Equipment Update #3

The cooperage arrived last week. Sitting in my living room are three 225L American oak barrels from Nadalie USA, heavy to medium toasting with toasted heads. I ordered different wood and toasting patterns for each barrel to experiment with the oak flavoring. While the entire 1.5 tons will be aged in these three barrels for 12 months, we will reserve a small lot that will age an additional 6 months in a small French oak barrel.



I also ordered an 2 additional 600L (160 gallon) tanks for primary fermentation. The plan was to ferment in 1/2 ton poly fermenters. However, after much thought, I decided to go stainless to minimize spoilage during maceration and cold-soaking. That gives us a total of 560 gallons of stainless fermentation and storage space.

Equipment Update #2

After an awesome week with the family in San Antonio and New Braunfels, my super-wife drove me and my two youngest boys to Austin to pickup a truck and drive equipment we purchased from St. Pat's back to Houston. After a great breakfast with my brother and his wife, we were on our way back home.

Here's my youngest son, affectionately known as "G-Baby," standing next to the 80-gallon tank.



The 50-gallon RP55 ratchet press. I almost broke my back removing the ratchet mechanism for cleaning. I had to screw it down to a piece of plywood so that I could move it with a dolly.



The 29-GPM flexible impeller pump from Enoitalia. This is the same line of pumps used by many commercial wineries.



This is racking wand below is pretty awesome. It's basically a standard racking wand with a screen attached halfway down. This will be used to rack the wine away from the solids after fermentation.



The ENO-15-S destemmer/crusher. Standard stainless screw and rubber rollers. It will process about 1.6 tons per hour.



All that's left are the barrels, yeast, and chemicals.

Equipment Update

After many months of deliberation, I finally have a formal equipment list for the upcoming vintage:

Primary Fermentation: fermentation will take place in 1/2-ton poly bins. As I indicated in a previous post, these bins will serve both as picking bins on the day of harvest and as primary fermenters. The 1.5 tons of grapes will be divided equally into these three bins in order to experiment with different maceration techniques: 1) cold-soaking, 2) extended maceration, and 3) no maceration. Cold-soaking is basically allowing the juice to "soak" with the skins and seeds prior to fermentation. The grapes are crushed, dumped into the bins, and dry ice is added in order to bring down the temperature to between 45-50 degrees (to prevent spoilage and wild yeasts from going postal). The must is then allowed to sit for 1-2 days, extracting important elements from the skins that affect color and taste. Once I get the extraction I want, the dry ice additions are stopped and the temperature is allowed to return to normal. The must is then inoculated with yeast and the magic begins.

The process is essentially the same for extended maceration. However, instead of allowing the juice and skins to soak prior to fermentation, extended maceration accomplishes the same objective but on the other side of fermentation at room temperature, sometimes lasting up to four weeks. Once fermentation is complete, we place the lid on the bin, wrap the top of the bin with food-grade plastic, and gas the headspace with an inert gas such as argon or nitrogen. We need to create an air-tight environment in order to keep potential spoilage at bay. The lid, wrap, and inert gas will accomplish this. Each day, the cap will be punched down and the must tested until we get the extraction we want. Winemakers are somewhat divided as to the effectiveness of these techniques. There is a substantial amount of research data supporting each technique and nearly all commercial wineries employ one (or both) of these methods.

I have also purchased an 80-gallon stainless steel variable capacity tank for storage, bottling, and rack-and-return operations. Originally, I was going to ferment in the 160-gallon version of this tank but couldn't justify the cost. While poly bins are widely used by commercial wineries and more than adequate for producing great wine, the stainless tanks are definately more convenient.

Yeast: Lallemand ICV-D21. I decided to go with all commercial-grade yeast, nutrients, and malolactic cultures - I need all the help I can get! I didn't originally know this but the yeast themselves play an important role in the quality and taste of the final product.

Yeast Nutrients and Derivatives: Go-Ferm, Fermaid-K, Opti-Red. These components will help to insure a healthy and stable fermentation.

MLF and Nutrients: MBR-VP41, Optimalo Plus ML, Malostart. Almost all of the great commercial red wines will go through MLF or some kind. Again, it's not technically a fermentation but rather a malic-to-lactic acid conversion by induced by lactic bateria. The effect is a softer and more integrated wine. You read more about it here.

Ezymes: Scottzyme Color Pro. Added at crush or during pump-over operations, this liquid enzyme will assist extraction by breaking down the cell walls of the grapes. Like yeasts, enzymes can play a major role in quality and taste.

Tannins: Verasupra NS fermentation tannins to help with extraction and color. Like the enzymes, these are added to the must prior to fermentation.

Testing Equipment: mostly Accu-Vin test kits. These self-contained kits test a broad spectrum of important elements: pH, total acidity, malic/lactic acid, residual sugar, SO2, etc.

Cooperage: Three varieties of 100% new 225L (59 gallon) American oak from Nadalie. See my previous post for details.

Racking Equipment: I really wanted a gas racking system but could not justify the expense for such as small vintage. Instead, I've decided to go with a manual system that includes a 29 GPM (gallons per minute) food-grade pump and stainless racking tubes and accessories.

Crusher/Destemmer: ENO-15-S. I also purchased a tall stand so that we could fill a 40-gallon transfer bin.

Press: RP55 ratchet press. It will press about 45-50 gallons at a time.

More to come...

2009 Merlot Announced

I finally got the winemaking plan completed and all the details worked out for this year's vintage. We will be producing between 73-90 cases of 100% Texas Merlot. The GPA's (Grape Purchase Agreements) have all been signed with a vineyard just outside of Brenham, Texas who has had some great years with regards to their reds. We are expecting Brix somewhere in the neighborhood of 22-23 (based on previous years), with the other key metrics expected to be within acceptable ranges. As you may or may not know, the harvest season in Texas is about 2 months shorter than it is in California; we just don't have the climate to sustain a longer growing season (and thus, additional ripening).

A special thanks goes out to my dad and a special friend (who shall remain anonymous until the results of the first tastings :-) for their help and support in making this thing happen. My father and a good friend are in the process of research with regards to starting a commercial winery, and this project is an attempt to familiarize ourselves with the winemaking process.

The plan is to ferment the 1.5 tons of Merlot in three lots:

Lot 1 (1/2 tons): Destem and crush; cold-soak; fermentation; press; rack to barrel; malolactic fermentation; stabilization and aging.

Lot 2 (1/2 tons): Destem and crush; fermentation; extended maceration; press; rack to barrel; malolactic fermentation; stabilization and aging.

Lot 3 (1/2 tons): Destem and crush; fermentation; press; rack to barrel; malolactic fermentation; stabilization and aging.

While different techniques will be employed with regards to maceration, all of the lots will undergo malolactic fermentation. Malolactic fermentation (or MLF as it commonly known) is process that converts the harsh malic acid to the softer, buttery lactic acid. This mellows out the wine, provides for more complex flavors, and benefits the oak-aging process. Technically, its not a fermentation but an acid conversion. Since everyone knows it as MLF, we'll stick with the terminology.

Fermentation will take place in 3 half-ton poly bin fermenters and all lots will be aged 12 months in 100% new American oak barrels. A small sample of about 10-15 cases will be drawn from the best of all lots and allowed to age an additional 6 months in 100% new French oak as part of our Reserve Selection.

The 1/2 ton picking/fermentation bins should be arriving tomorrow from the guys at The Vintner Vault.