Fall 2020 Crush is Coming - Join Us!
Fall grape harvest in California is a few weeks earlier than it was last year. Crush is very quickly approaching and I, like many others, have been sidetracked several times this summer with lifestyle impacts of COVID-19. My decision making this year is also more complicated than what wines I should make. It involves increasing my wine volume and building better conditions for my barrels to make my wines better. My basement sits at 70° F and that is a bit too warm for fermenting or storing wine.
This Crush Will Be “Un-bee-lievable”
One of the impacts of early grape arrival, which is most concerning to me personally, are bees. In September and during Indian Summer in October here in Pennsylvania, the weather is still warm enough for bees to move quickly. Bees are also gathering food for the winter, and the sugar in grapes is a source, which makes yellow jackets even more aggressive than normal. One year, I think just about every one of us got stung at least once.
But, that won’t stand in the way of wine! While it’s highly likely that the weather will be warm enough for bees, we crush in my garage and I have ordered a tent which extends from the garage into the driveway. The crush area will be separated from the bees with netting that will drape down from the top of the tent to the ground.
Increasing wine volume is more complicated than it sounds. I need to decide on barrel size because I need new barrels to hold the wine. I will also need new fermentation tubs, and a bigger crush crew. I have two 30-gallon barrels to bottle and that will leave me with one 30-gallon barrel to age. 30-gallons of wine makes about 160 bottles. This will result in a wine emergency for sure! The definition of a wine emergency is when there is no wine on the rack. As soon as I am down to 2 cases, my search for good wine begins.
To solve the volume problem, I have decided to purchase a two new 53-gallon barrels. This leaves the biggest decision -- which wine do I want in those new barrels. Tomorrow, I am heading down to Gino Pinto’s to get some advice because I like to move my wine off of new oak as part of the racking process. This keeps your wine from being over-oaked, but I do not have old 53-gallon barrels to rack the wine into.
As much as I love blends, my grape choices are Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and Koch Cab. The Koch ranch is on the slope of a mountain in Suisun Valley, California. The soil is rocky, and the drainage is perfect for grapes. These grapes are very expensive, but the wine made from them is worth the money. As much as I would love to do a 53-gallon barrel of Koch Cab, it is not in my budget this year so I will only do a 30-gallon barrel. 16-lugs will give me a 30-gallon barrel with extra for top off, but I need 28-lugs for a 53-gallon barrel plus top off.
Lastly but equally as exciting, I have decided to move my winery from the basement to the garage. This will give me better temperature control and better access to equipment, water, drainage and my wine in general.
Calling All Crushers!
Now it is time to get moving on getting a getting a crew and ordering grapes. With that in mind I have two offerings for local wine friends who sign up for our wine activities. It’s a great opportunity to learn the process hands-on, join in the fun of making, and partake in the drinking when all is bottled and ready to be uncorked.
