Barbera at 29 brix

[liquiditynerd]

I lucked up on a free u-pick of 250 pounds of Barbera. It's a bit hot right now so I am wondering if I should water it down (Ameliorate)

Picked and Crushed 10.12
sg 1.215
brix 29
ph 3.23

Lavlin Bougovin RC212

15 gallons of must and I am about to press and if I add ARU's I liked to do it now. First time with Barbera, young vine, last chance to pick for the season.

I am leaning on not messing with it and letting it age outbut I'm wondering if this light grape might be better tempered. Any thoughts HBT'ers?

 

[Yooper]

29 brix is ok for starting fermentation.

I don't understand your conversion to SG- you have 1.215. The actual SG, if you check it with a hydrometer, is more like 1.120, which is perfect.

 

[liquiditynerd]

Thank you once again Yoop! The Brix was correct, I might have mixed the SG up, it was during the Crush and this was the last bin to go through. The last runnings are dripping out of the press.

 

[Yooper]

Thank you once again Yoop! The Brix was correct, I might have mixed the SG up, it was during the Crush and this was the last bin to go through. The last runnings are dripping out of the press.

By the way, I am so jealous! I'm so far away from any vineyards that I just drool when I hear of guys like you doing this! In order for me to do this, I have to take a big road trip and buy buckets and it's not always doable.

Make sure you keep us posted!

I'm not sure if I'd do MLF on barbera or not- it's acidic, so maybe. Let us know what you decide to do!

 

[Twerp129]

Seems like you can either water back and pull the alcohol down or leave it a little hot. It's always tough to integrate acid at the end of a ferment, but I suppose that is still doable too.

At 29 Brix I would definitely check my wine with a clini test or send out a sample to make sure the sugar has been used up. Even RC212 has a tough time getting through a must that steep. At the high end you're looking at Port levels of alcohol, the last thing you want is residual sugar in bottle for brett and all those other nasty spoilage agents, unless you plan on sterile filtering.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

I would double check my brix once it is at room temp, if it remains 29 brix, I'd water it down, but make sure that you know what the TA, PH and Brix are, TA is important, when watering down to lower the Brix, you normally use acidulated water, using tartaric acid at 7 grams per liter.
If you leave it at 29 brix, you will not find too many yeasts that are up to that job of fermenting 18% must, not to mention that you'll need to add yeast to accommodate that brix level, and monitor your yeast nutrients well.
I would absolutely put Barbera through MLF, you don't want a spontaneous MLF to take place once bottled, plus wild MLB can cause some really funky characteristics.
Personally, I'd add Lallezyme EX at crush, followed by your yeast (I'd use VRB, RC212 isn't recommended, check out the Scott Labs fermentation handbook) hydrated with Go-Ferm, once fermentation starts, add Opti-red which improves body, color stability, and mouthfeel in red wines and results in red wines with more intense color, rounder mouthfeel and better tannin integration, and towards the end of fermentation Booster Rouge to help reduce the perception of chemical, ethereal and burning or drying sensations, and to give an impression of enhanced fruit and freshness.
This should give you a great wine, I'd add oak chips during fermentation, and after fermentation us VP41 Malolactic bacteria. If you have a barrel, I'd barrel age for a year.

 

[liquiditynerd]

Very interesting insights. Thank You!

L- yea, road trip was three hours there, harvest, tasting, lunch and return, so a full day plus eight hour crush the next day. Pretty much the whole weekend.

I haven't done a MLF and after tasting the vinters pull I'm leaning against it but others are recommending it. I also haven;t oaked it and we pretty much agree that Barbera might not need too much oak. The other two replies are interesting though, and since this is a first with this grape I'll take all the advice I can get.

I'd consider it a table wine (lunch or session ) not bad, a little tart, I'm guessing the tartaric, but it really hits the pallette, I think its a pretty good all around wine (so far from what I have had anyway) It might just be a young vine with its first fruit showing through.

Twerp- Good point, I didn't ameliorate, after researching. The vinters pull is mellowing out nicely and I think it will do well. I don't expect this to sit around long. Good point on the spoilage though, I might break my rule against SO2 to bottle.

Pman- Thanks for all that info. Have you worked these berries before? I actually found recommendations (strong) on other forums for RC 212. I was hesitant because I havnt used this yeast before. I did go-ferm but I havnt heard of opti-red or booster rouge. Kind of sounds the same to me by name but I'll research it later. I dont know if I'll get a free run of this again and I'm not sure I'd purchase these next year. I think I'll keep my barrel for something I know more about!


THANK YOU !!!! L-T-P

 

[pumpkinman2012]

MLF is as easy as adding yeast to ferment your wine, no disrespect but, those who are recommending against it, how much experience making wine from fresh grapes do they have?
With very few exceptions, most all red wines are put through MLF. MLF will take that tart (most likely malic acid) and convert it to lactic acid giving you a smoother wine, plus, if you don't put the wine through MLF and it starts a wild MLF in the bottle, you can end up with some very off tastes and potential bottle bombs, an exploding bottle can do some damage to you.
Opti-red and booster rouge are similar, they both improve body, color stability, and mouthfeel in red wines, but in different ways, Booster Rouge will also help reduce the perception of chemical, ethereal and burning or drying sensations.
I'm not saying that you have to do any of this, I've been making wine for a long time, these products can make the difference between a good and a great wine. As far as hearing good recommendations on other forums for a particular yeast, were these folks making Barbera from fresh grapes, Juice buckets or kits? It will make a big difference, the premium yeasts are used in wineries all over the world because they produce classical and traditional wines.
Making your first batch of wine can be overwhelming, have fun with it and ask a ton of questions.
Keep us posted!

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

I would ameliorate down to about 25-26 brix, which would still make a pretty blockbuster wine, but if it's properly balanced it should age gracefully especially on some french or hungarian oak. Also, ph is a little low, I would amend it to be around 3.5-3.6 or else you might suffer color loss and bricking as it ages but without knowing TA I would be very careful. Do note that MLF will alter your pH a little bit too. 29 is pretty high and you'll have a very strong wine that will suffer imbalances for many years, or you could let it have some residual sugar, don't adjust acid, sterile filter, and have a tasty dessert wine. Best of luck! a great find!

 

[Twerp129]

If your happy with it as it is then I'd leave it alone. Alterations post ferment are tricky. Just be aware it probably has a considerable amount of sugar left, I wouldn't plan on letting the bottles sit around too long.

 

[liquiditynerd]

Thank you all very much. I didn't find much on Barbera, and some other forums had a thread or two but I prefer HBT. I will definitely catalog these comments for next year. This came up fortuitously (or fruittously !) and I had to act fast without alot of research. I'm a bit embarrassed to have not heard of Barbera before and finding out that it's the THIRD most planted variety in Italy.

Being from Upstate/WNY I have had good exposure to Niagara and the Finger Lakes. It's pretty similar here in WA. I didn't give alot of info at the start but since these comments really have helped I figure I'd follow up. I lucked up on this harvest after a long tasting turned to volunteering at a winery close by. When I told them about my meads, blackberry, plums, Apflewine, Loquat, Pineapple, etc..... wines they took me in! On top of the harvest opportunity they gave me their old crusher so next year is going to be great.

The Thanksgiving sampling was good. I'm pleased enough with it and its in the racking ladder, green plum, beach plum, Barbera!