A white and red packet of Lalvin Bourgovin RC212 wine yeast and a black and white packet of Go-Ferm Protect Evolution lay on a black stone counter.

Cleaned and sanitized wine making lab equipment lay on sheets of white paper towel, on a black stone counter top. Among them a blue and white PH meter, a graduated cylinder holding a hygrometer, and a curved glass wine thief.

2025 Pinot Cont..

Let's get the party started.

Temp: 70°
Sugar content: 24.1° Brix
PH: 3.42

Add yeast starter:
5g Lalvin Bourgovin RC212
6g Go-Ferm Protect Evolution
85ml warm water

I want this wine to be low intervention so I am not adding any sulfites.

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Top down view of an open white plastic bucket sitting on a concrete floor. The bucket is filled 3/4 full with dark purple frozen wine grapes.

A large glass jar, filled with dark purple grape must, sits on a black stone countertop. A clear plastic airlock protrudes from the center of the lid in the jar's large mouth.

2025 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Cont..

Grape must arrived mostly frozen. Allowed to "cold soak" for 7 days. This will extract more compounds from the grapes and ultimately help make the wine unique and interesting.

Racked to glass and raised temp for fermentation.

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A tall row of trellesed grape vines with vibrant green leaves and mature, dark purple, grapes hanging near the bottom stretches to the horizon. Image credit: Wine Grapes Direct

2025 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

The weather has cooled here in North America and,with the exception of some late late season varieties, all the grapes have been harvested.

Time to make wine!

winegrapesdirect.com/shop/p/2025-...

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Shiny green glass wine bottles fill the foreground of the image. Each bottle filled halfway up the neck with inky dark wine. Assorted wine making equipment is visible in the background.

A case of wine on it's side centers the image. Cardboard inserts form a 12X12 grid pattern. Each square occupied by light a colored circle, where the ends of the newly corked wine bottles are visible.

2023 Lodi Zin

First vintage in the bottle!

I don't really think I can call it my vintage, I did not grow the grapes. Sounds cool tho.

Tasted and the wine has changed a lot in 6 months. Much lighter now. Lost some "big" wine character. Almost pinot-esque now.

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Merlot grapes from Bay Wine Brokers.

www.baywinebrokers.com

Side view of a white plastic bucket wrapped in silver insulating bubble wrap. The lid is partially pushed away from the top of the bucket by a thick layer of dark purple gape skins and stems, swollen with C02 from the fermentation process.

A large 7 gallon glass fermentation vessel fills the middle two thirds of the image. The vessel is filled with a mixture of dark purple grape juice and grape skins. The skins take up the top three quarters of the vessel and are shot through with C02 bubbles from the fermentation. A rainbird temperature controller lies next to the vessel, with a thin black wire running over the top and into the jar. The controller reads 74.9.

Now we are cooking.

Wild ferment going strong. The cap overtopped the bucket so transferred to a larger fermentation vessel.

Temp is maybe a bit high at 75°, but I want to let this go "au natural" to fully experience what a wild fermentation will produce.

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Top down view of an open white plastic bucket, nearly filled with a dark purple mixture of grape juice and grape skins. A froth of purple bubbles cover the top.

Wild fermentation. Let's go!

When I popped the lid to start prepping for yeast inoculation, I found this. 😮

My theory is the "cold soak" temp, around 58 degrees, was too warm and the wild yeasts already on the grape skins were able to establish a healthy colony.

Can't wait to taste this wine!

A blue and white hand held Apera brand PH meter rests upright in a small glass jar. The probe end is immersed in dark purple grape juice. The glowing blue digital display reads 3.87.

2024 Merlot Cont.

There are a few key components to a healthy wine fermentation. Including: yeast, sugar (brix), temperature, and acidity. A common measure of acidity is it's inverse, PH. Ideal PH for wine yeast is in the 3.3-3.6 range.

Initial PH:
3.87

A bit high.

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A clear cylinder filled with dark purple wine centers the picture. The top of a hydrometer is visible, floating in the liquid. The wine level on the instrument reads 25.

2024 Merlot Cont.

While the grapes "cold soak", I took some numbers.

Sugar content of the grape juice, as indicated in Brix.

Initial sugar content:
25 Brix

This corresponds to a potential abv of 15%.

Brix is simply the percentage of dissolved sugar in the juice.

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Top down view of a white plastic bucket. A lavender sticker on the top says 2024 Merlot Grape Must (6 gal)

Top down view of an open white plastic bucket, 3/4 filled with a dark purple mixture of grape juice and grape skins. An upturned white plastic lid and large flat head screwdriver lie next to the bucket on a plain concrete floor.

Merlot grapes arrived!

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Next wine.

A Cali Merlot!

The grapes were grown in the Ruby Hill Region within the Livermore Valley AVA. Elevation, temperatures, and soil drainage combine for ideal growing conditions for high-quality grapes.

More about the AVA:
capstonecalifornia.com/study-guides...

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An open wine menu lies on a black mesh metal outdoor bistro table. Pale golden wine in two glasses, sitting on the menu, reflects the late afternoon su.

Road trip!

Mid trip across the desert southwest, USA. Enjoying a lovely tasting at Winery 1912 in Sedona, AZ. The winery features wine grapes from Spain and the Iberian peninsula.

Sangiovese:

I may name this wine "neglect", as it was unattended for a few weeks. :) Tasted and, wow, it took the oak!

Nose: Deep wet wood.

Palate: a surprising sweet note over a fiery base, struck through with a fine line of acidity.

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bsky.app/profile/chri...

A one gallon glass jar, filled with a hazy gold colored wine, centers the image. The jar is surrounded by others, some golden, some only purple. Large manilla colored tags hang from the necks of the jars, listing details about each batch.

Pinot Gris starting to clear.

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This makes sense and is what I do, albeit at a much smaller scale. :)

What would you say is your fav BBH vintage that is available on your site?

I have always been curious about this process. Assuming you top up with wine from another barrel in the same batch?

1000%

Now that I re-read it, I could have phrased it better. When shipping already pressed, white grape "must", you get a lot more juice per pound. As the skins are not shipped with the juice. If skins are included in the calculation, you get more juice from red, especially with the addition of enzymes.

A clear glass graduated cylinder filled with pale gold wine centers the image. The top of a hydrometer is visible, floating in the liquid. The wine level on the instrument reads 0.5.

Large glass jars filled with wine dominate the image. Two with red wine and three with white. The white wine is a cloudy pale gold color. The red a dark, inky purple. A rubber stopper with airlock are fitted in the narrow neck of each jar. Each jar is tagged with the year, grape variety, and a ID unique to the batch.

0.5 brix!

With the sugars nearly gone, it was time to rack into new glass carboys.

Because the juice is already pressed off the skins, wine yield per pound is much higher with a white than a red. Approximately 5 gal per 50 lbs. Compared to 3 gal per 50 lbs for red.

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Oregon Wine Tasting - St Josefs Winery St. Josef’s Vineyards & Winery ~ one of the original Oregon wine pioneers is located in the Willamette Valley south of Portland, near Wilsonville, Oregon.

The story of the grapes (3 of 3).

Josef's vineyard, takes vineyard stewardship seriously. They are a certified Low Input Viticulture & Enology (or LIVE) vineyard. Only 1% of NW vineyards have achieved this level of sustainability.

Credit:
stjosefswinery.com

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Map of the US southwest, overlaid with a driving route. The route starts in Phoenix, AZ, runs through Sedona, Vegas and Lake Tahoe.

Going on a road trip!

In March, I'll be traveling through the United States desert southwest. Starting in Phoenix and ending in Reno. With stops in Sedona, Vegas, and Lake Tahoe.

Any good winery recommendations to visit?

#wine #winery #vintner

Beautiful! Where is that?

The story of the grapes (2 of 3).

St. Josef's vineyards are located in the northern end of the Williamette Valley, around 30 miles south of the Columbia river. The vineyard was hand planted in 1978 and contains some of the oldest vines in the AVA.

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Pinot Gris @ 1/3 sugar break!

Brix 13.5°

Over a third of the fermentable sugar in the juice has been metabolized so it is time to give the yeast a little bump.

Add:
6g Fermaid-O

Temperature remains in the ideal zone.

Temp 61°🌡️

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A verdant green vineyard, with a brown dirt track sweeping across the front, fills the foreground of the image. A small figure in blue jeans and a dark blue coat stands on the dirt track in front of the vineyard. Rolling hills, interspersed with clumps of green trees, and a few more brown ribbons of road, fill the middle ground. A misty bright white sky takes up the top third of the photograph.

The story of the grapes (1 of 3).

AVA: Willamette Valley, OR
Vineyard: St. Josef's
Originally planted: 1978 by Josef Fleischmann

The Willamette Valley is a 3.4M acre AVA. Situated 60 miles inland from the pacific ocean, in the state of Oregon, on the US west coast.

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The sweet spot.

Fermentation progressing in an ideal temperature range now.

- Temp 61°🌡️

Will continue daily stirring and monitor for any off smells. Next checkpoint will be the 1/3 sugar break, the point at which 1/3 of the sugar has been metabolized by the yeast.

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Getting dialed in.

Brought the temp down a few degrees. Will continue to cool. Preference is to be closer to sixty.

Nice steady bubbling from the airlock. Approx. 30 per minute.

- Temp 64°🌡️

Giving the juice vigorous stir, once per day to give the yeast some air.

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Good question! Will gauge the clarity after fermentation and again before bottling to see if fining agents would be beneficial at either stage.

Yes indeed!