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Sunday, June 9, 2013

Emile Peynaud Wine Book and Tannat

A very readable book by Emile Peynaud is ‘Knowing and making Wine’. He explains the reasons behind each aspect of wine making such as the ideal temperature for fermentation of red wine is 26-30 C. Which is why I’ve changed the settings for the Chambourcin and the Petit Verdot. Also the importance of oxygen on in the fermentation process which is why I’m doing a fake pump over of must by draining off a few litres of must from low down in the fermenter and tipping it back into the top (leaving the header boards in place).

Last night we opened last year's Tannat (T1). T1 was 50KG of grapes with a Brix of 20.4 and pH of 3.07. 600gms of sugar had been added as the original Brix was too low due to wet weather. 4 grams of French Oak chips were added after crushing and 20% full bunches in the bottom of the fermenter. Yeast was L2323. Picked on the 29/2/12 the temperature was lowered to 0.5 C then allowed to rise to continue averaging between 15 and 20 C. Stopped chilling after 9 days and allowed the temperature to rise. Pressed and added 4 grams of French Oak chips 15 days after picking. Left in air locked Demijohns until November 2012.

 Well it tastes terrific, Probably the best effort to date. Batch T2 should be interesting as it had the skins from T1 added and continued under chilled conditions for another 5 days.

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