Bathtub Winemaking Day 449 – Élévage: Raising the Kids 2017 Wine Decoded Shiraz
It’s a busy day in the Tiny Winery today! It’s 449 days since our beautiful Shiraz arrived in the winery.
Blending time … mostly!
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The Wait is Over … Our 1st Wine Decoded Wine is Here!
The 2015 Wine Decoded ‘Bathtub’ Cabernet Sauvignon!
Just a little bit excited 😉
Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 20 Racking Bathtub Shiraz V17
Alcoholic fermentation has finished and the Bathtub Winemaking Project Shiraz has been pressed and is now resting in either tank or barrel.
Malolactic fermentation has started converting malic acid to the softer lactic acid. We need to start raising the wine, the process of élévage begins.
Pressing Time – The Shiraz is Heading out of the Bathtub & Into the Basket Press – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 14
We’ve been working hard on the Shiraz in the Bathtubs to get the texture just right!
Now one of the critical steps … pressing! Get it wrong & all that work will be for naught.
Dunking Stalk Teabags – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 12
Spice, Perfume, Tannin .. some like it strong, some like it weak, some with a splash of milk, lemon, or a spoon of sugar!
We like our stalks in wine!
The Art & Science of Tasting Ferments – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 11 Episode 2
Tasting a fermenting wine goes against everything you’d do when drinking a finished wine!
Check out how we do it.
Buggy Moving Ferments are Cranking – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 11 Episode 1
Guiding ferments during the peak of ferment requires wisdom & agility.
There is an infinite number of actions you can take & an equal number of things that can go wrong!
Just how do we get all the colour tannin and flavour out of our Shiraz berries? – Bathub Winemaking Project Day 7
Pumping over is just one of the ways.
Fermentation is Starting to Kick – Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 6
Our whole bunch Shiraz ferment is starting to kick. Now it’s time to think about fermentation temperature & ongoing tannin management
Wild Fermentation & Foot Stomping Whole Bunches – The Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 3
It’s school holidays and that can mean only one thing, time to put the kids to work stomping grapes!
Waiting for Fermentation to Start – The Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 2
All quiet in the Wine Decoded Tiny Winery. Fermentation hasn’t started yet.
The 2017 Bathtub Winemaking Project is GO! Fruit is In!
Day 1 – After a long wait our Yarra Valley Shiraz is off the vine & in the winery!
We’ll be posting updates as the action happens. Stay Tuned!
Grape Sampling Time for the Bathtub Winemaking Project 2017
The Great Challenge … Finding the Perfect Time to Pick Your Grapes!
Véraison Explained in Less Time than it Would Take to Drink Half a Glass of Yummy Vino!
When the Colour Starts to Change we Know Vintage is Just Around the Corner!
Bathtub Winemaking Project V16E03 “Whole Bunch Festa – Part I”
We’re playing with Whole Bunch Shiraz this year
First time we’ve seen this fruit
Hope it gives us some beautiful perfume, fun texture & yumminess!
“The Big Crush” Bathtub Winemaking Project V16E02 “
The Wine Decoded Bathtub Winemaking Project Shiraz is in the house! Nothing Like a 38°C day to Shift 140 Buckets of Fruit into Bathtub Fermenters!
It’s crushing time!
Check out all the action as we crush our yummy fruit, transport it to Wine Decoded HQ and bucket it into our 3 bathtubs for fermentation!
“Squishing Shiraz Samples” Bathtub Winemaking Project V16E01
After a false start, the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project 2016 is GO!
Big Shout Out to Dylan McMahon for helping us find some yummy fruit to play with!
Yesterday we sampled Shiraz from a beautiful vineyard in Seville East on the edge of Gruyere in the Yarra Valley.
Making Wine is Just Like Raising Kids … You Gotta Put in the Time!
The French use the term élévage with reference to both wine and children! It translates to “A good upbringing” or “Being well raised”.
Squishing Time! Firing Up the Basket Press for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Cabernet
The first and only press for Vintage 2015 is done and dusted! The WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Cabernet was squished a few weeks ago, after 24 days on skins. The perfume and earthiness I was looking for have arrived. The texture has lengthened, developed beautifully and is looking good.
Post Fermentation Maceration Begins! Pushing for Wine Yumminess!
Cap is looking might close to going over this am! I wish my assistant winemaker wouldn’t splash whilst bathing in the wine! We’ve run a barrel of free run off for barrel fermentation with about 15% of the alcoholic fermentation to go. Post Fermentation Maceration Explained – Gotta Keep Pushing! Check out what happened from Day 11-14
I GOT WOOD! Prepping French Oak for the Bathtub Cabernet!
Fermentation is winding down & it’s time to get our oak barrels ready to fill.
There’s nothing quite like the smell of a new French oak barrel.
Stalks! Stalks! Stalks! WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 6 Tannin Management
We’re still focusing on tannin for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project. This time it’s all about giant teabags … full of stalks, not, tea! Just like the seeds stalks contain tannins, flavours and aromas that we want to guide and layer into the wine. Check the “teabags” and a detailed walk through steep the biggest teabag you’ll ever see in the video.
Bathtub Winemaking Project Day 5 – Working on Tannin!
Today’s one of the peak days during fermentation. Where about half way through now. The yeast are moving fast, sugar is dropping quickly, heat is being generated and alcohol levels increasing. It’s time to focus on tannin. This video explores some of the tannin management I’m doing this year taking a look at skins, seeds and stalks.
Filthy Good Vino Wine Project Day 2: Managing Fermentation
The yeast are starting to get buggy moving! Flavours are looking good!
Vintage 2015 Part 2: Time to Pick our Yarra Valley Cabernet – Filthy Good Vino Bathtub Winemaking Project
Beautiful day to pick our Cabernet for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project! We’ll be posting regular updates taking you through the winemaking process step by step for Vintage 2015.
The Bathtub Winemaking Project is Go! Part 1: Samples from the Vineyard
Vintage is almost upon us! The first grapes for the WINE DECODED Bathtub Winemaking Project are about to be picked!