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1999 Vintage

Prior to becoming a licensed winery, I experimented with 1999 crop grapes of one barrel of Merlot and 2 barrels of Cab ("personal use").  You can see pictures of them on the Winery Page.  I found a pretty good explanation/description of wine tasting in the Wine Spectator.  To read it go to the Tastings Page.  If you want to read and follow the 2000 vintage click here.

Comments and Tastings on the 1999 experimental "personal use" wine:

Oct. 1999 At crush with 24% sugar the juice tastes like sweet grape juice

After primary fermentation the wine (yes wine with almost no residual sugar and 12.8% alcohol) tasted really pretty bad.  Lots of harsh flavors, kind of like earth/dirt.  I have been told this taste is mostly from the dead yeast cells.  But do not worry this is exactly as new wine should taste!

Nov. 1999  At one month the Merlot is much more tolerable to taste.  Certainly not ready to drink, but a lot smoother than the last taste.  The Cabernet tastes much different than the Merlot.  It remains much harsher and "viney".  This viney taste comes partially from the stems that made it through stemmer/crusher and stayed in the must through primary.  The Cabernet grapes did not come off the stem as easily as the Merlot grapes did.

Dec. 1999  Two months.  I had a great opportunity to have a profession wine maker (I did not ask if I could use his name) taste both the Merlot and Cab.  When I first met him and we discussed our wine making efforts, I commented that it was frustrating thinking that I was going to have to wait so long before I would know if I had a decent wine.  He quickly said this is not true and that from experience a winemaker could tell a lot about the potential of the final product very early.  I was very pleased when he tasted our wines and felt they both were commercially acceptable.  He was more impressed with the Merlot, and felt the Cab had a slight "veggie" taste but still OK.  Time in the barrel and racking off the lees (the gunk in the bottom of the barrel that settles out) will hopefully soften the veggie flavor.  We also discussed the importance of ML fermentation and the need to get some SO2 into the Merlot.

Just got some of the sample tests back.  The Merlot TA (total acid) is too low.  That is what is making it taste a little "flabby".  This is not unusual and can be corrected with the addition of tartaric acid.  This will be added at first racking.  I also realized since the "tasting" referred to above, that the Cab tasted was out of the pressed juice barrel.  I have now tasted the free run Cab out of the other barrel and it does not have the hint of veggie taste.   Whew!

12/29/99.  Racked and adjusted the TA on the Merlot.  Wow, what a difference tartaric acid makes.  I used the recommendation of adding 1 gram per liter of wine.  Racking was more of pain and time consuming process than I expected.   I need to check with other small volume winemakers and see if they have any tips.   If you do, let me know!  The Cab still needs to be racked soon.

1/5/00:  Racked the "pressed" Cabernet.  Used much larger diameter hose so the siphon time was much better.  This is the barrel that earlier tasted a little "veggie".  That taste is now almost gone and it now tastes very good.

1/22/00.  Racked the free run Cabernet tonight.  Had help from the Parks'.  I think it tastes very good.  No veggie taste at all in this.  Biggest flavor was the "toast" from the barrel ends.  I think things are  going OK.

4/16/00.  Wow time flies.  I did top since the last rack.  It takes about 1 gallon to top all 3 barrels.  Spent several hours on Sunday racking all the wine.  Much less gunk in the bottom of the barrels on the second rack.  Robin and her friend Emily helped with getting everything ready and the first barrel, then Karen helped with the last 2.  We timed the transfer and it takes only 4 minutes to siphon out of the barrel using the 1" hose.  We kept the hose about 3/4 inch off the bottom of the barrel and this seemed to be the right depth.  Loss was slightly over 1 gallon per barrel.  After Karen helped with the last barrel, I racked all the carboys.  Tasting... well I think things are OK; again I don't really know what to expect.  I have been told the wine will shift in its taste for at least the first year; and it will shift from ok, to not so ok, and then back.  Bottom line was not to worry, by the 15th month everything would be fine!  Karen and I both tasted quite a bit.  Certainly drinkable, but not award winning yet.  I do believe I have bought and drank worse!  (What a marketing slogan!) The difference between the pressed and un-pressed  Cab it not much now.  Very very little veggie taste.  I have set the temp at 57-60 degrees.  I hope we are well insulated and it will not be too expensive to maintain that during the summer heat!  I hope to get samples for testing before too long.

4/26/00  Jim E. came over and we racked his Cab that is in glass.  We compared his to mine in glass and in the barrel.  Not much difference between each in glass.  BIG difference when compared to the barrel.

5/28/00  Topped off all barrels.  Filled 2 - 750ml and 2 - 375ml bottles of Cab.  Karen and I drank one of the Cabs later that evening.  Quite drinkable, a little heavy on the "toastiness" flavor.  The Canton barrel rep says this is typical and not to worry.

6/3/00  Took samples of both Merlot and Cab Sav to my winemaker friend.  Met at 8:30 am and had to start tasting!  Tough business!  It surprised me how different the Cab tasted after being in the bottle only one week.  I pressured my friend to rate the wine on the Wine Spectator scale and he gave them both an 86.  I suppose I should be thrilled!  He also mixed the Merlot and Cab together about 50/50.  First time I had done that.  Worked on what barrels to order for this fall's harvest.

July and August 2000.  Have been topping regularly (and tasting) and things remain on track.  Added small amount of sulfite in August.  I have started to share sample with friends and reports are good.

September 2000.  Topping as usual.  Had a sample of both the Merlot and Cab analyzed for Total and Free Sulfites, TA, and pH.  The TA in both were a little low so I added a small amount of tartaric acid.

October 2000.  It is amazing what time will do for a wine.  Some friends can over Sunday afternoon and we barrel tasted the Merlot and it is even better now.  The "toastiness" has mellowed some and now more of the fruit flavor is coming out.  It is very encouraging.  Still planning on bottling in March of 2001.

Late 2000, early 2001.  Topping continues and so do the tastings.  With the wine really starting to come of age its drinkability improves almost weekly.

April 2001.  We bottled the 1999!  14 good friends showed up one Saturday and we bottled 3 barrels in 3 hours!  Actually had a lot of fun.  I bottled 2 cases from each barrel first, then blended all the remaining resulting in a 1/3rd Merlot, 2/3 Cabernet blend.  It really turned out nice and we are enjoying sharing it with friends.

Fall of 2001.  The 1999 has now been in the bottle for 7 months and it continues to improve each month.  It is extremely gratifying to share with friends and receive compliments.  On several occasions we have tasted the 1999 with other very well known reds and have been very pleased with the comparison.  I have 2 local restaurants asking about hosting a wine dinner featuring this wine.  I am looking forward to that.  So far only bad news is it is almost gone!