Making Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Moscato, 2020

 

The Cantina ready for action

Ready, get set, Macerate!

Cabernet Sauvignon - 3 days

Moscato - half 0 days, half 10 days.

Top tip - don't over-fill the bucket! Mascerating grapes swell up quite a lot.

 

Carboy with golden Moscato Normale

Moscato first: we planned to divide our grapes in two, pressing the first half right away and keeping the other half to mascerate and make an orange wine.

At first, everything appeared to be going according to plan . The fresh-pressed half started to ferment immediately. The mascerating lot seemed to be doing nicely with pleasant aromas coming from the bins and some foam also from fermentation.

Things appear not to have gone well thereafter. The fresh juice tasted dry. We had planned a sweet wine such as we had made previously. That had been a great success. This was not sweet, but we were not downhearted as dry muscat is a beautiful wine too.

One of our best customers

 

The mascerated stuff may be destined for the kitchen sink. We think what happened was that in the 10 days of masceration, the wine had not only fermented totally but had also become oxydised. We pressed the must and put the juice in a carboy with an airlock and stood back expecting a fermentation that never came. We only realised that the wine had already fermented out completely when adding emergency wine yeast. Nothing happened. The wine is tasting extra dry and a bit rancio, not to say sherry-like. Peccato!

35 l. demijohn of Cab.S with 15 l. of same behind

The Cabernet Sauvignon was better behaved and fermented obligingly in our Speidel 60 litre fermenter which we will call 'Speidel Dum.' Speidel Dee would be for our white wine. Our 10 boxes of Cab S. provided about 50 litres.

Fermentation over, we racked off the wine into two demijohns. It was interesting to see tiny bubbles coming to the surface thanks to the shape of the demijohn. The same happens in Qvevri and in concrete eggs. Presumably this is part of the aging process, the 'elevage.'

 

Wine Grape Club, Staple's Corner, London

A week after the Cabernet Sauvignon it was back to Staples Corner to pick (up) our Merlot which is strange because we always thought Merlot ripens before Cabernet Sauvignon.

Merlot without maceration. Note the light colour.

The Merlot provided a little less in terms of quantity and took longer for a fermentation to get going. Maybe this is because we crushed and pressed without maceration. We will also store this in demijohns. We plan to divide the Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot into two single grape cuvees and one blend of the two. We're looking forward to blending. Will it be 50/50, 60/40, 70/30 etc? The suspense is palpable down at the Cantina.

Wine Grape Club 2020

 

2020 is problematic even for Chris Lisney-Smith the intrepid grape importer (since 1978). Not only do we have actual Brexit at the end of the year but Covid-19 had made the usualy temperature controlled warehouse operation in Hatfield impossible.

Chris and his merry women.

 

This year Chris has had to organize individual slots for customers to take their orders (30 cases pre-ordered minimum) from lorries arriving on specific days at a storage facility at Staples Corner Industrial Estate off the North Circular Road, London. That is working out well so far but there could still be some waiting around for the lorries from Puglia. No Spanish grapes this year, sadly.

Cabernet Sauvignon

 

 

Moscato

Merlot

From the reduced choice of grapes, we decided to buy Moscato, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Quite an exotic choice for Slotovino, but making wine from various grapes gives you an insight into their character, For example our experience with Nero di Troia and Garnacha has been excellent. Real falling off a log stuff, whereas Macabeu and Malvasia are too tricky for us. Moscato has been good when we were not trying to make a Passito version.

Sangiovese and Tempranillo are grapes that disappoint at first but come good after a year in bottle. Trebbiano worked out well but isn't very interesting, surprise surprise.

Interesting Cabernet Sauvignon bunch.

 

So we plan microvinifications each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then a little Bordeaux blend of the two. Coming from Puglia, the character of these two varieties will be more Italian than French so we're not going to go in for a great deal of maceration. 

We'll also make the Moscato in two parts. Last year, our experiment drying Moscato was a total failure. All that resulted was a super-rancio beverage with hardly any fruit discernable. Like a cheap oxydised dry sherry. This year, we'll press half the fruit immediately and leave the other half to macerate for a week or so to make an orange wine.

Watch this space.

Two Interesting South African mutations

 

 

 

Cinsault Blanc, aka Albatros.

The delicious Cinsault Blanc by Rall of Wellington, South Africa is not Cinsault (or Cinsaut) vinified white as Hedonism describes it but a wine made from a white mutation of the red Cinsaut grape. The back label tells all:

'Cinsault blanc or "Albatros" as it was called , was discovered after Cinsault mutated to Cinsault Gris and then eventually to Cinsault blanc. This wine made from the last remaining 0.2 ha of old vines in the Cape was fermented partly on the skins and aged for 10 months in locally produced clay amphorae, Total production 1,000 bottles.'

It come in at 10.5% alcohol but is dry and subtle. A fabulous drop to be sure. Not cheap but we challenge you to try it and not want to buy another bottle.

 

 

Semillon Gris or Semillon Rose.

Thorne Daughters' 'Tin Soldier' is one of the small band of producers of this other South African mutation, Semillon Gris. Their website has it as follows;

"Tin Soldier is a skin-fermented wine made from Semillon gris, which is almost unique to South Africa, and a vestige of a time when Semillon was the grape on which the South African wine industry was built. The vineyard has been established from a sélection massale of Semillon gris cuttings taken from an adjacent vineyard of Semillon that was planted in 1964.

The colour of the wine is unusual, having taken some bright copper tones from about a week’s fermentation on skins."

 Other producers include Mullineaux and Eben Sadie (in blends).

 Andrea Mullineaux sums it up thus:

  “Sémillon Gris is historically significant in South Africa, not just for the old vine aspect, but for its previous popularity. In the early 1800s, 80% of the vines in South Africa were thought to be Semillon. By the mid-1800s 50% of the Semillon had gone through the natural mutation and turned into Semillon Gris. This variation of the variety only happens slowly, vine per vine, after the vines are at least 30 years old. My vineyard, planted on Paardeberg decomposed Granite in 1959, is 55 years old and has only partially turned gris. I would say 70% of the vineyard is now Sémillon Gris, so it is hand picked to ensure that ONLY the gris bunches are picked.
Although this CAN happen in other parts of the world, it is extremely rare and rarely recorded. That is why it is so special for South Africa. It has proven itself to have adapted to our terroir and does very well, even in the extreme Swartland."

'Wine Grapes' does not mention Semillon Gris but has a chapter on Semillon Rose under the general Semillon entry. Their take on the grape is also interesting as they say the mutation seems to be unique to South Africa...'and may even have become the more common of the two [Semillons]. It is not known when it first appeared but it had become common by the 1820s.'

Galet has various Semillons (Semillon a bois noir - 'elimine,' Petit Semillon, aka Semillon Blanc etc) as you would expect but not Semillon Gris and he credits 'Robinson et al' for his mention of 'Semillon Rose ou Red Semillon...C'est la mutation rouge de Semillon observe en Afrique du Sud."

Whether Gris or Rose, whether unique to South Africa or 'extremely rare and rarely recorded' in other parts of the world, we consider this 'Tin Soldier' by Thorne Daughters to be special and especially lovely at 12,0% but then we are succers for low alcohol Semillon wherever it is made.

While we're on mutations, it should be said that even if what Jancis Robinson describes as 'generally deletarious,' these are not anything sinister but a completely natural spontaneous occurrence without which we wouldn't have some of the lighter versions of grape varieties which were originally dark. 

Examples given include the two Gamay teinturiers, Gamay Freaux and Gamay de Chaudenay which are thought to be mutations from Gamay de Bouze. Mauzac would seem to be a better example with Mauzac Blanc, Rose, Vert, Jaune and according to Robert and Bernard Plageoles three others, but not Mauzac Rouge which is not related. Things get a bit more complicated with partial mutations called Chimeras whereby the skin may mutate without the inside doing so. If that sounds obscure then consider the example of Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. Apparently Pinot Meunier which we consider so different from Pinot Noir isessentially similarwith the exception of white hairson the shoot tip and young leaves.

A better idea?

 

We ordered this Bird Scarer tape from China months ago and had quite forgotten about it until it arrive one fine day - just in time. If it keeps the birds away for the next two or three weeks we'll be very happy. 

It promises to be easy to remove unlike the tinsel curtains we've been experimenting with. Getting rid of those is going to be the equivalent of mopping up an oil spill. We may have to wait until pruning next year to get rid of it completely. 

Not a good idea

 

It's happening once more!

Something (Pheasants? Wasps? Squirrels? Deer?) is beginning to take our grapes - again.

Last year we lost practically every singke grape, we know not what to. We thought pheasants on account of the cloud of them that rose up when we entered the vineyard. 

 

 

We considered all sorts of deterrents. A dancing man, a clapper, electronic ultrasound, 

 

 

model birds of prey on long wires and so forth. All expensive and - we heard - only effective for a short time (birds get used to them).

A party last winter gave us an inspiration: Tinsel Curtains! We bought 10 boxes each of 5 curtains. 

At first the look was promising. However, we noticed that the grapes were not ripening well under the tinsel (surprise, surprise). Also grapes were being eaten.

Nevertheless, we pressed on. We'd bought the tinsel and there weren't going to be any opportunities for using it at parties for the forseeable future.

Wierdly, all the pheasants had disappeared this year. True, one or thwo have made their way back but nothing to worry about. 

Due to an inexplicable, once-in-a-lifetime glut in pears this year the wasps were occupied elsewhere.

True, two Muntjac deer were seen in the garden one morning but the depradations were nowhere near what they had been in 2019.

So we're going to harvest our two earliest varieties, Rondo and Solaris any day now.

We think Tinsel notwithstanding. Oh, and it's not easy to remove tinsel curtains from vines once they are no longer needed. Perhaps we should have thought of that.

Want to make Sparkling Wine? It takes time.

2015

Step 1. Choose your site. This would have been the UK's largest vineyard at the time.

Step 3. 2014. Plant 61,000 Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines.

 

 

Step 4. Choose a name not including the word 'Pishill.'

Step 5. Wait.

2015

2020

Then

Now

Before

After

Grapes in Mid-August 2020

Hundred Hills Vineyard, Pishill, Oxfordshire.

The first wine is scheduled to be on sale in November 2020.

Judeka Frabianco

Bought last year in Scicli, Sicily.

White PetNat from Frappato.

 

Not all whites from red grapes are as successful as this 'Frabianco' - a 'vino bianco sponatneamente mosso' from Frappato grapes.

Quite rounded and with an interesting aftertaste. Would we rush to buy in bulk? Maybe not but we wouldn't be against another bottle.