August 2009
2 posts
bottled!!
In the many months of neglect of Crushalicious, groovy things have been happening which is a pathetic but true reason the blog has been cobwebbed.
Fabulousness #1:
The Roussanne is bottled!!! For real, you can pop a cork and enjoy it’s fruity luciousness whenever you want (assuming, of course, you have it in the fridge). It is a delightful and very pretty white wine particularly on a hot...
February 2009
0 posts
taste, texture, flavors ... an update
So it’s been many months since a post and so much has happened … holidays, a fabulous new president, “Black Dynamite” was purchased by Sony, couple of new companies in the fold, my youngest brother got engaged, but let’s talk wine. The Sangiovese This wine is VIBRANT! It is a beautiful bright reddish-purple color with a crisp cranberry, cherry, currant flavor. It pops in your mouth and sort of...
November 2008
1 post
where have we been?
So since the last press, sigh, we’ve been going through the post harvest depression. Waking up with a jolt in the middle of the night thinking you’re late for a punchdown, only to realize there are no more punchdowns until next harvest. No more presses, no more crushes. The smell of fermenting grapes and yeast isn’t stuck to your clothes. Your hands have returned to their...
October 2008
8 posts
Grape juice the likes of you've never had before
Imagine a grape juice that is milky and has body in your mouth. It smells nutty and warm and has a taste that coats your tongue causing all tastebuds to explode. Well, had you been at our press, you would have tasted all that excitement. The flavor of the Roussanne juice was intense. Susannah contemplated the market for premium free run grape juice …
Given that the press was much longer...
Roussanne Crush!
With Philz fabulous Silken Splendor in hand, Crystal and Serena showed up in the early hours of the workday to meet baby #3 - Roussanne.
The grapes were beautiful! Big fat clusters of green and rust colored translucent grapes. The sweetness exploded in your mouth as the grape burst. Unbelievably tasty (as said by a hardcore red wine drinker). The pick was incredibly clean so we just had to...
Sangiovese Press
This post is delayed due to all sorts of goodness in the wine world that was keeping us from our blog.
On October 11 the Sangio was pressed! And what a fabulous event that was. First, the color of the sanio was phenomenal! Emi is brilliant (as it was her idea to let the grapes macerate for longer, thus, more contact with the skins and juice, thus extracting more color). Ariane named it...
September 2008
26 posts
A very different crush
The Sangio crush was totally different than the cab crush. The pick was so clean that the work to do on the line was relatively little. This would have been the perfect set up for a glass of wine in one hand and the other hand doing the sorting. Susannah found one clump of acid bombs, there were a couple of leaves here and there but for the most part - just a fabulously clean pick.
On the...
Sangio Crush - Monday Sept 29
Come over to Crushpad (2573 3rd St) and join us for the sangio crush on Monday. You will be working with grapes, so wear something that can get dirty and ideally short sleeves. Also, the floor can get slippery so keep that in mind.
Our time slot for the crush is 7 - 8p but we will have lots of wine and Italian food pre and post to celebrate. Food and drinks will start around 6:00p.
Give...
Sangiovese crush!!
2008 - Stolpman Vineyard - Sangiovese will be harvested on Monday September 29, 2008 . Here are the most recent measurements taken from your vineyard block- Brix: 25.00 Harvest Comments With the recent heat spike, the Sangio is going to be good to go on Monday. We are picking it and will send it up to San Francisco on a refrigerated truck. Back in the winery at 7PM. MB
So, the tentative plan...
Roussanne update
2008 - McGinley - Roussanne has updated harvest information- Here are the most recent measurements taken from your vineyard block- Brix: 21.20 pH: TA:
Pick Window Wednesday October 15, 2008 - Thursday October 30, 2008 Harvest Comments Moderate temps in Santa Ynez has pushed the Roussanne and pretty much everything else back. We’re now looking at mid/late October. MB
Press!
The cab has been pressed and is now barreled! (Sniff, we miss playing with the grapes in the T-bin).
Pressing is a two step system. The first step is collecting the free run juice. To do this the T-bin is elevated and a tube runs from the bin to the barrel. Gravity sucks the juice from the T-bin into the barrel. The second step is to collect the press wine. The grapes are placed into the...
Ink Grade
http://flickr.com/photos/slourie/sets/72157607411317084/
falling brix
Fermentation Data
Vessel: FT070137 Last Measure Date: September 18th, 2008 Brix: 2.90 Celsius: 27.50
woohooo! getting closer. probably pressing on Sunday.
Another punchdown
Soon our baby will be going to press then barreled! So, we took advantage of getting another punchdown done and asking Alan and Emi all sorts of questions about when to press. Today you could feel a layer of seeds at the bottom of the bin which we had to avoid scooping up or pressing when punching down. You submerged the tool below the grape cap and then pulled it up, thus, flipping over the...
Going to press soon!
As of yesterday evening, the Brix measurement for the Cab is 6.70. Cabs are pressed when the Brix is between 5.0 - 1.0 so we’re going to press soon!!
Brix 10.70 and falling
Here are the latest Brix (measure of sugar content) and Temperature measurements of the Ink Grade Cab. When the Brix are at 0.0 the fermentation is done. Yahoo!! Fermentation Data
Vessel: FT070137 Last Measure Date: September 15th, 2008 Brix: 10.70 Celsius: 30.80
punchdown pics
photos from our first Ink Grade punchdown:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slourie/sets/72157607316178026/
http://flickr.com/photos/crystale/sets/72157607360851728/
Crush & Fermentation details (we are science...
Note: all the info below comes from Crushpad Crush details Our 2008 - Ink Grade - Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were harvested on and processed on 09/09/2008. At harvest your measurements were:
Brix: 26.8
TA: 4.9
pH: 3.73
Whole cluster level: 0%
Whole berry level: 100%
After the grapes are sorted, they can be sent through a machine called a crusher. The crusher splits open...
Yeast inoculation (sexy!)
The Ink Grade cab grapes have been sorted and de-stemmed. While hanging in their T-bin they got antsy and began spontaneous native fermentation (such their mothers’ children). Thus, Crystal and Serena got a super cool tutorial on yeast inoculation from Kristen and Alan and set to showing the grapes a better way to ferment. So friggin cool! Wishing chemistry class had been like this.
...
More photos of that fabulous first time
More first crush photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slourie/sets/72157607240241910/
http://flickr.com/photos/crystale/sets/72157607360350398/
Can’t wait for next time!
Ryan Junee's great photos from our first crush!
Here’s the link with the comments: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slourie/sets/ These are the photos taken by Ryan Junee. Check out his photos & his comments (very fun). Many thanks to Ryan!
cab is starting the ferment process!
Your 2008 - Ink Grade - Cabernet Sauvignon grapes were processed into the following Ferment Vessel(s). Any percentage of clusters not destemmed are left as whole clusters. Any percentage of berries not left whole are crushed. If your wine plan calls for a cold soak, your fermenter will be cooled down to approximately 50F for the timeframe specified in your plan.
© 2007 CRUSHPAD - All Rights...
Keep your eye on the brix!
2008 - McGinley - Roussanne has updated harvest information- Here are the most recent measurements taken from your vineyard block- Brix: 19.70 pH: TA: Pick Window Tuesday September 30, 2008 - Tuesday October 7, 2008 Harvest Comments Usually one of our last picks, the McGinley Roussanne has finished up veraison and we’re still looking 3-4 weeks before we pick. ©...
Time to get your hands dirty
The Cabernet grapes from Ink Grade vineyard will be arriving at Crushpad shortly which means soon we will sort, destem, and stain our hands purple with one ton of grapes.
We reserved our crush slot for 9:15pm on Monday Sept 8 at Crushpad (2573 Third St). If you want to join us, let one of us know.
Grapes are harvested
2008 - Ink Grade - Cabernet Sauvignon will be harvested on Sunday September 7, 2008 . If you wish to participate in your crush, please coordinate with your group leader to find a time that works for everyone who would like to participate. NOTE: Your crush time must be within 48 hours of picking the fruit. If you are the group leader, you may Request Crush Timeslot on our online calendar. ...
vineyard block update
Here’s the update we received today care of Crushpad -
2008 - Ink Grade - Cabernet Sauvignon has updated harvest information- Here are the most recent measurements taken from your vineyard block- Brix: 26.00 pH: 3.45 TA: 0.55 Pick Window Tuesday September 9, 2008 - Friday September 19, 2008 Harvest Comments Inkgrade is moving along under 95+ degree temps. Blocks vary from...
wine plans .....
Because we’re in the midst of travel and triathalon training, we are in a time crunch for the next two weeks which means we need to crank on the wine plans and get them completely finished this this week. Once our drafts are done, we will submit them to our professional winemakers and discuss what we chose and why.
Now, making the decisions about what we are choosing could be as simple as...
the twins!!
In a flurry of barrel tastings, the twins were conceived - Cabernet and Roussanne. Since none of us has or wants kids right now nor pets for that matter (RIP Frog), this seemed like a fabulous idea!! We get to create something stunning, learn all sorts of science, care for our grapes throughout the next 18 - 24 months, and if we do something wrong, then they will die (or at least taste really...
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