2016 Wines - Chapter 4 - Chambourcin

I'm not going to lie, this wine has me a little nervous. It is my first red from grapes and first MLF. But I did not chose this wine or these grapes, they chose me. Thank you, Books Vineyard.

Lisa and I destenned the grapes by hand the day they were picked, then gently crushed them. We got 6 gallons of must. The original numbers were 1.082 (~20 brix), pH 3.01, TA 0.85%. Just tasting the grapes, I would not have guessed that the acid was quite so high. I treated with a small dose of Kmeta, then 5t pectic enzyme, 5g Opti Red. The pH came to 3.55 with 10t of calcium carbonate. Then 2 days of cold maceration.

After the must warmed, I pitched a starter of Montrachet. Fermentation took off, and the wine seemed to color up nicely. I step-fed Fermaid K. By day 7 it was down to 1.000. I needed the bucket for grapes the following day, so we pressed.

We got 3 gallons of free run and almost 2 more gallons with pressing. The plan is to let the wine go completely quite, rack off of the gross lees, then pitch WLP675 which arrived last week.

2016 Wines - Chapter 3 - Catawba Rosé

I don't care for the name "Pink Catawba." Therefore this wine shall be known as Catawba Rosé.

Three years ago Lisa and I picked Catawba and Vignoles grapes from the Books vineyard a mile down the road. I pressed the Catawba off right away using an old apple cider press loaned to me by a friend. The pH was 2.93, yet somehow it fermented, and I spent the next 12 months trying to correct a foxy, unbalanced wine. I tamed the foxiness with some infusion of passionfruit and grapefruit, and I finally loaded it with enough sugar to barely balance the acid. Now it is drinkable, but it is not a relaxed wine. It is a strong, muscular, busting-at-the-seams wine, almost too much for a table wine. It is a wine which needs to just chill; that's why we drink it with an ice cube in the glass.

I think the Books have had a couple of not-so-great harvests recently, but this year we got the call to come pick again. Lisa couldn't go, and the picking window was very short, so I went out late in the evening as the sun was casting long shadows already. I took three buckets and filled two with Chambourcin, one nearly with Catawba before it got too dark to see. As thanks, I took a 2014 Elderberry and the 2015 Lychee.

Catawba foreground, Chambourcin in the back.

When I tasted the Catawba grapes it became obvious to me why they probably need some skin time. The pulp has all of the sweetness and foxiness. The skin not only has the tannins and color but also a taste character and complexity which I have to think will help the wine. So we made Catawba Rosé.

We destemmed all of the grapes by hand and gently crushed. I was a little disappointed in the final volume, which was about 2.5 gallons of must before pressing.

Use your feet!

The pH was originally 2.86. 4t of calcium carbonate brought it up to 3.41. The original TA was 0.75% and the SG 1.082. That night we also added 3t of pectic, 3g Opti White, and k-meta. It was left to macerate at room temp for 24 hours.

By the next day the native yeast had battled through the k-meta and we had some fermentation. I pressed off 1.5 gallons of nice pink must, and pitched a starter of QA 23. It was a struggle to keep the temperature down, it was a vigorous ferment.

The ice bath.

By day 5 the SG was 1.003 and I racked to carboys. The color is unexpectedly that of apple cider. Our final volume will likely be just north of 1 gallon. With tweaks, this should be a nice little batch of rosé wine.