Surprise delivery

We've been waiting for our winery equipment for more than a month as strikes stranded the equipment in Italy. We destemmed and crushed by hand, but at least now we can practice perhaps on the apples. 

It was a big pile of stuff, shrink-wrapped in a topsy tower on a pallet. Our very nice delivery man helped Alex load it all into the trailer and we drove it with the RTV up to the shed. 

There was a good deal of unwrapping and some assembly required. But we managed to put together the destemmer/crusher, We unpacked the bottle washer and dryers, the corker is really cool, and the bottle filler will take some work. There's a pump and hose for moving wine from one vat to another. (I think that may have been a wishful thinking buy!) The room is full. We need another table in there for the equipment that has to sit on top, but for now, we are ready for the rest of the season. 

 

Pressing Rondo postponed

We were going to press the Rondo and then put it into demijohns for settling, but when Alex opened the vat, he noticed it was still bubbling. Quite a lot of bubbling was going on. So we decided to postpone the next steps until at least Thursday. Oh well, we get to enjoy the beautiful weather. 

Racking

Wine racking is not about stacking your wine bottles on a nice rack. It is the process of moving wine from one vessel to another. Wine racking separates the wine from the residue particles. There are many reasons to rack wine, the main one being to remove sediment left after fermentation. It preserves the qualities of the wine, makes it clear, and enhances the flavor. Typically you siphon the wine from one vessel to another without disturbing the layer of sediment that has settled out on the bottom.

In our case, the Solaris had stopped bubbling several days ago so we decided to rack it today. I spent the morning sterilising the demijohns and any ancillary equipment using crushed Campden tablets dissolved in hot water. We have six 5-litre demijohns and one slightly smaller one. I transferred the Campden solution from one to another, waited 10 minutes, and then rinsed.  It took more than 1.5 hours to complete. 

I had bought a long section of plastic tubing yesterday at the garden centre as our materials ordered including the siphon remain stuck in Italy. I sterilised the siphons by letting them sit in the solution that we used to sterilize the stainless steel tank. I sterilised the rigid plastic tube by letting it sit in a demijohn while it was treated. 

Alex thought we should be able to simply open the valve at the bottom of the SS fermentation tank as the sludge was only about an inch thick and the valve is higher than that. In our case, the sludge had settled inside the valve, so when we tried to decant, we got sludge. 

Alex rigged a plastic rod onto the flexible tubing leaving the flexible tubing about 1.5 inches higher than the hard plastic. That kept the siphon off the bottom and at the right height above the sludge. But because our tank sits fairly low even on its feet, we could not rack directly into demijohns. Instead, we had to rack into a measuring cup and then pour into the demijohns. I hope the exposure to air didn't do too much damage. 

The wine smelled and tasted pretty good, by the way. We got about 14 litres.

The Brix read 7% and the S.G 1.027. As yeasts convert sugar to alcohol, Brix drops, slowly at first and then more quickly. If one is fermenting to dryness, as opposed to leaving residual sugar, Brix readings ultimately go below zero. If Brix stalls before a wine is dry, that means yeasts have stopped converting sugar to alcohol. So a Brix of 7 is good I think.

I am worried about the pH as it is a bit high at 5.  We probably should be adjusting it with tartaric acid. The ideal ranges for the must are as follows: Red wine: pH 3.4–3.7, TA 6.0–7.0 g/L, 22–25 ºBrix. White wine: pH 3.2–3.5, TA 6.0–9.0 g/L, 17–24 ºBrix.

The sediment, settled yeast, left behind

Nice colour and scent

Irish Wine Podcast

Wine: The Long and the Short of It is a podcast about wine appreciation. It's been shortlisted for the Irish Podcast Awards. I guess I'll have to give it a go. 

Tying up the vines

 

We didn't rack today as Alex absentmindedly stirred the must this morning. We can't rack tomorrow as he is doing BIM work on the strand. Maybe Sunday. 

I walked the vineyard to check for storm damage. Two roses had broken stems and a few vines had broken sections from whipping around in the wind but overall not too bad. The weather today was spectacular in between short showers.

One Chardonnay, with substantial growth this year needed a new stake as its stake was broken at ground level. Must have been caused by the windage in Storm Agnes. Alex found two more vines that needed new stakes so we spent the afternoon working in the vineyard. 

The vines had experienced significant growth over the last month and the Pinot Noir and Albariño had shot up significantly. So I tied them up. Most are now reaching the top of their stakes so pruning this year will be more radical. 

Interestingly, I got a nice surprise. I noticed multiple vines with grape clusters, some of which were just beginning veraison. I don't know if there's enough good weather left to get them ripe before the end of the season, but it's a sign of possibilities. 

Time to rack

Alex has determined that the Solaris white has stopped bubbling and the Rondo red is settling to the bottom rather than the top, both indicators that it is time to rack -- decant the clearer liquid at the top of the Solaris. We'll have to press the Rondo first as the skins and seeds are still in there and this is the time to separate them. 

We've decided to rack into demijohns for the next stage. I think we'll need two for the Rondo and 3 or 4 for the Solaris. Then we'll wait about 2 months before we rack again. I think I will heat the demijohns with red to 22C on the heating mat to restart fermentation. 

Both of the vats have temperature indicator strips now and both vats stand at 20C. That's fine for the Solaris the red needs 22-24C. 

The destemming, bottle washing etc equipment is stuck in Italy, along with the plastic tubing for siphoning the liquid out of the tanks. So we don't have a long enough piece of plastic tubing to rack the Solaris from the vat. We'll have to improvise. 

I'll sterilise the demijohns and ancillary equipment in the morning and we'll rack when we're ready tomorrow. 

Outside, Storm Agnes brought over smoke from the Americas turning the sun into a bluish orb this morning. The rain is periodically lashing, the wind is howling, the tide is over the road, but Agnes is gone with minimal impact here and life is grand. The high tide will also deposit enough seaweed to fertilise the vineyard. 

 

Wine Auction

Billionaire Pierre Chen is selling 25,000 bottles of wine including burgundies valued at £156,000 and a very rare 1982 Pétrus. The most valuable wine collection that ever came to market could fetch £41m. He has collected these bottles over the course of 40 years. 

Chen, 66, is the founder and chair of Yageo Corporation, which makes electronic components for cars, computers and mobile phones. He is ranked only 466th on Forbes’ rich list, with a fortune estimated at $5.5bn. He considers wine an art form as he believes the winemaker must inject his/her own creativity into it. 

I'll drink to that. 

So if he collected these wines and he thinks they are art for the senses, why didn't he drink any of them to experience his art?