* The Amber Ridge 115 clone must was at 28.8 brix, 3.72 pH, and 7.9 TA. Flavors were great; but to bring down the alcohol (multiply brix by .55 to get a rough idea of where final alcohol will be) we added water (58L) and tartaric acid (615g) to balance that. The 115 was inoculated (with RC212 and some GoFerm) on 9/15 and went to dryness on 9/22; we pressed it into a neutral Francois Freres barrel. * The 667/777 clone field mix (70% 667) must was at 29.6 brix, 3.93pH, and 5.43 TA. (Note the nicer acid from the 115, which comes from the valley floor). Here we added 63L water and 700g tartaric acid to balance. The ferment was slower but not sluggish: inoculated on 9/17 and it went to dryness this morning (9/26); will be pressing into a 50% new-oak barrel this evening. * The must from the cooler Devoto Garden site is measuring 25.3 brix, 3.73pH, and 5.9TA. Will be inoculating this coming Wednesday, 9/30. * Both Amber Ridge bins were hit with 60ppm sulfur, a very modest amount. We put 80ppm in the Devoto Garden must, also not an extraordinary amount but more than the […]
Hot weather early in the week confirmed our pick on Thursday the 24th. That morning I started out early in a rented 12′ Penske into dense fog all the way from SF to Sebastopol. Could barely make out pedestrians on the Golden Gate bridge while driving over it. Stan’s crew had been picking since 6am when I arrived at about 8:30am. Here’s the first bin already filled, fog still hanging over the vineyard. Here’s my meager bin, I filled one of these (selectively of course!) to everyone else’s five. The flavors were decent though and I measured the median sugar at about 24 brix. So it turns out the bins are 48″x44″ and the 12′ truck bed is actually 136″ long — one needs to orient the bins just right to fit three of them. We got it right the second time. Thanks to Stan’s neighbor we had a tractor with the right size picks to deal with the bins. Made it back to SF to sort and de-stem by 12:30, fruit was in the the cold room for a five-day soak as of 3:00pm. The sort was challenging; the variation in ripeness amongst clusters was significant. That’s Bill W. […]
Wednesday, September 23, 2009Posted by Bobat 7:25 pmin blog0 comments
Did we mention that we contributed our 2006 Russian River Pinot Noir to this fine event at the DeYoung: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=145497281135&ref=mf
Wednesday, September 23, 2009Posted by Bobat 7:20 pmin blog0 comments
Just a short post in lieu of a 9/19 field report: we’re picking this Thursday! Flavors, ripeness coming together, time to get off the pot! Pictures coming.
Sunday, September 20, 2009Posted by Bobat 1:52 pmin blog0 comments
The rains and cool weather through the past weekend have put the grapes back — on Tuesday 9/15 my field measurements put the median brix at 23. Back at the lab, I got the following from cluster samples: 22.9 brix, 7.2 TA, and 3.45 pH. (My hand pH meter put it at 3.2). Still some green flavors from most of the vineyard, though the grapes up on the swell are ahead and tasting good. Am putting the pick date on Tuesday 9/22, supposed to be hot weather through the weekend, would love to pick up another brix degree without too much dimpling. Am afraid to go too much longer with the young canopy! Will be hitting the water for 2 hours tonight (Friday) and Saturday (1/2gal/minute drip). The Amber Ridge fruit is looking and tasting fantastic, as always. Brought the 115 out of cold soak Monday and inoculated; the 667/777 field blend came out yesterday, inoculated last night. Start the punch downs!
