I made a chardonnay/pinot gris blend last fall and have recently
bottled it. I had a hard time fining it, I used bentonite and gelatin
and kielsol to eventually get it clear enough for filtering. After
filtering, the wine changed from sort of brownish tinged to yellow. A
distinct color change.

Could I have pressed to hard? I have an bladder press and I broke up
the pomace a couple of time to try to get a full carboy.

Any thoughts?

Dan

"Dan Emerson" > wrote in message
om...
> I made a chardonnay/pinot gris blend last fall and have recently
> bottled it. I had a hard time fining it, I used bentonite and gelatin
> and kielsol to eventually get it clear enough for filtering. After
> filtering, the wine changed from sort of brownish tinged to yellow. A
> distinct color change.
>
> Could I have pressed to hard? I have an bladder press and I broke up
> the pomace a couple of time to try to get a full carboy.
>
> Any thoughts?

I've never found it necessary to break up the pomace with my bladder press.
I just leave it on overnight under pressure. That's usually good for at
least 5 gallons extra out of a ton of grapes.

Your problem with color is probably because of the Pinot Grigio. This
varietal has significant color in the skins - enough that the juice will
often have a distinct copper/orange color. If you treat the juice _before_
fermentation to remove the color (PVPP), you'll likely end up with a white
wine. Post fermentation treatment doesn't work.

Tom S

"Tom S" > wrote in message >...
> "Dan Emerson" > wrote in message
> om...
> > I made a chardonnay/pinot gris blend last fall and have recently
> > bottled it. I had a hard time fining it, I used bentonite and gelatin
> > and kielsol to eventually get it clear enough for filtering. After
> > filtering, the wine changed from sort of brownish tinged to yellow. A
> > distinct color change.
> >
> > Could I have pressed to hard? I have an bladder press and I broke up
> > the pomace a couple of time to try to get a full carboy.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
>
> I've never found it necessary to break up the pomace with my bladder press.
> I just leave it on overnight under pressure. That's usually good for at
> least 5 gallons extra out of a ton of grapes.
>
> Your problem with color is probably because of the Pinot Grigio. This
> varietal has significant color in the skins - enough that the juice will
> often have a distinct copper/orange color. If you treat the juice _before_
> fermentation to remove the color (PVPP), you'll likely end up with a white
> wine. Post fermentation treatment doesn't work.
>
> Tom S

I only had about 60 pounds of grapes so every drop was precious.

I've found that breaking up the pomace and repressing releases quite a
bit of juice (quite a bit being relative).

I didn't kmow that about Pinot Gris and pre-treatment. I'll remember
that next time I get some Pinot Gris grapes. I guess that's why they
call it Gris eh!

Dan

> I've never found it necessary to break up the pomace with my bladder press.
> I just leave it on overnight under pressure. That's usually good for at
> least 5 gallons extra out of a ton of grapes.


Tom, you said you let the skin in the bladder press overnight to get
more juice. No problem with fruit flies, oxydation, spoilage ? How
much free SO2 you use to protect the pomace ?

Thanks,
Séb