Winemaking: Wine Trail Traveler » racking

Racking the Peach Wine

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 13:44:30 +0000

Kathy’s peach wine has been sitting quietly clearing nicely. We decided to rack it off the lees today. The aroma prior to racking reminded me of aromas in the kitchen when Kathy bakes bread. There was an yeasty aroma from the wine. Later we place a small amount in a wine glass. At first the aroma wasn’t pleasant. However after a few minutes it changed and you could notice the peach aroma and taste. The wine is quite dry and will need to be back sweetened prior to bottling.

After racking we added potassium metabisulphite and potassium sorbate to the wine. The combination of the two should deliver a knock-out punch to the yeast stopping the the yeast from reproducing. I don’t want the wine to begin refermenting in the bottle after adding a sweetener. We’ll let the wine continue to clear for a few weeks and then back sweeten it at the end of the month.

It is a bit difficult to appreciate a peach wine at this time of year. I have to remind myself that this wine is meant for next summer when the temperatures sore to the 90’s and higher. We’ll chill the peach wine and serve it in a wine glass with a frozen peach slice to keep it cool. Right now, with frost clinging to the house roofs, I’m more inclined to drink a red wine.

Cheers,
Terry

Racking the Peach Wine, Again

admin — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:02:11 +0000

Since we are going to travel for a few weeks we decided to rack the peach wine. The wine was in a 3-gallon carboy, a half-gallon carboy and a 750 ml decanter. Both the decanter and the half gallon carboy had about an inch of sediment and dead yeast cells at the bottom. The 3-gallon carboy had about 1/2 inch of sediment and dead yeast cells. We racked into another 3-gallon carboy.

While racking we were careful not to get much if any of the muck from the bottom. As a result we were able to fill a different 3-gallon carboy to within an inch and a half of the airlock. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough wine to fill another half gallon carboy so we had to make a decision about the extra wine. We filled the decanter and froze the left over wine. I don’t know if freezing the left over wine was a good idea or not. It seemed to make sense at the time.

Before racking, we measured the specific gravity at 0.990. When tasted, the wine was quite dry and had noticeable dissolved carbon dioxide. There was a slight peach aroma and taste. Kathy didn’t like the dryness and added a bit of sugar to her glass. The result increased the peach taste. We’ll let this wine take its time and let the solids settle on the bottom. Meanwhile we have a debate on how to back sweeten the wine. There are several options.

Cheers,
Terry

Staying away from the Gook on the Bottom

admin — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 01:27:11 +0000

It was time to rack Kathy’s Muscat. She had it settling in two three-gallon carboys and the sediment was piling up. She decided to rack the wine before our New Zealand wineries trip. The wine was already beginning to clear a little and the gook on the bottom was notieable. Realizing that we wouldn’t get a full six gallons, it was decided to rack the two three-gallon carboys into a five-gallon carboy and place any extray wine in a half-gallon jug. We have a lovely glass half-gallon jug from Garrett’s Winery. The opening is large enough for an airlock.

Rather than racking wine all the way to the surface of the sediment, Kathy satyed about a half-inch or more away. We later transferred the remaining wine, down to the sediment level, into a bottle and quickly noticed the overwelming yeast aroma. That was eventually discarded.

A taste during the process indicated some floral notes on the aroma and a hint of orange on the taste. The wine was very dry, so I experimented adding some sugar to see what would happen. The most noticeable affect of the sugar was a softening of the wine. It became velvety. At the time, the sugar didn’t have an effect on the aroma or taste other than being a bit sweeter. We are going to have to learn how to gage how much sugar to add to the wine before bottling. For now, we are leaving it alone and letting it age, settle and perhaps clear up some more.

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.

Tasting and Racking Wines at Home

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:04:46 +0000

I’ve been putting off the racking of my wines at home. However since today was another cold day in Maryland, I thought I might as well taste the wines and rack them. The first was a gallon of Zinfandel from the Russian River Valley. Five weeks ago I placed a two-inch oak infusion spiral, heavy toasted French, into the carboy. The aroma was almost leather and there was an oak flavor that yielded to fruit. The infusion spirals worked well on the Zin. There was just a bit of sediment on the bottom of the carboy. I only need a bit of wine to top off. I am using a generic red wine for topping off.

My next carboy had five gallons, or so I thought, of Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon. I bought a new five-gallon glass carboy and was easily able to rack the contents. However there was almost a gallon left. My original carboy must hold six gallons. The light French oak infusion spiral took up some of the volumn so I racked the remainder of the wine in a half-gallon jug and decanted the rest. There was about 1/8 inch of sediment on the bottom of the carboy. Since I had extra wine, I didn’t need to top off. This Lake County Cab had an opague dark purple color and ruby rim. There was a hint of black fruit on the aroma along with a bit of oak. I used a heavy French oak infusion spiral for two weeks and then used a light French oak infusion spiral for five weeks. The taste was very fruit forward with the influence of the oak noticable. The tannins were medium to bold. The wine had a crisp finish. I did not notice any heat on the finish. My long-range plan for this wine is to blend it with Tannat. For a young wine it is pretty good and much better than the Cab I made a year ago from a wine kit.

Racking to a Barrel at Vint Hill Craft Winery

admin — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:19:18 +0000

After a few days in a tank we racked our wine into a French oak barrel. We also helped to rack other wines into other barrels. The easy job was to place a wand (a long tube attached to a pump) into the tank. It could rest on the side of the tank until the wine was near the bottom, then you would have to hold in closer to the bottom. It didn’t take long to fill a barrel.

After some of the wine is in the barrel we placed Tan‘Cor, Tan‘Cor Grand Cru and Quertanin to the wine in the barrel. We then added more wine to the barrel. Tan’Cor is suppose to improve the overall structure of the wine and to help protect the wine from oxidation during aging. The Tan’Cor Grand Cru also helps with the wine’s structure while enhancing a softer middle palate. It also helps enhance the Cabernet Sauvignon fruit character. The Quertanin helps with wood neuances without the toast and smoke character. These three additions to the barrel sort of jump starts the aging process.

Filling the barrel to the top was easier said than done. I wonder how many gallons were spilled onto the sides of the barrels and the floor. However, we all had accidents with filling barrels including DJ, the winemaker. I knew when the wine reached the top of the barrel but wasn’t fast enough with the turn off valve on the wand. Kathy did the best job of filling barrels without spilling as much wine. It was fun filling a barrel. I was sent to the lab to get more batches of the three aging tannins. My lab skills are improving.

View a short slide show of the racking process.