Is anyone else finding themselves knee deep in bottle cleaning and
wrestling with the corker machine? We spent the better part of the weekend
bottling some recent past vintages.
Our '05 Syrah finally found it's way into the bottle. We're really
pleased with this one, albeit a small batch (5 gallons). This is the vintage
that we lost over 30 gallons due to some serious H2S problems. We were
only able to save a 5 gallon carboy of free run we had put aside. But it
is wonderful. While I grieve for what would have been about 40 gallons
of great wine - at least we have a couple cases put away in the cellar.
hard part now will be leaving them alone for another year. Final alcohol
12.7%; pH 3.63; free SO2 at bottling 30 ppm. Clear, spicey but subtle
nose, firm tannins and a long finish. Lightly oaked for about 3 months on
French medium toast staves.
The '06 Pear wine also made it's way into the bottle - 5 cases of it. We
left about 3% residual sugar to make it an off-dry apertif style wine.
Slight bentonite treatment, and extended settling time got this year's
wine perfectly clear with no filtering. No MLF of course, brought
fermentation to a halt with refrigeration, then used potassium sorbate to
prevent any further activity. Delightful wine - we really recommend pear
wine for anyone looking for a fruit wine that is more "wine like", yet
fresh and light.
Lastly, we bottled the small batch of '06 Pomegranate dessert wine that
we experimented with. We have been pleasantly surprised. The color is a
brilliant (and I mean brilliant) clear blood red. The nose is not great
- smells like the pithy part of a pomegranate (kinda woody), but the
flavor is great. We made this more in the 7% RS range, with a crisp lively
acidity (pH of 3.1).
Still have the '06 Marsanne / Viognier to bottle, but all in all, a good
weekend, It's always good to see the bins full of one's own wines. --