. Just a few minutes of boiling with the grape skins produced a dark purple to black liquid that jelled well. The flavor is grape. The pomace used was a mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah skins.
We followed the pomace jelly recipe on our website although ran out of SureGel for our third and fourth batches. Instead we used Ball pectin and that also jelled well. The jelly looks wonderful and tastes great. The jelly has the aroma of a winery during fermentation. The taste has a definite grape taste reminiscent of a red wine blend. Now, what to do with the other containers of pomace; make wine?
Punch down is a winery task that is done three or four times daily while grapes are fermenting. The idea is to mix the juice with the skins and seeds. During fermentation, the skins and seeds float to the top of the fermentation bin or tank. They form a cap. This cap can be several inches thick. In our fermentation bin, we literally punched this cap down, thereby mixing the skins and seeds with the fermenting juice. This allows for extraction of tannins and color from the skins and seeds. There are other systems in wineries that will do the same thing. Some wineries that use large tanks use a system called pump over. Juice from the bottom of the tank is pumped to the top of the tank and helps to mix the cap with the juice. Some wineries us a rotary fermenter that automatically rotates the tank every six hours or so for a number of minutes. This also mixes the cap with the juice. We used a handmade punch down to punch down our fermentation bin as well as eleven other bins. It can become quite a workout if you are punching down several bins. View the short video showing the punch down of our wine.
Kathy and I went to Tin Lizzie Wineworks late yesterday afternoon for a couple hours. During the time we punched down 12 fermentation bins, mixed tartaric acid to add to most of the bins and added the malolactic fermentation mixture to each bin.
There wasn’t much going on with fermentation. The yeast was added about 23 hours earlier. However there was a cap on the surface of each fermentation bin. The cap was strong enough to easily hold our home-made punch down. Breaking the cap was easy though. Dave Zuchero, winemaker, tested for the specific gravity and pH. Most of the bins had a pH that was higher than what he wanted so I measured 100 grams of tartaric acid, added two cups of water and stirred the mixture. I then added this to the fermentation bins and Kathy used the punch down to gentle stir. Our Cabernet Sauvignon needed the addition of Tartaric acid. Those making a Merlot did not.
The day before we prepared a malolactic bacteria mixture. Dave used the Lallemand Alpha 1-Step kit starter. The day before we dissolved the first package, the activator, in water. I then opened the second package the Oenococcus oeni bacteria and added to the mixture. Later, Dave added some must from the fermentation bin. About twenty-four hours later, I added about 7 cups of this mixture to the fermentation bins and Kathy stirred the musts. One of the reasons to co-ferment the musts is to take advantage of the warmer weather that we have now. If we waited until the primary fermentation would be complete before we added the bacteria, it would be added next month and November can be much colder in the winery. There also seems to be a bit of a push to co-inoculate.
What we did at the winery yesterday is more of the chemistry side of winemaking. Consumers do not readily think about this while drinking wine. There are many winery tasks that go into making the wine.
Our must was rather cold yesterday so we decided to hold off adding yeast until today. A winemaker has a vast selection of yeasts to chose from. In the kitchen, Kathy usually has a choice of using Red Star yeast or Fleischmann’s yeast for her baking. That’s not much of a choice. Winemakers on the other hand have hundreds if not thousands of yeasts to choose amongst. In our case, we asked Dave Zuchero, winemaker at Tin Lizzie Wineworks, the yeasts that he had available for red wine fermentation. The list of red wine yeasts was rather small and included: BDX, D21, D80, D254, Syrah and 43. Even though small, the list required research. Most of the available yeasts are of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species; however, they are different strains. Each strain has its own characteristics. Research helps to eliminate some of the yeasts and helps narrow the list.
We eliminated Syrah and 43 because they were not common yeasts for Cabernet Sauvignon. We had used the D80 before for a Cabernet Sauvignon, so it was in the running. We also liked the D21. Since we are going to start the malolactic fermentation tomorrow, we selected the D21 over the D80. The D21 has a low nitrogen need while the D80 has a high nitrogen need. When the malolactic fermentation occurs at the same time as the primary fermentation, we heeded the advice to use a yeast with low nitrogen requirements.
We also like the way D21 plays well with Booster Rouge. The two together should enhance the licorice components of the wine. This is something we like so selecting the D21 made sense.
Our first task was to take 110º water and add Go-Firm to the water and mix. Go-Firm, by Lallemand, provides a nutrient for the yeast. After 15 minutes we mixed in the yeast. About 30 minutes later, we took some must from the fermentation bin and added it to the container with the Go-Firm and the D21 yeast. We were trying to lower the temperature of the yeast mixture to bring it closer to the temperature in the fermentation bin. The bin temperature measured 59º F. The temperature of the yeast mixture measured 73º F. After a half hour we added some more must. When we had the temperature of the yeast mixture within ten degrees of the must we added the yeast mixture to the fermentation bin and stirred the must.
While we were waiting for the temperature in the yeast mixture to cool, we mixed the bacteria for the malolactic fermentation. This ended our second day of winemaking at Tin Lizzie Wineworks.
We destemmed and crushed the Cabernet Sauvignon yesterday at Tin Lizzie Wineworks in Clarksville, Maryland. Now that we know what we are doing before we do it, the process is much faster. Check out the short one-minute video.
Our grapes arrived from Stagecoach Vineyards in the Atlas Peak AVA of Napa Valley. They were harvested last week and were in pristine condition. There were 23 lugs of grapes awaiting Kathy and my arrival early Saturday morning. The first thing we did was to taste the grapes. They were very flavorful with seeds that were dark brown in color. Next I took a brix reading with a refractometer. After selecting three different grapes from three different bins, I squeezed a drop from each grape onto the refrctometer. The brix level measured at 25 brix.
We emptied 23 lugs of grapes into the destemmer/crusher. This process only took minutes. The grapes were crushed and the juice pumped into a fermentation bin, while the stems exited the destemmer at the opposite end. After rolling the fermentation bin was rolled into the winery, we took juice samples to record the specific gravity using a hydrometer and the pH. The pH measured 3.54, a good level. The specific gravity measured 1.09, a number lower than we wanted. That reading translates to a brix reading of 23 rather than the brix reading made in the vineyard and the reading I took earlier. We will keep an eye on the specific gravity reading over the next day and decide if we should chaptalize at all. At 23 brix there is a potential for a 13% alcohol wine, while at 25 brix the potential is for about a 14% alcohol wine. With the Napa Valley grapes, we want the wine to be closer to the 25 brix level. It was difficult to get a reading since the juice was foamy.
Speaking of the juice, we sampled the juice. It was delicious. Next we added several items to the fermentation bin. The first was potassium metabisulfite. This will help to inhibit the native yeast from starting to ferment the sugars. We plan to add a winemaking yeast tomorrow, after the must has a chance to warm up. Our second item added was Lallemand Booster Rouge. This yeast derivative helps increase the tannin intensity of the initial mouthfeel and increases the aromatics of the grapes. Booster Rouge also plays nicely with the yeast ICV D21 we plan to add tomorrow. The two help enhance licorice aromas. Next we added Lallzyme EX-V™. This enzyme formulated by Lallemand helps to increase the extraction of intracellular polyphenolic content from the grapes. We are hoping it will help create a structured wine with deep, stable color. It should also help with the extraction of Cabernet Sauvignon varietal aromas. Our last addition for today was Scott’tan FT Rouge. This item helps preserve the grapes’ natural tannins so that they can combine with anthocyanins to create stable color. It also helps to enhance mouthfeel. After each of these additions, Kathy or Terry stirred the must. We are now off to a start of our 2012 Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon.
Cheers,
Terry
Grapes from Stagecoach Vineyards
Cabernet Sauvignon, Stagecoach Vineyards, Atlas Peak AVA, Napa Valley
Terry taking the brix levels of different grapes.
Kathy and Terry dumping grapes into a distemmer/crusher.
Harvested just a couple days ago, our Cabernet Sauvignon from Stagecoach Vineyards are in a refrigerated truck making their way to the east coast. I was curious as to the number of growing degree days in Napa. Data for Oakville in Napa Valley put the growing degree days over the 2400 mark. This is a benchmark for the ripening of Cabernet Sauvignon. We heard that the Cabernet Sauvignon was measuring 25 brix. That will give us a potential alcohol wine around the 13.75% area. Of course growing degree days and brix level are only a couple data points that growers use to determine when to harvest the grapes. Since our grapes are in the Atlas Peak AVA, the growing degree days should be slightly different.
It does make me wonder though, about those growers that plant Cabernet Sauvignon in regions that can not guarantee the minimum number of growing degree days for the variety to ripen. Under ripe Cabernet Sauvignon has a vegetative aroma and taste, a profile I personally shy away from. One other important data point for this years Atlas Peak Cabernet Sauvignon is the weather. In 2009 when we sourced grapes from the region, there were several inches of rain prior to the Cabernet Sauvignon harvest. Although the growers waited a week for the grapes to loose some of the water they absorbed, they lost just some of the water. In 2012, it has been dry. Talking to different growers in Napa, I’ve learned that there is much excitement. The weather this year has been great for grape growing in that area. Kathy and I are looking forward to making an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon with these grapes. Destemming is in a week.
It is a bit more difficult to follow the harvest when it is a few thousand miles away. Growing degree days is just one measurement. In the Oakville area of Napa the number of growing degree days as of 10/2 reached 2344. Of course the number will be different from one area to another. Cabernet Sauvignon likes around 2400 growing degree days and that number has been reached in some areas and lags behind in other areas. A recent heat wave to hit the Napa wine regions has helped the fruit.
In an article in the St. Helena Star, Harvest Report: Heat wave boosts sugar levels, Jan Krupp of Stagecoach Vineyards was quoted, “Harvest on Atlas Peak is accelerating with merlot in full swing, the whites finishing up, and cabernet about to begin. Quality so far has been excellent with no shortage of fruit.”
Temperatures are cooling again in the Napa area. Mostly the chance of rain is below 20% until next week when Tuesday’s chance will be at 20%. It looks like the vineyard team will harvest the Cabernet Sauvignon at Stagecoach soon. Then the fruit makes it trek to the East Coast in refrigerated trucks. We are looking forward to its arrival at Tin Lizzie Wineworks in Clarksville, Maryland.
Meanwhile, an experimental couple gallons of white Cabernet Sauvignon is on the third day of fermentation. Yesterday the bubbles in the airlock sped up to a bubble per second. Today there is a bubble every three seconds. This white Cabernet Sauvignon is made from Virginia Cabernet Sauvignon that was destemmed at Pearmund Cellars in Broad Run, Virginia.
In the book, A Wine Journey, four chapters recount experiences making wine at home and at wineries. One chapter looks at winemaking experiences at Tin Lizzie Wineworks in Clarksville, Maryland. Here is an excerpt from the chapter about a bladder press.
“Traveling around the world and talking to hundreds of winemakers, we heard stories about presses that blew and splattered must all over people, floors, walls and ceilings. Many winemakers have been covered with wine during a blast. The day of pressing the blueberry must, began like the days we pressed the wine grapes. However, we filled several demijohns. Dave wanted to fill a two and a half-gallon carboy with blueberry wine to use for topping off the demijohns. The carboy was almost full when we heard a pop. A shower of blueberry pumice and wine hit Rob and Terry, who were in the line of fire, as well as the sidewall and a bit of the ceiling. The blow out is an example of why one does not wear their Sunday best clothes to a winery to work. Rob definitely had the worst of the splatter. Terry, on the other hand, had to be at church in twenty minutes and decided that it would be a good idea to get cleaned up. Besides, even though he wore a hat, some of the pumice and wine managed to make its way to his hair and down his neck. Kathy was on the safe side of the bladder press with the camera, and took several photos between laughing.
Dave mentioned that it was only the fourth time in two years that the press had a blowout. Terry did get cleaned up, and clothes were washed. His Detroit Tiger hat, although covered with blueberry wine, cleaned up well. In fact it is cleaner now than it had been in several years. We have heard comments from our children such as, “You need to wear a hazmat suit when pressing,” and “Making blueberry wine is a blast.” Since the blast, several winemakers stated that the bladder press blast was an initiation into winemaking. We wanted to experience as many things as we could during our wine journey. The bladder press blow out provided many opportunities for laughter.”
Watch for information about the publication date for A Wine Journey.
Cheers,
Terry
