P I C N I C

From left to right the samples are from the keg, from the barrel, and the initial yeast and cellular sludge that shot out from the bottom of the keg.

I had removed a gallon of wine from the barrel to sample and drink over christmas. My uncle Stuart remarked that it “was bright”, with a rise of the eyebrows. It did have some harsh candy flavors as a result of the huge tartaric addition. In that operation I poured 1 pound tartaric for 60 gallons of wine!

My father found an old French wine corker somewhere and mailed it to me. It looks to be 50 – 100 years old. It’s all done in cast iron and has an operation composed of a cork smoosher on rails, cam operated levers, and large spring loaded arms for fixing a bottle in place and springing the handle back into default. I’ll be using it in the next week or month when I bottle my 2010 Anderson Family.

As I’ve mentioned, the 2009 wine is all bottled. Carye Bye is making me labels, and I just dropped by this evening to take a look at a final mockup. I decided to jigger some of the info around at the last minute. For instance, who cares about the total acidity? Yet it’s important to inform people that the wine is from Oregon. On the other hand I’ve told her that I don’t mind if it’s not perfect in every way, such as the small gaps on the upper corners of the border, the slight mushiness of the last five in the brix, etc. ‘I like the subtle sloppiness of the letterpress’, I tell her. ‘Oh,’ she says, looking a little dejected, ‘but I try to make it as tidy as possible.’ Goodness! I have to watch what I say around the artisans.

I’ve spent the week working on wine. Lyle came and helped me out. We bottled the 2009 pinot. During bottling we were drinking a 2007 Beaux Freres and holding them side by side it was clear how brilliantly red and clear my wine is. That’s not to criticize the Beux Freres, which was really good. I’ve been hypersensitive about my wines attribues, so it’s nice that it came out well.

In order to move the wine from the barrel to the mixing tank I used pressurized argon. This is the step the photo is showing. I’m pressurizing the barrel to 4 psi, which elevated the wine about 5 feet.

Today the 2010 was pressed and has been racked to the barrel. It smells very ripe and fruity, but is also extremely tannic as it was soaking on the skins for about 3 weeks. Or perhaps the tannins are from the weather?