Harry RIP, the smell of the ferment and a new skill
Harry RIP
Ah, poor little mouse, found it dead ... thankfully on the floor, not in any
vat. I reckon he (Harry) went happily, drunk having munched the odd fermenting
grape that managed to find its way onto the ground.
 |
| Harry is there, but I didn't want to zoom in too close - disrespectful and all that |
Maybe we could name a wine after him – Return of Harry, the
Dead Mouse? Actually, I'm not too keen on any rodents, but I didn't do it!
Plunging the cap ... according to grape
I feel I now have a grasp of what character to expect of
each of the 32 vats – according to grape variety anyway, not of regionality. Grenache
is lighter red in colour, sharper red fruit notes and reasonable size berries.
The newly fermenting Shiraz from the vineyards around The Studio is a
deep purple-black, with lively bright purple foam (it's quite lively right now)
and smelling of creamy toffee and blackberry.
 |
| The newly fermenting Shiraz from the vineyard surrounding RedHeads. Wonderful deep purple colour and smelling heavenly of creamy toffee/blackberry |
Both the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Durif are very small,
concentrated berries, the Durif being the darkest and most intense, with strong
blackcurrant, dark chocolate and eucalyptus aromas; the Cab is more of a purple
red, tiny berries (Dan likes them that way), again cassis and mint, but a bit
more subtle.
 |
| Durif (above) is in fact darker than the Shiraz and has powerful blackcurrant, dark chocolate and spice notes – quite delicious |
New skill
The afternoon's excitement was measuring all the
PH levels of the different vats. No white coats involved, but a small, but
sensitive measuring instrument.
 |
| The PH of each vat has to be measured and logged regularly with this little machine |
No comments:
Post a Comment