Thanks, all. I'm going to go ahead with cold soaking. I am thinking
through the extended maceration. Last time, I fermented for 7 days
with a peak of 86 degrees at about day 5. I've read about extending
this time for up to a month (which I am not about to do), but perhaps I
will try to seal off the wine for a couple of days. I am not going to
go the co2 route- maybe next year when I have a better setup.
Also, there was mention of "good grapes" . I have no idea what I am
getting. I live on the east coast, so I get my grapes through a
distributor. the grapes are cab from sierra foothills ( I know it's not
the best, but I have limited options for 23.50/case delivered, unless
someone out there has a suggestion.

thanks again




miker wrote:
> If you only want to change one variable and you are trying to achieve
> more body then you should go with the extended maceration rather than
> cold soaking since, as pp points out, cold soaking is for increased
> color extraction.
>
> Also as pp also points out, poor quality grapes will not improve with
> extended maceration, you will only end up with a poor, highly tannic
> wine.