Hello all.

I've made wine from grapes for 5 years with the last four on my own without
the aid of my former group. The wines from that first year were delectable,
balanced and aged well. Since going on my own (after fair winemaking
research and investment), my wines are not up to the level they were with my
former group.

I practice the same principles my former group did. That is, we crushed the
grapes, measured the Brix, fermented and pressed. No pH measurements but
sulfite was added at 0.25tsp per box during crush. Their wines always came
out great; why would I change the process?

Since I am now geographically separated from that group, I get my fruit from
different sources. Besides this year when I arranged our own transport for
grapes and could dictate the vineyard, our fruit took a circuitous route,
heading to Tampa, FL before making its way to Georgia. Needless to say, our
earliest fruit was 2+ weeks off the vine while the worst case... I don't
want to imagine (Zin, PN and Sangiovese have been traditionally poor - are
they typically earlier ripening?).

Let's consider the cases of only red wines from Central Valley fruit. Pinot,
Cab Sauv, Merlot, Zin, Sangiovese, Petit Sirah, etc.

My wine, since getting different fruit and NOT with the former group, has
been a mixed bag. Some varietals have turned out fine while others have
begun to "turn", oxidizing after only 1 year in carboy. I've suspected
airlocks and have ruled that out (different carboys of same varietals are
afflicted and all seals appear fine). I've ruled out sanitation practices
since I tend to be pretty anal-retentive in that area and not all of the
wines have lost their edge.

For example, my 2005 cab sauv, merlot and petit sirah blend is astounding in
bottle! My 2005 sangiovese which has not yet left the carboy is browning and
is beginning to turn to sherry, not quite vinegar.

I've begun to strongly question the fruit we had in the past as well as the
fact that I've not measured and adjusted pH. I know there's a strong
correlation between pH and ageing potential - don't need a lecture there. I
guess what I could be educated about is whether I should really expect a
wine to oxidize after only 1 year and that 1 year being spent in carboy,
largely undisturbed except for racking (where I was typically adding
0.125tsp KSO2 except with H2S issues). Granted, I've not been proper in
testing for free SO2 and adjusting, but that amount of sulfite is generally
attributed to ~20ppm but I accept there are huge variances with this gross
generalization, unless 0.125tsp can be akin to having zero.

Let me boil the question down again.

Assuming 0.125tsp pot. met. every other racking, an unknown pH and fruit
that was off the vine too long, what do you suspect my oxidation problem
could be? I prefer to not be berated with "you need to measure this and
adjust that" because I intend to do just that with the 2007 vintage (my
former group got fruit less than a week off the vine; is that why they fared
better?). I strongly suspect poor fruit because, frankly, these wines are
starting to taste like thin vinsantos which I understand are made from
partially dried grapes.

Please offer your thoughts and suggestions. Starting in 2006 I am working
with a new vineyard and have trucked my shipment out directly, paying dearly
for the privilege. Thus, I am expecting (hoping?) the 2006 vintage to be
light years ahead of what's been going on 2003-2005. If your belief is that
fruit is the big culprit, I've taken the steps to avoid this in the future.
If otherwise, besides measuring and adjusting pH, I have a lot more work
ahead of me.

Sorry for the long-winded message; it's that CS-M-PS blend typing.


Patrick McDonald