Chambourcin - Post Cold Soaking

The Chambourcin has been sitting for 3 days in the freezer at 2 C . It was turned off on Sunday night and early Monday morning the door opened. After returning from picking Pinot Noir the Chambourcin in its fermentation container was put out in the sun for a few hours. The yeast rehydration process commenced while the Pinot Noir was run through the crusher/de-stemmer.

BDX yeast produced such a good result last year that it was an easy choice this year.

The American Oak chips were passed over a coarse sieve and the dust separated. Some years ago we stopped adding Oak dust to the fermentation as it was not available. It dawned on me recently when reading an article on adding Oak that sieving the chips might provide the necessary material. I've always felt that some Oak dust in the fermentation would impart some interesting tones to the wine.

The American Oak dust went in at 3 grams/litre. The litre calculation is based on a 60% yield from the 70 odd KG of fruit.

By bedtime the Chambourcin had started fermenting gently at about 22 C. The goal is to get it up to 30 C.