Sunday October 13th and nothing to decide today. Just a quick sniff of all the fermenters to make sure nothing is amiss - and nothing is. The Santa Ynez Zinfandel and the Ballard Canyon Syrah are sampled today after two days of soaking which will give us the information for any adjustments that need to be made tomorrow.
Monday October 14th and it’s time to adjust the Zinfandel and the Syrah as well as inoculate them. It’s been three days since harvest and that’s enough of a presoak.
The Zin is clearly dehydrated and needs a major water add or the alcohol will be north of 18%. I adjust it down into the 14% range, but as discussed before this is an educated guess at best. It will need to be checked mid to late fermentation to confirm its actual potential alcohol. The acid and nutrient level are both high - another sign of dehydration. But, neither one of these basic elements need adjustment. I decide to use RC212 yeast which is a Burgundy selection. It’s got a known ability to bring out color and the winemaker at this estate mentioned these grapes were not particularly high in color.
The Syrah on the other hand shows fairly balanced basic chemistry. The potential alcohol looks a little high, the acid a bit low, and the Potassium on the high side. An acid addition is indicated and based on the high Potassium I add a bit more acid knowing that a significant % of it will interact with the high salt level and drop out. I’ll check the acid and pH of this one mid-ferment to see if I’ve guessed correctly. I choose to use a new Rhone yeast selection called Eden. It’s supposed to bring out the black pepper aromatics so that should be good with Syrah.
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