Fermenting blup blup blup blup....

The fermentation is more a treat for the nose and ears. The yeasty smell is quite pleasant, and down in the fermentation tent, the "blup, blup" of the CO2 escaping the air locks is the most delightful sound. We went down twice a day to check the temperature, and stir the reds. We had the vornado on and had it the thermostat on it set to keep it at 68. The whites behaved themselves quite nicely; no overflowing carboys. The reds seemed to be fermenting nicely. We took a brix on Saturday, and the Grenache was at 4, down from 21. The syrah was a little slower fermenting, with the brix at 19, down from 25.

The plan is to press the reds on Sunday the 9th--I am a little concerned with the slowness of the fermentation of the syrah. It looks as if there is good color extraction, but seems like we should wait before we take the wine off the skins. The Grenache is ready to put in the carboy. The riesling can be consolidated; doesn't look like it is anywhere near to overflowing, and we can get rid of a little of the air in the carboys.

We still have last year's wine to bottle-there's the magnolia meritage of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc that can be bottled, and the chardonnay that we want to turn into a sparkling wine. Guess that it will have to be called magnolia, since we can't call it champagne....

Got to get down and do tonight's check, and perhaps another brix reading on the syrah.