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It was a beautiful day! The sun was shining, the birds were singing, fluffy white clouds passed high overhead. And in my wee cement room, we had an interesting situation. The wine in the barrel had completed malolactic fermentation. It was ready to rack. The 15 gallons in the carboys however, halted MLF at 50%. Most likely reason was pH too low. It tasted fruity, but with a tang that could probably take the paint of my car. The barrel, on the other hand, has a smooth, almost soft flavor. Its ph was high, with a low TA. Combining the two wines would make both of them better.
Janice, my wine guru at Steele Wines, recommended I go ahead and rack, combining the two wines. The ML would restart when the pH balanced out. So that is what we did.
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We called our good friends, Shalean Smith and Nicolai Lipscomb, cuz why make wine if you can’t make a party out of it! Pictured above are Nicolai, our world famous chef friend, and Willy, my better half. It took a bit of practice to perfect the art of starting the siphoning process…but that is all part of the fun.
Now the wine is settled gently in the second oak barrel, a carboy and two magnum bottles. Mixed together, the pH should be condusive to restarting the MLF. I must order to smaller carboys and switch the wine from the magnums to them before they explode. Just ask my friend James, exploding wine bottles makes a dramatic statement to a home winemaker. It says, “Don’t mess with nature, buddy!” in a most compelling fashion. And even though it is interesting to see just how far and how random the spray can travel, cleaning up is definitely not fun.
I will check the barrel, keeping it topped off, until MLF finishes, then stabilize with SO2 and let it rest out the winter.
Till next time!
