While harvest time brings loads of activities to report on it’s calming down more and more afterwards. Our you wines are standing in a warmer section of the cellar with malolactic fermentation still going on slowly.
This is how it looks like currently:
The left and the middle barrel are old barriques which have been used in the red wine making process for many years plus there are two glass balloons for the juice which didn’t fit in the barrels. As you see they are also carrying little fermentation bungs so carbon dioxide can get out as the malolactic fermentation takes place. The barrel in the middle is now good, no malic acid left. I’m amazed how well it tastes currently. The left barrel is a bit slower so I got a specific kind of spoon to stir the yeast which is sitting lazily at the bottom.
I’ve been doing it every day for over a week now and it seems to work. More bubbles in the fermentation bung indicate more activity and I think I can taste the progress as well with the wine getting smoother and tannins becoming more present.
Same for the Silvaner (the barrel on the right plus another three glas balloons). I got a used barrique from Sebastian Fürst which he used for his Chardonnays and Pinot Blancs. I filled it with our Silvaner in the cellar avoiding pumps:
And now I’m stirring as well on a daily basis to motivate the yeast. It’s got a slightly woody aroma already which I’m not a fan of. That’s why I wanted used barrels – they don’t influence the wine too much. This one obviously hasn’t been used extensively … we’ll wait until malolactic fermentation has finished – maybe next week – and probably migrate back to a steel tank. Let’s see.