adiochiro3
Well-Known Member
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.
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.