Acid adjustment plan:
C2 Merlot 26 gal. add tartaric .2g/l x 98 liters = 19.7g
CV58 Cab 60 gal. add tartaric .2 g/l x 227 liters = 45.5g
C3PO Cab 15 gal. add tartaric .1 g/l x 57 liters = 5.7g
We decided to:
Dilute the Merlot in C2 to reduce alcohol 1%.
Dilute Carmenere in C1 to reduce alcohol by .5%
Dilute Cab in B11 to reduce alcohol by .75%
Dilute Cab in B12 to reduce alcohol by .5%
Blend 15% cab and 15% Merlot into the Carmenere.
Exchange half of cab in C3PO with either barrel B11 or CV58 to reduce oak in C3PO and attenuate its quirky nose.
The ML chromatograph below shows that ML fermentation has completed successfully in all barrels.
It looks like the alcohol level of all the 2006 wine is high which is consistent with the bitterness detected in the last tasting. The good news is that this is easy to fix by diluting the wine and it will taste much better than it does now. It may subsequently require adding in more tartaric acid to get the balance right but, the acidity is on the higher end of the range so it may not. It is my recommendation that we dilute the wine back to the 14.3-14.9% range with some variation across barrels and wait another 6 months for the wine to integrate the water.
I included a sample from 2007 for reference. We have liked the acidity and alcohol level of this wine.
| Barrel | Size/Type | Varietal | Titratable Acidity | pH | Alcohol % by Vol. | Proposed Alc. Target | Free SO2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C2 | 1/2 SM | Merlot | 6.15 g/l | 3.61pH | 15.5% | 14.5% | >25ppm |
| C1 | 1/2 SM | Carmenere | 6.2 g/l | 3.88pH | 15.3% | 14.6 % | 50ppm |
| B12 | 1/4 Recoop Fr. Used | Cabernet Sauvignon | 6.1 g/l | 3.7pH | 16.2% | 14.8% | NA |
| CV58 | 1 Mendocino Oak Am. | Cabernet Sauvignon | 6.15g/l | 3.73pH | 15.1% | 14.3% | 55ppm |
| B11 | 1 Quintessance Fr. | Cabernet Sauvignon | 5.65g/l | 3.71pH | 15.6% | 14.7% | |
| C3PO | 1/4 Recoop Fr. New | Cabernet Sauvignon | 6.05g/l | 3.71pH | 15.9% | 14.9 | |
| 2007 | For Ref. | Carm/cab/mer | 5.7g/l | 3.87pH | 14.6% | Good as is. | 80ppm |
| Barrel | Size | Varietal | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| C2 | 1/2 SM | Merlot | Oaky, smoke, some fruit in nose, fairly astringent, some bitterness in finish, One dimensional |
| C1 | 1/2 SM | Carmenere | Smooth Lower acid, different nose, nice. |
| B12 | 1/4 Recoop Fr. Used | Cabernet Sauvignon | Minimal Nose, Gary got burnt sugar/caramel, low acidity, some bitterness in finish, not so nice |
| CV58 | 1 Mendocino Oak Am. | Cabernet Sauvignon | Minimal Nose, A little more tartness than B12 |
| B11 | 1 Quintessance Fr. | Cabernet Sauvignon | Some Oak in nose, nice mouth feel a little bitterness in finish but reasonable acidity |
| C3PO | 1/4 Recoop Fr. New | Cabernet Sauvignon | Neutral, alcohol, buttery, thick mouth feel, nice astringency - more than others, slight bitterness, Gary- stronger carmel nose |
With the 66%/16/16 Carm/Cab/Merlot blend tasting so well from 2007 we should definitely try this blend again as well as a Cab Merlot Blend. But, first we need to get the alcohol levels down.
C1 Carmenere Good balance, somewhat bitter finish. Nose good -no green pepper. Mid palette excellent. Seems like oak is imparting a nice influence. Carmen liked the bitterness.
C2 Merlot Good less complex. Simpler
CV58 Cab Hot high alc. Somewhat bitter but not astringent, drinkable now.
B11 Cab Nice, bettter than CV58
Brought 21 bottles total over to Gary's.
After Racking : Barrel status Vol. (gal.) Wine
B11 used 60 Cabernet Sauvignon
CV58 used 60 Cabernet Sauvignon
C1 new 26 Carmenere
C2 new 26 Merlot
C3PO new 15 Cabernet Sauvignon
B12 used 15 Cabernet Sauvignon
Racking Specifics
Tank F to B11 60 gal. Old Leaker from 2004
Tank F and part of Tank A to C3PO 15 gal new Fr. Oak M+
Tank A to B12 15 gal. Fr. Oak M+ from 2004
Tank E to CV58 60 gal. Am. Oak 2004 Mendocino Cooperage
Merlot to C2 26 gal. new Fr. Oak M+
Carmenere to C1 26 gal. new Fr. Oak M+
A picture of some happy taster's in our gracious hosts', George and Susan's, new kitchen.
9 people ranked wines with Mike and Wendy sharing a ballot
Scores (Blind bottle # in parentheses)
+8 Wine Coop 2003 (4) This was a surprise
+8 Neon 04 (1)
+8 Niebaum Coppola Director's Reserve (10)
+6 Wine Co-op 2002 WC5 (6)
+6 Wine Coop 2001 CV3 (12) 8.6 T.A. last measurement
+6 Wine Co-op 2004 WCCV6 (13)
+4 Carmenere 2006 (11)
+4 Cinabar 1995 Santa Cruz (3)
+3 Merlot 2006 (2)
+3 Tank A Cab 2006 (7)
+3 Wine Co-op 2005 Barrel SG4 (8)
+2 Tank F Cab 2006 (5) hint of sulfur reported.
+2 Tank A Cab 80% + Carmenere 20% (9)
11/24/06 Innoculated wine in tanks for M.L fermentation
The wine was pressed on 11/18/06 in good weather. At one point a hose flopped out of tank E and we pumped about 2.5 gallons of wine on the floor in the back of the garage. Natalie discovered the problem within a minute of the event or we could have had much more wine lost. All but the Carmenere could use some straight dilution to bring down the acidities, alcohols and tanins depending on co-op member's preferences. We will meet on 11/29 to discuss. I suggest dilluting at least one barrel's worth to make a little lighter version of this wine targeted at something like 14.3% alcohol.
Tank Source Tanks Vol. g T.A.(g/l) pH res.Sugar(%) Alc.(%) Notes
A B Cab 35.7 6.9 3.6 .4 14.8 From thickest must, very dark, moderate astringency, not bad.
B Merlot 31.4 6.8 3.44 .3 15.0 Most intense Merlot you will taste, tank stinks
C Carmenere 27.5 6.95 3.92 .3 14.4 Spicy green pepper variant in nose' nice, intense.
F A&G 71 6.6 3.6 .4 15.1 Neutral nose, some tea in flavor, no green pepper, balance and mouthfeel good but very intense.
E C&D 72 6.45 3.7 .4 14.7 Like F.
Botrytised Cab 4 6.37 3.57 .3 13.2 Best nose, sweet fruit, slight musty nose, light color, cloudy, nice tartness, bitter finish.
Total volumes: Press Yield
Cab: 178 gal. .76
Merlot: 31.4 gal. .80
Carmenere 27.5 gal. .74
Total 237.6 gal.
Press yield was .71 for tank B which had the thickest must. Yield for C&D was more than .72 because some of it went into tank F. The press yield for the Cab in tanks A,C,D&G going into tanks E&F was 143gal/186 gal = .77 which is very good. Merlot yield was .80 and Carmenere yield .74.
We picked 2307 lbs. of Cabernet Sauvignon on 10/14/06. We ended up with 219.6 gallons of must.
Tank Vol.gal. Brix(refr) S.G. T.A. pH Post Additions S.G.
A 50 26.4 1120 6.2g/l 3.38 diluted 8.6% 1108
B 50 27.2 1123 6.9g/l 3.5 " 1110 Densest must.
C 50 26.7 1120 6.5g/l 3.5 " 1106
D 50 26.6 1119 6.5g/l 3.56 " 1106
F Carm. 37 26.0 1118 4.75g/l 3.97 Diluted 3.6% Added 1.5g/l tartaric. 1108
G 36 gal. Created by leveling A-D Diluted 4.3% Target a higher intensity/alcohol half barrel of Cab. 1112
We harvested 338 lbs. of Carmenere on 10/14/06 and ended up with 35.8 gallons of must. Probably one bin didn't get weighed which would explain the low volume per weight. The Carmenere was fermented using Maurivin yeast from Australia which was different from the Noble yeast used for the rest of the wine.
T.A. was 5.85g/l in the Tank with a pH of 3.48. The T.A. measurement was strongly sensitive to the amount of stiring of the juice before pipetting. Pipetting off of settled solids resulted in a T.A. of only 4.3g/l. No acid adjustment was made. Specific Gravity of the must was 1118. Must was watered back by 9% by adding 3.2 gallons of water. This should have reduced the T.A. to 5.27g/l. .4 g/l of tartaric acid was added to bring the acidity back up to 5.7 g/l. Fermentation completed at S.G. 997 on 10/11/06. Nutrients were added along the way. See notebook for details.
The Merlot was harvested on 9/17/06 between 8 and 9:00am in the morning. The Brix measured the night before was 26.5. Brix in the tank post crush was 26.6. We picked 419 lbs of grapes. In the tank we ended up with 35.6 gallons.
On 9/12 the acidity was 5.7 G/liter with a pH of 3.14 and Brix of 25.4.
Brix Chart below summarizes Brix data to date. With the sugar spike on 9/27 we increased irrigation to enable a longer hang time without shriveling.
|
Cultivar |
Rootstock |
PlantDate |
Scion |
RowSpacing |
AlongRowSpacing |
VineCount |
Areaacres |
CultivarBlockNumber |
|
|
CS1976 on St. George |
St. George |
3/15/1976 |
CS1976 |
7.5 |
6.7 |
657 |
0.763496 |
4 |
|
|
Carmenere on 3309 |
3309 |
4/1/2003 |
Carmenere |
7.5 |
4.5 |
184 |
0.143465 |
3 |
|
|
CS337 on 110R |
110R |
1/0/1900 |
CS337 |
7.5 |
4.5 |
166 |
0.158150 |
2 |
|
|
CS337 on 3309 |
3309 |
1/0/1900 |
CS337 |
7.5 |
4.5 |
341 |
0.241669 |
1 |
|
|
CS337 on 110R |
110R |
5/18/2004 |
CS337 |
10 |
4.5 |
356 |
0.389149 |
6 |
|
|
CS337 on 140R |
140R |
5/18/2004 |
CS337 |
10 |
4.5 |
110 |
0.135187 |
11 |
|
|
CS337 on 3309 |
3309 |
5/18/2004 |
CS337 |
10 |
4.5 |
913 |
1.084657 |
5 |
|
|
CS191 on 101-14 |
101-14 |
5/18/2004 |
CS191 |
10 |
4.5 |
231 |
0.216471 |
7 |
|
|
CS191 on 101-14 |
101-14 |
5/18/2004 |
CS191 |
10 |
4.5 |
180 |
0.128692 |
10 |
|
|
CS338 on 101-14 |
101-14 |
5/18/2004 |
CS338 |
10 |
4.5 |
920 |
0.895013 |
8 |
|
|
Merlot347 on 101-14 |
101-14 |
5/18/2004 |
Merlot347 |
10 |
4.5 |
166 |
0.172512 |
9 |
|
The measurements below were taken by Gusmer Enterprises Inc. Nitrogen levels are on the low side which is typical of hillside vineyards which have not been fertilized aggressively. Note block 8 is more in line with the upper blocks than it was last year in terms of Nitrogen levels but still has the lowest Nitrogen levels.
Below are my most recent acidity measurements. Note mine are much higher. Sampling was different for these measurements than the Gusmer measurements. 50 grape sample vs. 2 bunch. I tend to believe my numbers are better but, I should remeasure after pumping down my samples.
Forcasted Harvest date 10/15; target Brix is 26-27
Mark Holler, Camalie Vineyards Winemaker
Winemaker's Blogs on vintages 2005 2005Napa 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001
Camalie Vineyards home page.
Last update 10/23/08 M.H.