(Click on each image to see certificate)
On Saturday, September 25, 1999 we drove down to Dundee, NY to pick up 100 lbs of Merlot and 6 gallons of Rayon d'Or. What I'm going to demonstrate on this website is how I make wine. I'm using a combination of images that have been taken from 1998 up through the bottling of vintage 99 (July 30, 2000). Hopefully, this will interest other folks in getting started with this great hobby. The trip down to the Finger Lakes was beautiful, although a bit early to really get much of the fall colors.
I've been making wine since 1971 and have had many wonderful successes (2005 Ravat-51 Gold medal) as well as a few flops (see the 2003 Chambourcin). Since it is getting into the winemaking season, anyone interested in buying fresh juice or grapes should really get a reservation in. I've been buying my grapes and juice for many many years from Fallbright, The Winemakers Shoppe. Contact Tom or Marcy at either winemaking@fallbright.com or visit their website, http://www.fallbright.com/ . You may also call them at 607-292-3995 or FAX at 607-292-6779. They are located in Dundee, NY on the east side of Keuka Lake about a mile or so below McGregor's Vineyard and Winery. For more information about this grape growing and winemaking area of NY, visit http://www.keukawinetrail.com/
2009 Vignoles
Some years you know are going to be really good, others you just hope for the best. This is one of the latter. The summer was wet, cool, and in general, miserable. As far as I'm concerned, summer didn't really start until August and then only lasted about 10 days, therefore it shouldn't be a surprise that the grapes weren't as good as usual. We had decided to make something anyway, and Vignoles (Ravat-51) seemed a reasonable choice. We picked up the juice at Fallbright on Oct 10 and weren't terribly surprised at the numbers. Brix was 16, TA 1.545, and pH 3.05, definately not a great set of numbers, but one that puts our skill and experience to the test.
10 Oct: Picked up a little less than 6 gallons of juice.
First, we wanted to drop the acid. We took 1.5 gal juice and threw in
60g CaCO3 (chalk), and let it sit overnite The balance of of the juice
had 2.5 lbs of sugar added
11 Oct: Racked off treated juice and combined with balance. Titrated and
found acid had dropped to pH 1.05
Added 64 oz water plus an additional 18 Oz sugar, final brix =21, acid
= 1.0
Add Enovit & Peptic enzyme, inoculated with Steinberg yeast left over
from 2008 which had been frozen. Fermentation started within 24 hours
and is progressing very nicely. Interesting observation using Steinberg,
Once it starts, virtually all foam disappears and must just perks along
very evenly. No anti-foam or anything else needed.
<to be continued>
2008 Riesling
I've really been looking forward to make this Riesling as Marcy, down at Fallbright, has been able to obtain some Steinberg yeast for me. Steinberg is the traditional Riesling yeast, and having used it once before and getting remarkable results, have been trying to get it again for years.
25 Oct: 10 gallons of juice from Fallbright. Rod and I split it and
we're each making out own variation this year. Information is for my 5
gallon batch.
Brix = 20.0, Acid = 0.904, pH = 3.10
1 teaspoon Enovit was added and juice was allowed to stabilize to about
60-65 F
26 Oct: ~1/2 teaspoon Steinberg yeast was sprinkled on surface and allow
to expand naturally
27 Oct: yeast forming clumps on surface coveing about 50% of area
28 Oct: swirled yeast in and within12 hours, must has gone 'milky' and
steady bubbling observed.
2 Nov: Must transferred from 6 to 5 gallon carboy, Brix = ~3.0, SO2 =
30ppm, added in approx 1 quart of unfermented juice held in reserve
Fermentation was very smooth and constant for the next week to 10 days.
11 Nov: Carboy transferred out into garage and begins to clear within
days.
11 Jan: Racked wine, plenty of crystal dropping, totally dry, wonderful
taste already. Should be one of the best I've made.
August 09: Filtered and bottled. 0 Brix (or as close as I can measure
ot it). Fruity, dry, wonderful taste and nose. Definately one of my best.
I'm definately convinced that using the Steinberg yeast made the difference.
In addition to my dry version, my winemaking partner Rod also made a batch.
Marcy had sent out a note informing everyone that "Due to excessive
rain in June-July 2008 and during harvest time, there was botrytis in
some of the Riesling," Strangely, his jug showed the issue, whereas
mine didn't. As a result, we were worried. As it turned out, we treated
his with PVPP Polylact from Scott Labs as Tom recommended. This stuff
is absolutely amazing. We followed the directions and 24 hour after dosing,
we filtered and were presented with a beautifully clear and delicious
wine. It had a bit over 1% residual sugar which we adjusted up to 2%.
We had previously added potassium sorbate to stabilize and prevent refermentation
as well as adjusted SO2 levels. The result was a wonderfully flavorful
semi-dry Riesling which we are quite proud of. It's due in no small part
to Tom and Marcy following up and notifying us of the issue as well as
the cure.
2007 Chambourcin
Haven't made this since the flop of 2003 thought it was
time to try again. I had made it twice before back in '79 and again in
the '80s and both times it was a wonderfully dry, full bodied burgandy
type wine that kept for years..
13 Oct: 110 lbs of grapes from FallBright stemmed and crushed on site.
19.5 brix / .934 total acid / pH 3.20.
Addition of 160 drops of Peptic Enzyme.
Ameliorated with 2 gallons of water plus 6.5 lbs of sugar: Must @ 24.0
Brix with an estimated acid of .72
14 Oct: Addition of 3.5 teaspoons Enovit / innoculated with RC212 and
Fermaid
17 Oct: Brix @ ~17.0
18 Oct: Brix @ ~10.0
20 Oct: Brix @ ~3.0, pressed with a yield of 11+ gallons
12 Apr 08: Brix @ 0.0, slight yeast taste, 5 gal carboy put in wood case,
dark corner of basement, remaining 3 gal kept out in garage
7 Aug 08: slight acid bite, heavy, cherry flavor. Aging well. All carboys
moved to corner of basement. Plan on bottling summer of 09
5 Oct 09: Tasting in preperation for bottling. There are a 5, 3, and 1
gallon jugs. The 1 gallon, while not bad, isn't up to what I want to blend
in with the big batch. Seems a bit high in acidity. This was filtered
and bottled separately and will probably be used as a cooking wine. The
5 and 3 however are excellent with a subtle difference between them. They
were filtered on 10 Oct and blended as follows:
Blend A: 1 gallon of the "3" carboy into the "5".
This results in a slightly smoother wine than the "5" alone
Blend B: Not a blend, but the remaining 2 gallons of the "3"
carboy, which we're referring to as Premium.
Bottling took place on 10 Oct for the 3 gallon batch,
and on 12 Oct for the remaining 6 gallons.
Deep burgandy color, full bodied. This is definately a keeper and was
worth the extra aging in the carboy.
2007 Sour Cherry
14 July:Picked up 25 lbs. of sour cherries. My grandsons
helped me wash and stem them. The cherries were then frozen as I did not
have the time necessary to start the wine at the time. In addition, freezing
tends to help the maceration process.
11 August: Defrosted cherries, run thru cherry pitter (semi-frozen cherries
taste like candy) / unbroken cherry stones kept in must. Yield of 2.75
gallons pulp + stones. Brix = 15.0 Addition of 1/4 teaspoon Potassium
Metabisulfite (100ppm).
12 August: 2.5 Teaspoons of Peptic Enzyme powder (2x normal) to break
down pectin in fruit
Eight hours later, transferred to larger container and removed about 1/2
of the 'settled' stones. (all 'floaters' should be removed.)
Ameliorated to 5.2 gallons with approximately 1.8 lbs sugar / gallon resulting
in a 19 brix / 1.080 specific gravity. The low starting brix was intentional
as I was aiming for a final alcohol of no more than 10%. Fruit wines taste
best with low alcohol. Keeping the cherry stones in the primary enhances
the fruit flavor, however, be sure that they are NOT CRACKED or broken.
Added 2 teaspoons Enovit / Innoculated with 71B yeast..
15 August: "Pressing" actually consists of just straining out
pulp and stones. Do NOT crush stones. Pulp may be hand squeezed with a
collander or strainer.
17 August: Fermentation stopped, checked with hydrometer: Brix 0.0 / Specific
Gravity -0.050 (bone dry)
1 Sept: Racked, added .5g SO2 and 1/2 teaspoon acid blend
Thanksgiving: More info to follow as I catch up, but this appears to be a great success. Preliminary tasting at 5 brix seemed just a bit shy of the aim sweetness, but the nose was just pure cherry. Will probably go to 6 or 7 brix in the end. Wonderful dessert wine.
7 August 08: Added 1 teaspoon Potassium Sorbate, 1/4 teaspoon metabisulfite, 4 lbs sugar, 2 teaspoons tartaric acid, 2 teaspoons citric acid
15 August 08: 10.5% RS, 45ppm SO2, filtered and bottled in half bottles. Delicious desert wine as we had hoped for.
Just what is Yeast and what does it do?
For those of you who wonder just what it is that yeast does, here is an interesting quote:
As described by Gay-Lussac at
the beginning of the nineteenth century, the chemical reaction of fermentation
is as follows;
C6H12O6
+ Saccharomyces cerevisiae = 2 C2H5OH
+ 2 CO2
( sugar plus yeast yields alcohol and carbon dioxide )
If you'd like a bit more history and
chemistry, look at the Cornell
Food Science website.
If you'd like more info on yeasts, visit the Wyeast Labs website. They have a lot of interesting information relating to some of the more exotic yeasts as well as a host of related info..