(Click on each image to see certificate)
On Saturday, September 25, 1999 we drove down to Dundee, NY to pick up 100 lbs of Merlot and 6 gallons of Rayon d'Or. What I'm going to demonstrate on this website is how I make wine. I'm using a combination of images that have been taken from 1998 up through the bottling of vintage 99 (July 30, 2000). Hopefully, this will interest other folks in getting started with this great hobby. The trip down to the Finger Lakes was beautiful, although a bit early to really get much of the fall colors.
I've been making wine since 1971 and have had many wonderful successes (2005 Ravat-51 Gold medal) as well as a few flops (see the 2003 Chambourcin). Since it is getting into the winemaking season, anyone interested in buying fresh juice or grapes should really get a reservation in. I've been buying my grapes and juice for many many years from Fallbright, The Winemakers Shoppe. Contact Tom or Marcy at either winemaking@fallbright.com or visit their website, http://www.fallbright.com/ . You may also call them at 607-292-3995 or FAX at 607-292-6779. They are located in Dundee, NY on the east side of Keuka Lake about a mile or so below McGregor's Vineyard and Winery. For more information about this grape growing and winemaking area of NY, visit http://www.keukawinetrail.com/
2007 Chambourcin
Haven't made this since the flop of 2003 thought it was
time to try again. I had made it twice before back in '79 and again in
the '80s and both times it was a wonderfully dry, full bodied burgandy
type wine that kept for years..
13 Oct: 110 lbs of grapes from FallBright stemmed and crushed on site.
19.5 brix / .934 total acid / pH 3.20.
Addition of 160 drops of Peptic Enzyme.
Ameliorated with 2 gallons of water plus 6.5 lbs of sugar: Must @ 24.0
Brix with an estimated acid of .72
14 Oct: Addition of 3.5 teaspoons Enovit / innoculated with RC212 and
Fermaid
17 Oct: Brix @ ~17.0
18 Oct: Brix @ ~10.0
20 Oct: Brix @ ~3.0, pressed with a yield of 11+ gallons
2007 Vignoles
13 Oct: 13: 9 gallons of juice from FallBright @ 22.1
brix / 1.209 total Acid / pH 3.20 / 100 drops Peptic Enzyme
14 Oct: addition of 1.66 teaspoons of Enovit / innoculated with 71B and
Fermaid.
17 Oct: fermentation started
24 Oct: Brix = ~5.0
2007 Sour Cherry
14 July:Picked up 25 lbs. of sour cherries. My grandsons
helped me wash and stem them. The cherries were then frozen as I did not
have the time necessary to start the wine at the time. In addition, freezing
tends to help the maceration process.
11 August: Defrosted cherries, run thru cherry pitter (semi-frozen cherries
taste like candy) / unbroken cherry stones kept in must. Yield of 2.75
gallons pulp + stones. Brix = 15.0 Addition of 1/4 teaspoon Potassium
Metabisulfite (100ppm).
12 August: 2.5 Teaspoons of Peptic Enzyme powder (2x normal) to break
down pectin in fruit
Eight hours later, transferred to larger container and removed about 1/2
of the 'settled' stones. (all 'floaters' should be removed.)
Ameliorated to 5.2 gallons with approximately 1.8 lbs sugar / gallon resulting
in a 19 brix / 1.080 specific gravity. The low starting brix was intentional
as I was aiming for a final alcohol of no more than 10%. Fruit wines taste
best with low alcohol. Keeping the cherry stones in the primary enhances
the fruit flavor, however, be sure that they are NOT CRACKED or broken.
Added 2 teaspoons Enovit / Innoculated with 71B yeast..
15 August: "Pressing" actually consists of just straining out
pulp and stones. Do NOT crush stones. Pulp may be hand squeezed with a
collander or strainer.
17 August: Fermentation stopped, checked with hydrometer: Brix 0.0 / Specific
Gravity -0.050 (bone dry)
1 Sept: Racked, added .5g SO2 and 1/2 teaspoon acid blend
Thanksgiving: More info to follow as I catch up, but
this appears to be a great success. Preliminary tasting at 5 brix seemed
just a bit shy of the aim sweetness, but the nose was just pure cherry.
Will probably go to 6 or 7 brix in the end. Wonderful dessert wine.
Just what is Yeast and what does it do?
For those of you who wonder just what it is that yeast does, here is an interesting quote:
As described by Gay-Lussac at
the beginning of the nineteenth century, the chemical reaction of fermentation
is as follows;
C6H12O6
+ Saccharomyces cerevisiae = 2 C2H5OH
+ 2 CO2
( sugar plus yeast yields alcohol and carbon dioxide )
If you'd like a bit more history and
chemistry, look at the Cornell
Food Science website.
If you'd like more info on yeasts, visit the Wyeast Labs website. They have a lot of interesting information relating to some of the more exotic yeasts as well as a host of related info..