Problem Chard

When last we left our Chardonnay, we had reason to believe that its malolactic fermentation - that process which will give our wine the buttery characteristic we so desire - was not going according to plan.  Since that time I have added several grams of yeast nutrients and stirred the lees religiously, all in the hopes of kick-starting the MLF bacteria into finishing the job it was hired for.  However, after waiting three weeks and conducting the chromatography test again this weekend, I can now confirm that this Chard just isn’t behaving, and my fermentation is officially stuck.

I have some hints as to what wrong - apparently “whatever temperature it happens to be in the basement” is not the ideal condition to bring MLF to completion – but at this point there’s nothing to do but to start the process over.  This morning I ordered a new inoculation kit, which, by the way, is the most expensive ingredient (after grapes) in the wine making process.  If I’m not able to bring this secondary fermentation to completion within the next few weeks, the wine will probably never get there, leaving it more susceptible to disease, at risk of developing a carbonation quality which could pop the corks after bottling, and much worse, it might taste bad.

Spin Room

This weekend we invited our fellow Dry Run enthusiasts to the house to write the tasting notes for the 2009 Pinot Noir.  Having two English majors plus Charlie’s expert palate made the job pretty easy, not to mention that we happen to like the wine.  Where the 2008’s tasting notes were hampered by our efforts to avoid using words like medicinal and acidic, the biggest struggle this year was to choose between “toffee” or “caramel” in our description of the finish.  Here’s what we came up with:

“The winemakers returned to Lodi, California, just miles from Napa Valley, to source the Pinot Noir grapes for this, their sophomore release.  This soft, medium-bodied wine starts with cherry and strawberry flavors with a touch of welcome earthiness.  Smooth and balanced throughout, with a hint of caramel in the finish, this wine can stand alone, but also pairs wonderfully with a variety of foods, particularly your pasta or fish course.  The wine can be enjoyed immediately, and with proper cellaring, should continue to mature well into 2014.”

Still four cases in the cellar, but they’re going fast, so get your orders in quick.

Miracle Flow

We racked the Pinot Noir this weekend to remove the sediment from the carboys.  When I went to check the wine’s acid level I briefly wondered if history’s lamest miracle had occurred, as the neutral reading I recorded on my pH meter seemed to suggest that the wine had turned to water.  My lack of faith was quickly restored, however, when I realized that I forgot to take the cap off the sensor on the meter.

I then moved the Pinot to the basement and lined up my various carboys to admire my works in progress.  With my winery at full capacity, I now have three different varietals at various stages in the aging process, with a total of 23 gallons, or approximately 10 cases in production.  As I prepared the carboys for this photo-op I found myself wishing for a much more ambitious miracle:  Please let this wine not be terrible. 

Acid Trip

Waiting for MLF, or secondary fermentation, to complete can be a bit nerve-racking.  As soon as it’s finished, you want to rack the wine into full carboys and then add sulfites to protect it.  The problem is that once you inoculate the wine with the MLF bacteria, you can’t tell by looking at it whether it’s working or not.  The books say it can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.  Fortunately, there’s a time consuming chemistry test you can perform to see how it’s progressing, so with my Chardonnay four weeks and the Pinot Noir two weeks into the process, I decided to do the test and get a progress report. 

The general idea of the test is to put small samples from three different types of acids and each of your wine carboys onto a special type of chromatography paper, than soak the paper in a developing solvent for several hours.  Once you remove the paper and allow it to dry, the samples will leave behind imprints at various heights on the paper, which you can read to determine what type of acids remain in your wine.  Since MLF is the process of converting malic acid to lactic acid, the fermentation is complete once the reading tells you the malic acid has disappeared. 

In my results shown here, you can see from the two columns on the far right that there is no yellow dot in the middle, which means my Pinot Noir samples have completed MLF.  After two weeks!  Really good.  The three columns in the middle show a strong presence of malic remaining, meaning that after four weeks the MLF in my Chardonnay has barely begun.  Really bad.  I’ve never had a stuck MLF before, so I’m not actually certain what to do about it, but I’m assuming the first reasonable response is to cry.

Better Than Cats

Kim and I attended a social function this weekend which provided a first chance to get feedback on the 2009 Pinot Noir from someone other than family and friends, who, let’s face it, are not the world’s most objective wine tasters.  By way of example, after receiving polite nods of approval from the family audience for the 2008 Pinot Noir, a disinterested partygoer gave it the following review: “This makes me want to throw up.”  Honest indeed.  I don’t care how much election coverage you’ve caught over the last two days, it’s hard to spin that positive. 

On this weekend’s occasion, however, I was reassured with the knowledge that I was sharing a much better product, and sure enough the blind reviews were all encouraging.  We got comments like “I love it,” “really smooth,” and “fruit-forward with blackberry.”  One taster even referred to the wine maker as a genius, but I’m pretty sure she had looked at the label, so I’ll hold-off on relocating to Napa for the moment.