Yesterday, October 7, we dug out those very same Shanel grapes; as well as the two tanks of Somerston Cab, which went to tanks September 15. If you count on your fingers you run out of digits. That's between 15 to 23 days that these reds have been cold-soaking, macerating and fermenting. Being helped along by pump mixing, nutrient additions (more on that later), and pump-overs. And...there is still more to do. I will feed this fascinating (to me anyways) process to you over the next week or so.
Before the Big Dig, we drained the Free-Run Juice off the cap or pomace into another tank, so now in the new tank there is just juice. We let this process go on overnight so the initial big gush of free-run turns into just a little trickle as the cap sinks down the original tank and pushes that beautiful nectar through to the awaiting new tank.
Then we get our boots on and start digging. That's our enologist Lydia digging out the Somerston. She's hooked to a safety line and there is a CO2 monitor connected to the tank that will beep like crazy if it gets to dangerous in there. The top of the tank is vented and a fan is blowing the CO2 down and out.
The pomace/cap goes into the bins that Apo is standing next to; the bins get dumped into the Red Press that Sam and I prepped yesterday (check the bottom of yesterday's blog). That becomes what is called Press Wine. It can be used in a variety of ways. More later.
Oh, and here is Denise with the Ramey Pedregal Cab! First stage - to the hopper/destemmer.
As always around Harvest, time is always short. I have to get going, so from inside the Shanel Syrah Sonoma Coast tank #14...I bid you a fond farewell!
