What's going on in your winery today..

[kampervan]

daily stirring of 11 gallon elderberry and bramble, her lushness's strwberry, white elderberry, and 3 fruit juice wines as found fresh grape,apple,rasp in sainsbery

[spritzer]

I finally managed to bottle my Chianti
It had been bulk ageing..... so the extra time in the DJ, did it no harm, in my opinion... It is very nice

I also managed to rack a few others that needed racking.

I am definately not impressed with this years Rhubarb and raspberry
It is very acidic. I had to peel my cheeks apart, after tasting.
It will definatley be getting sweetened, at some point.

[NorthernWiner]

Took the first taste of the autumn '09 wines today.

The consensus:

• Napa Cabernet - face puckeringly wicked. Much too young to draw any conclusions.
• Sonoma Cabernet - tastes like a big pile of grapes, covered in grape syrup with a grape on top. Too early to tell, but signs are pointing in a positive direction.
• Sonoma Chardonnay - still going through malo-lactic, but it's at a point where it tastes very good. I think I will sulphite it tomorrow to prevent further ML.
• Sonoma Syrah - Wow! Did I really make this? It's only 2 months old, but I'm predicting this wine will be outstanding with age. Plummy, jammy. It smacks you in the face with big berry flavor.
• Sonoma Pinot Noir - this is another one that is looking quite promising at a young age.
• California Barbera - acidic, but good flavor otherwise. It feels a little timid. Will need to blend with something to give it backbone.
• California Tempranillo - Wowsa! Me likes! It's just begging to be stuck in a barrel for awhile.
• Homegrown Frontenac - Lots of black cherry, and not much else. Like a one-note song.
• California Petite Sirah - this wine had a horrible case of H2S while it was fermenting. After racking it off the lees, it's done a complete about face. I predict a winner here.
• Westlake Marquette (hybrid) - Hmmmm.... I'm not so sure about this. I can't put my finger on it, but something about it reminds me of mushrooms and feet.

[goldseal]

Really busy over the past few days:

Friday - racked & degassed 13 gallons of Ciliegiolo and 7 gallons of Merlot.

Saturday - nothing - helping a friend's father-in-law harvest 108 vines.

Today - racked & degassed about 3 gallons of Merlot-Wine No.1

[NorthernWiner]

Yesterday my fresh juice pails arrived on the back of a refrigerated truck from California. 12 gallons Grenache rose, 12 gal Gewuztraminer, 6 gal Chenin Blanc, and 6 gal Viognier.

Pitched yeast yesterday afternoon and this morning they are all happily bubbling away.

Now I just need to get them off the kitchen countertop. Right now my wife rolls her eyes or sighs loudly whenever she walks by them. I imagine the complaining will only get louder as the day goes on.

[kampervan]

just pressed 5 gallon apple juice, and racked white elderberry

[Cariad66]

I'm sat here waiting for the tin in my Muntons Yorkshire Bitter kit to warm up and away we go! Will be lovely by Xmas. Good times =)

[Richard S]

Bunged a load of pears through the juicer earlier on, just racked the juice off from all the muck, added some grape juice, apple juice and all the usual additives and pitched the yeast.

A "modified" Barolo kit got a heavy session of de-gassing before adding the finings.

I also tasted some wines that have been bulk ageing, looks like the next days off that I have will be spent bottling.

[ukric]

Transferred the white grape juice from primary to secondary.
Cleaned 12 1 gal DJs.
Moved round my under stairs winery to accommodate said 12 DJs.
Put some redcurrents down in a primary to steep until tomorrow.

[Tuco]

Transferred the white grape juice from primary to secondary.
Cleaned 12 1 gal DJs.
Moved round my under stairs winery to accommodate said 12 DJs.
Put some redcurrents down in a primary to steep until tomorrow.

Nice.
Sounds like your winery is taking shape nicely

Beaverdale Cab Sab 5G is in fermenter, Wine #1 needs racking, strange it was sat at .20 2 weeks ago and is still bubbling, think it's the cold weather, Elderberry is going nicely, think I'll have that for x-mas

I'm done with demijohns ! they cause me too much stress. 2 broken in 2 days. Bad

[wisp]

you tell 'em kid!

Sounds like you and demi Johns don't get on. Not sure what gives me that impression!?

[Tuco]

you tell 'em kid!

Sounds like you and demi Johns don't get on. Not sure what gives me that impression!?

Moving on to 5 gallon brews Kept a couple demijohns for the harris filter, to put a gallon of water thru it to open up the pours etc

[Cariad66]

I've only ever dropped one and boy do they make a mess.

[wisp]

especially when they're full!

[kampervan]

never dropped one but had a bottle fall on one . managed to save contents but did decant through sieve.