Top 7 Winemaking Tips for the Spring Harvest
The Spring Harvest is underway! It’s time to get yourself set up for your Spring fermentations.
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Plan out your batch
- What kind of wine do you want to make?
- Review your ferementation notes from previous seasons
- Taste wines from Chile and South Africa for inspiration
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Review how to adjust your must
- Adjusting your Brix, TA, and pH
- Take an online class if need a referesher
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If making wine from juice, decide on Fresco vs. Non Fresco Juices
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Decide on the type of yeast you want to use
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PRE ORDER
- Give us a call at 877-812-1137 or email us at sales@juicegrape.com
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Think about the temperatures in your cellar
- Do you need extra heat?
- Do you need AC?
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Keep an eye on the Harvest Tracker for updates on the Spring Harvest
Interested in making your own wine? Musto Wine Grape Company is here to help! Musto’s New England’s largest supplier for home winemaking products and services. Visit juicegrape.com or give us a call at (877) 812 – 1137 to learn more.
How to Make Syrah Wine from Chilean Wine Grapes
Chilean Syrah from Colchagua Valley has received high praise from publications like Wine Enthusiast, earning 93+pts. It’s a wine variety that is often overlooked from Chile and is a wine worth making this season. Chilean Syrah boasts flavors of plum, wild berry, and earth aromas. I highly suggest introducing this wine to oak barrels or an oak infusion. The medium acidity and powerful aromas are complemented by the French Oak flavor profile.
Yeast Suggestion: CSM yeast
Oak Suggestion: French oak barrels or chips
Wine Flavor Profile: Bold, medium tannins, blackberry, plum, wild berry, leather, smoke, chocolate, and oak
How to Make Syrah Wine from Chilean Wine Grapes:
- Crush Syrah grapes into a sanitized bin or tub. (Each 18lb crate will make 1.25 gals of finished wine).
- Apply 50ppm of Potassium Metabisulfite and stir well. Allow to sit for 8-12 hours.
- Apply .5ml of Color Pro Pectic enzyme per box diluted into a 10% solution with water to the must and stir. Allow to sit for another 8-12 hours.
- Mix Booster Rouge, FT Rouge, and Opti-Red, with spring water until it is the consistency of pancake batter and pour over top of crushed grapes. Mix in well.
- Add rehydrate CSM yeast (1g/gal) with Go Ferm rehydration nutrient and warm water. Allow to sit for 15 minutes and pour over top of crushed grapes.
- Punch down grapes 3 times per day throughout the duration of fermentation and monitor temperature and Brix levels daily. Use a hydrometer to test sugar content in a strained juice sample. Make sure the temperature does not exceed 85F.
- One day after adding the yeast, add Fermaid O, mixed with spring water into the pancake batter style slurry. Dump into grapes during a punch down.
- After the depletion of 1/3 of the Brix (when the Brix level is between 16-11), add Fermaid O that is mixed with spring water into the pancake batter style slurry. Dump into to grapes at a punch down.
- Add Malo-lactic bacteria the same day as the Fermaid K. If you are using liquid cultures, just pour over the grape must and mix. If you use the dry cultures, rehydrate them in warm spring water according to their specific directions, utilizing any rehydration nutrients recommended.
- When the Brix have dropped below zero, press the wine into a sanitized tank, carboy, or demijohn. Make sure the vessel is topped up all the way to the top of the neck and sealed properly with a bung and airlock.
- Rack after 48 hours and then again in a week. Allow MLF to complete before adding sulfites.
- Allow the wine to age and rack it every 2 months and add sulfites when racking.
- Add oak infusion after 2nd or 3rd racking. Taste test along the way until the oak profile is where you want it to be.
Interested in making your own wine? Musto Wine Grape Company is here to help! Musto’s New England’s largest supplier for home winemaking products and services. Visit juicegrape.com or give us a call at (877) 812 – 1137 to learn more.
What is Bud Break?
Happy first day of Spring Winemakers!
Our California grapes are starting to go through bud break.
Here is a nice view of our Cry Baby Thompson Seedless and Grenache grapes “waking up” 🍇
What is Bud Break?
Bud break is the start of the grape vine’s annual cycle. It is a relaxing time in the vine’s life as long as they don’t experience any intense weather occurrences, such as frost. Frost can kill the buds or delay their growth.
Check out what Bud Break looks like in Chile! (link)
Interested in making your own wine? Musto Wine Grape Company is here to help! Musto’s New England’s largest supplier for home winemaking products and services. Visit juicegrape.com or give us a call at (877) 812 – 1137 to learn more.
Product Spotlight: CSM Yeast
Product Spotlight: CSM Yeast
CSM yeast was derived from Bordeaux and helps create a vibrant aromatic profile. CSM aids in adding complexity to the palate and pairs well with malolactic fermentation.
Why you want to use it:
It’s the perfect yeast for the Chilean fruit. It reduces vegetal aromas, adds complexity, stabilizes color, and helps increase the aromatic profiles of berries and spices.
Use Tips:
Fermentation starts quickly with this yeast. Be prepared to see Brix drop 24 hours after inoculation. It can stand up 14% ABV and can handle temperatures from 59–90°F. However, I highly suggest keeping your fermentation temps lower than 75°F. Once you hit 80°F you lose aromas and “burn off” flavors. Keeping your wine between 59–75°F during fermentation is a best practice.
You also want to use nutrients when using CSM; nutrients such as Fermaid-O and Fermaid-K. CSM tends to produce H2S (rotten egg smell) if there aren’t enough nutrients during fermentation.
Avoid cold shocking the yeast at inoculation. You’ll want to get the must and the yeast starter within a few degrees of each other before pitching the yeast starter. But without temperatures falling lower than 55°F. Temps below 55°F could stall fermentation and/or kill the yeast.
Goes best with:
CSM was cultivated to help ferment Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Merlot, Sangiovese, Petit Verdot. However, we have seen it used on Carmenere, Malbec, and Syrah from Chile with great results.
Dosage:
6gm/gals
Flavor Profile:
Cherry pit, raspberry, blackberry, spice, violet, bark, and sweet pepper
Ready to make wine? Musto Wine Grape Company is here to help you make the wine of your dreams! The Spring South African & Chilean winemaking season starts soon! Secure your winemaking grapes or juices and give us a call at (877) 812-1137 to speak with one of our Musto Crush Crew members. We can get you set up with everything you need and provide customer support along the way to ensure your success!
2022 Harvest Menu and Announcements
I hope you’ve been enjoying your summers winemakers because the fall season will be upon us soon!
Have you started thinking about what you want to make this season? There are so many grapes and juices to choose from. Make a straight variety, make a blend, make multiple batches, we will have you covered this vintage!
The grapes are about 1-2 weeks behind last season. It feels like this season will harvest more in line with “normal years”. We will most likely have some early ripening grapes and winemaking juices arriving the week after Labor Day (September 5th). We have some new winemaking grapes and interesting vineyards being added to the MWG winemaking portfolio this season. Check out our 2022 Harvest Menu (link: harvest menu) to see what new and find your consistent favorites.
CROP OVERVIEW
Suisun Valley, CA:
We’ve started to see color changes in the Merlot, Barbera, and Petite Sirah. The Lanzas are currently walking the vineyards and doing bunch counts to get an accurate crop reading. It was a great growing season for Suisun Valley. It should be another vintage year.
Lodi, CA:
With veraison happening we are getting a clear outlook for what to expect this year in crop yields. Overall, the Lodi area has set a nice crop with estimates at or above last year’s tonnage. As you move east into the foothill vineyards, yields look to be much lighter due to the frost damage experienced back in February.
Central Valley, CA:
The berries are starting to show color in the Barbera, Zinfandel, and Merlot vineyards. Central Valley is almost always the first of the vineyards to harvest. If you are interested in CV fruit be prepared to make wine earlier in the season. We will have some new and interesting varieties from this region, such as Grenache Blanc, Fiano, Teroldego, and Touriga Nacional. Check out the Harvest Menu (link) for the full list of varieties from all vineyard regions.
Washington:
They are currently in the middle of lag phase. Washington should have crop estimations in the next week or so. The crop looks nice so far and they are about to get some hot days. As of right now they are predicting harvest will be about 2 weeks behind last year’s harvest. If you are interested in Washington fruit, plan to make wine in late October and/or early November.
What’s Available this Season?
Download our Harvest Menu to see everything that is offered this season. Please note that many vineyard specific grapes such as Lanza and Mettler do sell out. If there is a specific vineyard you want your grapes sourced from, we encourage you to put in a pre-order.
In Person Winemaking Classes
Making Consistently Flawless Wine Seminar with Daniel Pambianchi
Don’t miss out on this special opportunity to attend Daniel Pambianchi’s third seminar on advanced winemaking on September 10th, 2022, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM, at Musto Wine Grape Company in Hartford, CT.
This third seminar will focus on advanced home winemaking techniques, including advanced analytical techniques for measuring and adjusting key quality control parameters, and to integrate these learnings in reviewing detailed protocols for making outstanding white, rose, and red wines and in different styles.
This seminar is intended for intermediate and advanced amateur and small-winery winemakers. Lunch and coffee are provided. Please alert Christina of any food allergies at cmusto@juicegrape.com.
SEMINAR FEES
Until August 10th – $275.00
August 11th to September 10th– $300.00
Please email Christina Musto at cmusto@juicegrape.com with any questions.
Winemaker Bootcamp
Our Winemaker’s Bootcamp is back! We will begin on Saturday September 11th. To sign up click here. Whether you are just starting out or have a few years under your belt, our Winemakers Bootcamp will enrich your winemaking skills while having a lot of fun along the way. The only hands-on winemaking bootcamp in the area; this course offers each student the opportunity of experiencing hands-on winemaking. In addition to making wines, the course will cover the science behind modern wine making and fermentation techniques including additives commonly used by commercial wineries throughout the wine making world. Classes will be about 3 hours each Saturday, starting at 9:00 am or 12:00PM (depending on the session you pick, total of 5 sessions), in the offices and winemaking showrooms of Musto Winegrape Co, 101 Reserve Road, Hartford, CT, 06114. If you have any questions, please email Christina at cmusto@juicegrape.com.
Virtual Winemaking Classes
Our Virtual Winemaking Classes are available year-round but in order to kick off harvest, we are running a flash sale for the month of August. For the month of August our Full Winemaking Course will be discounted from $397.00 for 46 videos (over 24 hours of content) to $297.00. That’s $100.00 off! And you have access to the videos forever. If you have any questions, please email cmusto@juicegrape.com.
How to Order
We are an old school company. Give us a call at 877-812-1137 or email us at sales@juicegrape.com to get the ball rolling on your pre-order. Don’t forget, we can create custom fermentation templates for you if you would like!
If you aren’t local to New England and need your product shipped, please email sales@juicegrape.com for a freight quote. We will be shipping out of our Bronx, NY location – D’Arrigo. If you live in the Metro NY area and are interested in a freight quote please reach out to sales@juicegrape.com
Unfortunately, we cannot ship fresh juice. We can ship our sterile juices, they ship year-round without refrigeration. This is the best option for home winemakers who cannot pick up the fresh product from MWG’s facilities.
If you have a large fresh product order (2,000lbs and up), please contact sales@juicegrape.com for a freight quote.
For more information regarding the Fall Harvest please feel free to contact us at sales@juicegrape.com or give us a call at 877-812-1137. We are looking forward to helping you with your next great wine!
Sincerely,
The Musto Crush Crew
Popular Red Grapes for Home Winemakers
Ever wonder what the most popular red wine grapes are to use when making red wine at home? Well, wonder no more. Here is the list you’ve been looking for.
Try using these four popular red wine grapes as you begin your home wine making journey:
Cabernet
Merlot
Old Vine Zinfandel
Petite Sirah
Why these grapes you ask? Well, here are a few things to consider:
- Cabernet – This is age worthy wine; cellar for 10+ years, produces a dry and full bodied wine with medium to high tannins, medium acidity and has 5–15% ABV
- Merlot –This wine can be aged in your cellar for 10+ years and has flavors of cherry, plum, chocolate, bay leaf and vanilla with a tasting profile that makes it a bone-dry wine, with medium to full body, medium to high tannins, medium acidity and 13.5–15% ABV
- Old Vine Zinfandel – Ages for 5-10 years, it is a bold, fruit forward red that’s loved for its jammy fruit and smoky, exotic spice notes; it makes a dry red with medium to full bodied flavor, medium to high tannins, medium to low acidity and has over 15% ABV
- Petite Sirah – Another 10+ years of aging and is loved for its deeply colored wines with rich black fruit flavors including sugarplum, blueberry, dark chocolate, black pepper and black tea and makes a dry, full bodied wine with high tannins, low acidity and over 15% ABV
What red grape will you start with today? Let us know what popular red wine you are excited to start making this season.
Email sales@juicegrape.com or call 877-812-1137 to order or discus making wine from home!
Sources
Written by Michelle Griffis aka the Nutmeg Nose from MWG
Montepulciano 2020 By Joseph A. Picone, DMD
Montepulciano 2020 By Joseph A. Picone, DMD
I had the pleasure to obtain 10 (36lbs) cases of Montepulciano grapes from Musto Grapes (Frank Musto) on October 10, 2020. Making wine using the many varieties of first class Musto sourced grapes has been an Annual fall event for the Picone family and our friends for the past 30 years or so. Over the years, I have made Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Old Vine Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Malbec, Reisling, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Moscato, and White Zinfandel to name a few. Each having their own unique qualities to enjoy. Frank and his crew are great in providing all the resources and guidance needed for the first-time wine maker all the way to the seasoned-pro. I was fortunate to have taken a one semester class years ago at Naugatuck Community College on Wine Making given by Bob Herold which together with Frank’s support team has allowed me to create some delicious wines over the years.
I would like to share my experience with you on making this year’s Montepulciano 2020.
The grapes were outstanding. The Brix reading on the refractometer was 25. The clusters were full and the berries were a beautiful deep purple. The boxes were well packed with few if any leaves. We crushed the 360lbs of grapes and immediately added some potassium metabisulphite to kill any wild yeasts. My crusher is also a destemmer, so all the stems were separated from the must during this process. The pH of the must started at 3.70 which wasn’t surprising due to the high Brix reading. I added an appropriate amount of Tartaric acid to bring the pH to a more desirable 3.41 the day of crush. 25 ml of Color Pro enzyme was added at this time as well.
At approximately 24 hours post crush, the Must was inoculated with 35 grams of yeast BM 4X4 in a solution containing GoFerm yeast nutrient. The temperature of the Must at the time of inoculation was 60 degrees F. The yeast solution was well constituted throughout the must. Periodic punching down of the “cap’ was done every 6-8 hours throughout the primary fermentation time.
At 48 hours post crush, the Must temp was 66 degrees F at the Brix reading was 23.5. Fermaid O was added.
At 72 hours post crush, the Must temp was 75 degrees F and the Brix reading was 20. Fermaid K was added.
At 96 hours post crush, the Must temp was 82 degrees F and the Brix reading was 16. I added oak chips to the vat.
At 120 hours post crush, the Must temp was 78 degrees F and the Brix reading was 8.
At 144 hours post crush, the Must temp was 72 degrees F and the Brix reading was 4. 0.9mg of Malolactic culture VP41 was added to the Must and thoroughly mixed in.
At 168 hours(7 days) post crush, the Must temp was 70 degrees F and the Brix reading was 3. The Must and remnant skins were carefully pressed using a bladder press. The raw yield was approximately 27.5 gallons. The Must was placed in cleaned and sanitized demijohns utilizing airlocks to allow CO2 to escape while fermentation progresses, albeit very slowly. The residual skins were heavily consumed during the fermentation leaving behind very little structure. The color extraction was excellent and provided a deep rich purple wine. More Oak chips were added to each of the glass carboys/demijohns.
The slow fermentation in the demijohns went uneventfully and at 2 months, careful racking was accomplished and an appropriate amount of Potassium Metabisulphite was added to help kill off any more yeast cells(30ppm).
At 6 months post pressing, another racking was accomplished without the addition of any sulphites.
At 9 months, I have just begun bottling and I am very pleased with the wine. It is a crystal clear, deep purple, medium to full body, somewhat fruity flavored wine. I expect it to pair well most any dish but have enjoyed it with pasta, pork, veal, and chicken thus far.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Picone, DMD
Thank you Joseph for sharing your Montepulciano winemaking experience! If you would like to make Montelpuciano emails sales@juicegrape.com or call 877-812-1137.
New Vineyard – Barison Vineyards, Tehama Valley, CA
Tehama Valley is our newest edition to the Harvest Menu.
Barison Vineyards is located on a hillside made up of red volcanic soil and gravel, this regenerative farm vineyard uses its own compost, plant cover crops, and have cattle and chickens on the vineyard. The owner of this vineyard wrote the vineyard book Vitibook (used at UC Davis), and fun fact – won 7 barrel racing competitions in his home of Piedmont, Italy. We are excited to be bringing you grapes from Barison Vineyards this season! We will have Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Grenache, Carignane, Dolchetto, Merlot, Nebbiolo, Pinot Noir, and Syrah.
This season’s wine harvest is HERE!! Download our Harvest Menu to check out what we will be offering this season. Please email sales@juicegrape.com or call 877-812-1137 to order.
A Guide to Cabernet Sauvignon
What is Cabernet Sauvignon?
Known as the king of red grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys the same regal status in California as it does in its native home of Bordeaux, France. Californian Cabernet Sauvignon tends to be more fruit-forward and mellow, with rich dark fruit notes. The most common aromatic and flavor components found in this varietal are plum, black cherry, blueberry as well as warm spice, vanilla, black pepper, and tobacco. Aside from being known for its dark color and full body, it’s known for often being over 13.5% in alcohol content. The average alcohol content of a Cab from California floats around 14.5%. At Musto Wine Grape we carry a variety of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from multiple AVAs in California, as well as all of the yeasts, nutrients, and equipment you’ll need.
What kind of yeast should I use when making Cabernet Sauvignon?
*Note that full expression of the desired characteristics for any of the following yeast strains is based on proper care and feeding if the yeasts, along with using quality fruit and good winemaking practices. It is also strongly recommended that Go-Ferm and Fermaid-K are used as well as temperature management throughout the entire fermentation. As always, if you need assistance with any part of your winemaking process, do not hesitate to reach out to us at sales@juicegrape.com or give us a call at (877) 812-1137 to speak with someone who can assist with any product recommendations, procedures, or problems.
BM45 yields a big mouthfeel, notes of cherry liquor, rose petal, jam, plum, berry as well as earthy and spicy elements. It offers color stability and helps to minimize vegetative characteristics.
BDX is an all-around great choice for berry, plum, and jam characteristics. It has a moderate fermenting rate and offers good color retention. By re-enforcing existing tannins, it develops structure in the wine. Because of this, we advise to not use with unripe fruit.
RP15 emphasizes the berry aspects of the fruit, along with color stability, increased mouthfeel, and agreeable tannins.
D254 yields a big mouthfeel and rounds tannins as well as intense fruit. It has a focus on berry and jam characteristics, but more so of dried fruit than fresh. It’s also great for color stability and adds body to blends.
D80 offers big volume and fine grain tannins. It is great for encouraging more positive tannin intensity to a blend.
Where do you source your Cabernet Sauvignon from?
We offer Cabernet Sauvignon from multiple AVA’s within California and Washington:
Lanza-Musto Vineyards in Suisun Valley, CA (Valley, 169, 15, and Koch)
Mettler Family Ranch in Lodi, CA
Napa Valley, CA
Washington State (Clone 33)
Sonoma County, CA (Chalk Hill)
Amador, CA
King’s River, CA
Paso Robles, CA
Central Valley, CA
Is there a certain winemaking procedure specific to Cabernet Sauvignon?
You can follow our Red Wine Grape Procedure which you can find here, if you are using juice you can find the procedure here and if you are using frozen must, here. The procedure is standard for making red wines, but using the proper yeasts and nutrients specific for Cabernet Sauvignon and consistent monitoring will have the biggest impact on your final wine.
Where can I buy grapes, juice, or must?
At Musto Wine Grape Company, all red grape varieties are available in 36lb cases, in frozen must by request, or in 6-gallon fresh juice pails. For Sterile Juice options that can be shipped year-round and without refrigeration click here.
Finally, if you need the best options and equipment suited for you and your winemaking goals, email sales@juicegrape.com or call (877) 812 – 1137 to speak with one of our Musto Crush Crew members who can help. We are here to provide all of the winemaking products you need to make the wine of your dreams, as well as the customer support to ensure your success!
How much wine will my case of California grapes make?
Crates, pounds, liters, gallons, must, finished wine, juice… there’s a lot of terms and volumes floating around in your head during winemaking season. Simplify your life with the following explanation of how much volume you should expect to be getting from your grape order.
Each case of wine grapes from California and Washington State is 36lbs. Depending on the grape variety, you should yield about 2-2.5 gallons of must per case.
*Keep in mind that all of these are estimates. Some grapes will yield a bit more and some a bit less depending on the variety.*
A good rule of thumb is that 20lbs of grapes will yield roughly 1 gallon of finished wine. So each case should give you about 1.44 gallons of finished wine, equating to about 7 bottles of finished wine generally speaking..
If you want to make 5-6 gallons we suggest using 3 cases of grapes. The extra case will give you room for error when pressing and racking, plus extra wine for topping off during the aging process. If you use only 2 cases of grapes, make sure you have a 5 gallon carboy handy in case you loose a little juice during the winemaking process. You don’t want any headspace in your carboy.
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