Winemaking Program for the Chez Ray 2010 Red Wines

(Please read my 2010 VINTAGE CAUTION AND EXPLANATION before trusting any of this process!) For the 2010 Chez Ray vintage red wines, both fresh and frozen grapes were secured.  Process was consistent for all:  Fermentation was started warm, in plastic buckets with approx 1 tsp VQ-15 Rockpile yeast (also called RP15) per 5-gallon bucket, reconstituted in warm water with approx 1.25 tsp Go-Ferm starter.  Once fermentation was underway, 1/2 tsp Fermaid-K was added, with another 1/2 tsp of Fermaid-K added during approximately the third day of fermentation.  At the end of the third full day of fermentation at room temperature (a full week for the Brehm frozen grapes - the room termperature while they were fermenting veered cooler), the buckets were moved to basement temperatures (60-degrees or so Fahrenheit)  to finish at a cool ferment. Once the primary fermentation was complete (two to three weeks, when refractometer showed approx 7-8 brix uncorrected for alcohol; a bit longer for the Brehm grapes, when the skins no longer rose), the must was pressed.  The juice from the pressings was allowed to settle for a week, then poured (ie, racked, but done as a slow pouring) into glass carboys or buckets for aging in the basement.  Three ounces (by weight, equal to 7.5 oz by volume) of combined French and American medium toasted oak chips were added to each five gallons at this point. The wine left in buckets was covered with wax paper, which seems to have made a nice oxygen seal.  Malolactic fermentation was begun once all the wine settled and was racked off its gross lees.  To do malolatic, the buckets and carboys were moved upstairs to the warmer living area of the house.  Optimalo Plus was constituted in a small volume of wine and stirred in to the buckets and carboys at approx 1 gram per gallon of wine.  Then Viniflora CH16 malolactic culture was briefly reconstituted and stirred in to the buckets based on proportion of the labeled 66 gallon target batch. 

Dates were approximately:
October, started fresh grapes from Lodi and, two weeks later, from Paso Robles
November,  started frozen grapes
December, finished pressing last of frozen grapes
Late December, started malolactic in warmer temps
Late January, moved buckets back to cool cellar

Fresh grapes were:
Lodi Vertical Shoot Positioned (VSP) Cabernet Sauvignon (2 trays) (brix 26 ph 3.42)
Lodi Old Vines Zinfandel (4 trays) (brix 22.5 ph 3.52)
Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon (2 trays) (brix 24 ph 3.11)
Paso Robles Merlot (2 trays) (brix 24 ph 3.39)
Paso Robles Zinfandel (2 trays) (brix 24 ph 3.48)
Paso Robles Syrah (2 trays) (brix 23 ph 3.43)

Frozen grapes from Brehm were:
2007 Ranch Sarco Cabernet Sauvignon, Coombsville District, Napa (5 buckets)
2008 Windsor Oaks Cabernet Franc, Russian River, Sonoma (702 08RRCF) (1 bucket) (brix 24.8 ta 0.56 ph 3.68)
2008 Windsor Oaks Sangiovese, Chalk Hill, Sonoma (741 08CHSV) (1 bucket) (brix 25.8 ta 0.64 ph 3.77)

Making Chez Ray Mmmm-Berry 2010

Starting, October, 2010:  I've made a couple of prior Mmmm-Berry batches before, where I've mixed various combinations of blackberries, black raspberries and red currants into a light red wine, finished slightly sweet.  The aromatics and natural acids of the berries bring a nice lift to the glass.

Recipe:  For the Chez Ray Mmmm-Berry 2010 edition, I am blending a mix of frozen local berries together.  Covering almost two-years of picking in Westport, CT, the recipe included (roughly) 50% blackberries, 40% red currants, 10% white currants and a big handful of mixed red raspberries and blueberries.

Process:  To make the wine, I started with approximately 40 pounds of berries.  I decided to plan for about 5 pounds of berries per gallon of finished wine, yielding a target of 8 gallons of wine.

I started thawing with the help of a microwave oven.  Then the berries were dumped into 6-gallon fermentation buckets.  As I dumped the berries in, I layered in approximately two pounds of sugar per gallon of intended wine.   The sugar helps draw out liquids from the berries, and would be needed in the final blend anyway.

After thawing, some crushing in the buckets and mixing, and adding some additional water to get closer to what I thought would be the 8 gallon target, I measured a starting sugar level (brix) of about 24 degrees, yielding a potential of just over 13% alcohol if my wine finished dry. 

Using Go-Ferm, I reconstituted 71b-1122 yeast, which I chose to highlight long-lasting tropical fruit aromas.  The 71b yeast also doesn't survive at high alcohol levels, allowing me to sweeten the wine at finishing without as much fear of fermentation beginning again.  I have enjoyed using Cote des Blancs yeast for these Mmmm-Berry wines in the past.  71b is said to have similar fermentation characteristics, with the additional leaning towards aromatics.   My plan was also to conduct the bulk of the fermentation in cool, 60-degree F wine cellar conditions, which would further emphasize aromatics over color and tannin extraction. 

After a full day of fermentation in warm conditions, I supplemented the fermentation with Fermaid-K nutrient.  This has worked well for me with past fermentations to feed active yeast. 

After another day or so, I poured off the free-running liquid (almost 6 gallons of the target 8 gallons) into one bucket for continued fermentation.  Separately, I took the berry pulp and pressed it through a wine press, yielding most of the additional two gallons of liquid I sought.

I decided to ferment the pressed juice separate from the free-run juice, just to see what differences might ensue.  All of the wine went into my cool wine cellar.

Within a day or so, I noticed a sulfur "funk" (HS2) coming from the free run juice.  To correct this, I poured the fermenting juice back and forth several times between buckets, to agitate and incorporate oxygen.  After this treatment, the sulfur smell was almost eliminated with another day.
 
The juice has continued to ferment - slowly - for the past two weeks in the wine cellar conditions.  The alcohol level is steadily rising, nice aromatics are forming, and the early markings of another pleasant berry wine are in sight!
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Bottling, December, 2010:  My juice - with free run and pressed juice combined - has been settling in the plastic food-grade pails, covered with wax paper.  Today, I poured the clean juice from the settled bucket and added 1/4 teaspoon potassium metabisulphite.  I collected this juice in another food-grade bucket, and bottled a half-dozen or so bottles with 12 teaspoons of sugar per 750 ml bottle. The remainder was left without sugar in the pail, with the wax paper coating.  I'll tap it for additional bottles in the future.
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Blending, later December 2010:  I found that this Mmmm-Berry 2010 was especially pleasant when blended 50/50 with botrytised chardonnay/chenin blanc.  Both were finished dry, and the blend required around 16-18 teaspoons of sugar per 750 ml bottle to get a dessert-like finish that still let the bright acids shine through.  I called this Elmstead Lane 2010 Sweet Berry Wine.

Rating: *** 2005 Chez Ray Pinot Noir (P5), Carneros, Sonoma County CA

Original Review, April 2007: This wine is from the Brehm frozen grape series. Early tasting notes from our tasting party are here. Wine is medium brick in color. The nose pushes smoky fruit. On the palate, the tannins are most noticeable, a smoky fruit comes second. But the fruit is very shy. The acidity is bracing and the wine is powerfully dry - kind of like taking raspberries, removing their sugar, then drying them. We're still waiting for the sun to shine on the fruit in this one. I'm not sure that aging will do it. Two and a half stars out of five.


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Updated Review, Sept 2008: Color and aromas are consistent with 2007 tasting. Interesting in the palate, though... the middle is still smoky and charred, but surrounded now with a sweeter, almost round berry fruit. Still acidic, but now it's at least wearing clothes. Moving to three stars because it has regained promise for the future.

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Updated Review, Nov 2008: Color consistent. Aroma picking up a bit of smoky basement overtones. Fruit still building. Recommend another couple of years and/or blend with a too-fruit-forward wine - perhaps the Lodi Zin. Hmmm...

OK, just tried the blend: 2005 Pinot Noir plus 2005 Lodi Zinfandel, 65/35. Color: pale red. Aroma: basement with a fruit lift. Palate: still stingy, puckery tannins, now with a hint of fruit. At 50/50 blend: Color: paler red. Aroma: fruity with a charcoal twist. Palate: Light fruit middle at first, follows with a touch of charry acids. Pleasant, but seems to have lost the pinot noir character. Thus, I would stick with the 65% pinot noir/ 35% zinfandel as the preferred mix.

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Updated Blend, June 2009: Tried a 65% P5 2005 Pinot Noir with 35% Z5 2005 Russian River Zinfandel - similar to the blend above, but with the Lodi zin substituted with the Russian River zin. Color: medium red. Aroma: bright zin vegetable. Palate: Tight acidic fruit in center, but sweetening just a touch at the edges. Better than P5 alone; not as nice as Z5 alone.

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Updated Review, five years from vintage date, December, 2010:  Color has stayed consistent, medium brick.  The aroma is charcoal-broiled fruit.  So is the palate, though it moves more to charcoal-crusted red currants and raspberries.

Following long decant, three days kept cool in a partially-filled bottle under vacuum:   Same aroma, although - remarkably perhaps - the palate has seemed to develop some fruit underlying all this scorched earth.  Some promise with either more air or time.  Even longer decant, three more days kept cool without vacuum:  The charcoal on the aroma is fading now, leaving more black fruit residue.  Smoother still on the palate - this one wants a LOT of air.