Chardonnay 2014

[adiochiro3]

I have the good fortune to access a friend's vinyard and glean grapes after the contracted mechanical pickers roll through his estate. Over the course of 3.5 hours, my wife, a friend and I gathered 400 lbs. of chardonnay at their peak.

We chilled the grapes overnight before crushing in my newly refurbished cast iron crusher.

We found running through the crusher twice eliminated the necessity to press. The yield was 21 gallons of must, which was treated with crushed Campden tablets to halt spontaneous fermentation.

After ~36 hours, I racked off of the gross lees, balanced the pH, added yeast nutrient, and pitched Cote' de Blanc. Fermentation has been slow and steady, starting at 60F gradually warming to 70F.

Primary fermentation should be done this week when I will rack again for bulk aging and oaking.

I will post updates as things progress. Thanks for looking.

 

[Yooper]

Wow- that's great! I wish we had vineyards here, so I could get a lug of those grapes. I'm so jealous!

 

[Melana]

That's incredible! I'm so impressed!
I'm with Yooper... i wish i could get my hands on a lug of those...

 

[adiochiro3]

Wow- that's great! I wish we had vineyards here, so I could get a lug of those grapes. I'm so jealous!

That's incredible! I'm so impressed!
I'm with Yooper... i wish i could get my hands on a lug of those...

Thanks, ladies! Living here in northern CA does have it's benefits. I racked all but one carboy off of the fine lees yesterday (the one that isn't topped up has been a slow-fermenting bugger -- its still at 1.012). Pictured below is ~9 gallons each of Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer -- far more then I intended to make or can drink. I'm going to be very popular next spring.

 

[Melana]

Thanks, ladies! Living here in northern CA does have it's benefits. I racked all but one carboy off of the fine lees yesterday (the one that isn't topped up has been a slow-fermenting bugger -- its still at 1.012). Pictured below is ~9 gallons each of Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer -- far more then I intended to make or can drink. I'm going to be very popular next spring.

Welcome! You could be popular and ship a bottle to your Admin.

 

[adiochiro3]

Welcome! You could be popular and ship a bottle to your Admin.

LOL! Already crossed my mind considering all of the help she's been!

 

[Winepharm]

That is a lot of wine but you can never have too much. 🍷Cheers!


Sure, wine is good for you but I just drink it because it's good.

 

[Winepharm]

Just had my first bottle of Australian Chardonnay [Yellow Tail]. It was very good but I still prefer California Chardonnay. Kendall Jackson my fav. I just about have enough sweet wines made to last my wife a while so I can tackle a Chardonnay.

 

[adiochiro3]

Racked for the second time today. I also added SO2. Looking nice and clear and tasting really good.

My tasting notes -- with the help of my wife -- were "Gives an apple nose, but is a bit biting on the front and smoothes out nicely into a light fruit with lingering mouth feel. Very good aftertaste."

I plan to let it bulk age another 3 months before bottling. Because I have so much, I plan to experiment with oak/no oak; backsweeten/no backsweeten.

 

[Yooper]

It's looking great! thanks for the photos.