Isleworth vineyard update 10

[evanvine]

Nick Poulter (Wines from your Vines) says a max of 3 days on the skins, else you leach the tannins out.
I think you have disproved that!
He also says you should remove the stalks (red wines) for the same reason.
You were right!

 

[tonyhibbett]

The book was published in 1998 and his knowledge and experience obviously go back much further. His vineyard is, or was on the Isle of Wight. He says that his results with Wrotham pinot, one of the black varieties I used in my 'bag of grapes' experiment, on the island were not as good as results further inland. Time and place make a difference. He does say to leave the skins and juice for 24 hour hours, then up to 3 days fermenting, so that's 4 days in all. I'll know soon enough with my 2nd batch of somewhat riper grape juice, which got off to very quick start because I didn't use any sulphite this time, hoping to give the wild yeast a chance to make a contribution.

 

[tonyhibbett]

A second racking has removed all of the scum. This appears to be a very efficient way of removing the fine solids with virtually no loss of volume.
The colour is fading so fast, I could end up with a 'blanc de noir.'
The oak chips, at the rate of 3g per litre has changed the pH from 3.1 to 3.3. No oak was added to the pomace wine, which remained unchanged at 3.6, which seems to prove the point that using oak during fermentation reduces acidity significantly.
The pomace wine has finished fermenting and is very harsh because I added the stems, a mistake not to be repeated. While I can reduce the tannin content by fining, since I am planning to leave the skins in the second main batch for longer, there will be very little of value in the pomace to be extracted after pressing, so I won't bother.

 

[evanvine]

You "are" getting involved, hope it produces something worth while.
Good job the grapes only ripen once a year!

 

[tonyhibbett]

Apparently not. There is a second crop of pinot noir grapes, some of which are starting to ripen!

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Interesting thread but this got me laughing... :clap: :clap: :clap:
jihadist group known as Al Cohol

BB :thumb:

 

[tonyhibbett]

Muslims are forbidden to drink fermented grape and grain, so mead, cider, elderberry wine, rum and vodka made from potatoes etc are presumably ok. It is so easy to pick holes in religion and expose it for it's utter nonsense. The first miracle of Christ was to turn water into wine, but given a bit of notice, any fool like me can pull off the same trick. 7 days in fact, the same time it took God to create the world, so a third of it's population actually believe.
Meanwhile I have stripped the excess tannin from the pomace wine by fining, although this has not cleared it. In my limited experience, pomace wine always undergoes a malolactic fermentation and this is probably now what is taking place, which is good news.

 

[evanvine]

**** a brick Tony!
You are going deep now!

 

[tonyhibbett]

Overnight, out in the cold, the pomace wine partially cleared, leaving a thin, firm white layer. The colour is a surprise, as I would expect a brownish red. This may have something to do with using the grapes own yeast. The removal of this white substance has made the wine more red and less pink, which is good news and suggests that the main brew will also lose it's pinkness after fining.
I have given the pomace wine another dose of Clear IT, but I now remember last year's batch required filtering to get it properly clear and despite this, a malolactic fermentation still occurred in the bottles.
Meanwhile the second main batch has dropped from 1090 to 1030 in just 2 1/2 days, the skins have gone from black to red and the pH is now 3.5, which is ideal.
I just noticed that Azda luxury fruit and nut muesli contains Flame raisins, which are large, black and very tasty, far superior to any other raisin I've tasted. I bought a flame vine this year out of interest. They produce large, seedless grapes and are vigorous and heavy-cropping. I have seen these grapes in shops selling for £4 per kilo.

 

[tonyhibbett]

After a mere 3 1/2 days the second main batch has an sg below 1000 and rather astringent, so I ran it through the press, after wringing it through muslin. The press yielded an extra 15% liquid, a total of 9 litres of decidedly deeper red than the first batch, with none of the heavy sediment or surface scum either, just the usual dead yeast sediment.
Despite a bad weather forecast, I ventured forth to harvest the last row of pinots and was pleasantly surprised to find the park staff had cut the grass, the fairground had departed and the looming stormy clouds passed me by. I collected 9 kilos of grapes, bringing the total to 33, at an average of 2.5 per vine. An obvious pattern emerges: as the quality increases, the yield decreases. This last batch has an sg of 1075 and a pH of 3.5, probably the best I can expect this year.
Meanwhile the isabella grapes continue to ripen. The sugar level is still fairly low, but so is the acidity, so they have probably peaked and are next in line for harvest, but then so are the rieslings...

 

[tonyhibbett]

I ran the pomace wine through a Harris filter, which removed more of this strange white substance, resulting in a deeper red, but still not as clear as I would like. I tried to fine the main brew, but am having the same problem. I suspect malolactic fermentation has something to do with it, and anyway it's only 9 days since the grapes were harvested and this is not a 7 day wine kit!
The second batch is producing a normal yeast sediment and is starting to clear naturally, so I will leave it alone. There was no thick layer of fine pulp sediment or subsequent surface scum, so fermenting on the pulp and then pressing seems to be the best approach. In both cases, the flavour is excellent, although it tastes nothing like any pinot noir I've ever sampled.
The 3rd and last batch is well under way, down to 1070 in 24 hours and already a good red colour.
2 small bunches of riesling grapes had fallen to the ground, so I crushed and pressed them. The juice gravity is 1065 and the pH is 3.1, which suggests they still have some way to go. The juice rapidly turned brown, which suggests oxidization, but this was a very small quantity, so hopefully nothing to worry about.

 

[evanvine]

The juice rapidly turned brown, which suggests oxidization, but this was a very small quantity, so hopefully nothing to worry about.

Do you not sulphite your grapes prior to pressing Tony?
This would prevent oxidation.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Yes and no! Sulphiting is certainly a safe option and makes commercial sense when working on a large scale, where there is an inevitable delay with grapes hanging around waiting to be processed. But I am a modern lean and mean operation, harvesting grapes in batches I can handle and processing them the same day. Sulphiting inhibits the the naturally present yeasts which can do a more than adequate job if left to their own devices, without ill effect, provided you have taken steps to kill off the nasties previously. The king of wild yeasts, S. cerivisiae, like certain famous antibiotics such as penicillin, can see off the no hope competitors like Monrovia in the qualifying rounds of the World cup.
Although riesling is a superior white wine, if not the best, it is a small part of my harvest and may routinely get the sulphite treatment.

 

[tonyhibbett]

While the riesling sample has the look and smell of oxidized, or possibly maderised juice, it still tastes good. It's quite possible that the modern riesling wine is a somewhat sanitised version, trying to be disassociated from the semi sweet bland German hocks of the 70's which came to be despised as the so called cognoscenti embraced chardonnay and pinot grigio, which also now seem to have fallen out of favour. I bought a bottle of 1949 Liebfraumilch at a boot fair. In those days it was made from riesling grapes. It was absolutely delicious without being sweet, yet with a honeyed flavour. A random sample today indicated a rise in the sugar level to 18%, so they can hang on there a while longer.
Meanwhile the isabellas are starting to drop to the ground. I collected these up and ran them through the same tests. The sugar level is low, similar to ripe apples and pH is 3.1. Clearly these are not great wine grapes.
I am already getting a sweet flavour from the pinot noir, despite the fact that it is actually medium dry in terms of sugar content.

 

[evanvine]

oxidized, or possibly maderised

I'd love to know the subtle difference here.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Strictly speaking, maderisation is the process of making Madeira, which involves storing at temperatures well above 30 c for many months, which initially confers off flavours, which, after maturation, become pleasant. But the term is also used to describe oxidation, which can occur in white wines which don't have enough sodium dioxide and/or are too old. They darken and have a 'cheap sherry' flavour. I was recently given a bottle of sweet white Ukrainian wine which fits this description. It has a date stamp of 13-08-13, which I assume is the 'best before' date!
Both terms are actually inappropriate in the case of fresh grape juice because they refer to processes during fermentation and/or storage. Fully ripe riesling grapes do have a brown look, which is probably why the juice has this colour, which may well lighten. We shall see!
Meanwhile the 3rd and final batch of pinot noir has already finished fermenting after just 2 1/2 days and after pressing, is already clearing rapidly all by itself. Fining was a mistake. Unlike the other 2 batches, this one does actually taste like the stuff you buy, even at this early stage.
I am certainly glad that harvesting is complete. I went to visit a friend and his black grapes are mostly mouldy, but just a week ago they were fine. They are on a sheltered south-facing fence, so I suspect poor ventilation was the problem. There was never going to more than a couples of bottles of wine from the 25 bunches, as the vine is fairly young, so I was going to incorporate them, but with all that mould, I wasn't going to take the risk. However, I took a few of the healthy ones to test. The flesh is, unusually, red, the sg is 1080, higher than any of mine, with a pH of 3.6. The flavour is pleasant, but I suspect only capable of producing a light, fruity red. I have no idea which variety, but the nearest match is GM 6494, of which I've never heard, let alone seen available, or Rubired, which is also the name that meths drinkers gave to the mixture by adding port when meths was made unpalatable to deter the habit!

 

[evanvine]

I hear what you say Tony!
To me, though, "madeiraisation" is just a posh name for oxidation.

 

[tonyhibbett]

Out of interest, I looked up maderisation in the index of Acton & Duncan's 'Making Wines Like Those You Buy.' There were references to 3 pages in the section on Madeira, but when I looked, the word does not appear in any of them!
My one and only personal experience of it was with my second ever wine, made from the accumulated waste from many pots of tea. I made 2 gallons, placing the jars in the airing cupboard with the immersion heater to ferment. Unsurprisingly it was not a wild success when I took a gallon to a party, although it did get consumed when everything else had gone!
When my parents had central heating installed, the other gallon was found behind the immersion heater, where it had lived for 10 years. It tasted like dry sherry and was very nice!
Meanwhile at my somewhat stretched makeshift winery, there are 9 gallons of pinot noir at various stages of development and of different qualities. Before the impending hurricane threatens to destroy my vineyard, I decided to try and salvage some more grapes. Next in line are the isabellas. There are only 2, but very big and absolutely loaded with hundreds of bunches of large black grapes. I picked over 300 bunches before giving up exhausted and retiring for lunch, waiting for the storm to pass. My garden weather station says the pressure is actually rising and the windspeed is not exactly terrifying at 6 mph, but then we all know about the calm before the storm.
Don't miss the Orson Wells radio adaptation of War of the Worlds tonight on Radio 4 Extra tonight, which convinced loads of dumb Yanks that a Martian invasion was actually happening.

 

[evanvine]

Thank you for the head up on Orson Welles, just listened to it on iplayer, marvellous stuff!

 

[tonyhibbett]

They don't make 'em like that no more. A south American version was broadcast and people set fire to the radio station because they were so angry at being duped. People died as a result.
Meanwhile real life drama as the megastorm hits my vineyard. I had installed a windbreak against the wind funnel effect caused by the trees to the west, which got put to the test this morning. The area was littered with broken branches, one of which was piled up against the fence. The row of isabellas, which still held several kilos of grapes, but was 7 rows back from the wind, was so badly rocked, the centre post had snapped and was only held in place by 6 lines of stout wire.
Having repaired the damage, I harvested the rest of the grapes and now have 22 kilos to process.
Be careful what you wish for!