Since the Harvest...
The grapes for our first ever wine were harvested on September 9th, 2009. See the photos and info below on the progress of the wine and check our Beltane News page for more updates. 
The sugar came in at 24.6 Brix, just about perfect. Above is Alexa, checking the level with a refractometer just before the crush. If you missed the harvest and crush newsletter it's here.
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Racking....
 2 days following the crush, after the wine had just enough time to settle, it was time to rack the wine, or skim the best juice off the top of the sediment. The developing wine was pumped in to a fresh tank while the sediment was discarded. At this point it tastes really rich and juicy, almost like apple cider, but with a little pear and melon. Its pumped in to a temperature controlled stainless steel tank to begin fermentation.
  .....and InoculationFollowing the racking, its time to inoculate - when we get the fermentation going by adding yeast. The yeast, from Denmark (our winemaker Kevin's choice for our Sauvignon Blanc), is weighed out, and mixed in buckets with small amounts of the juice until dissolved and at the proper temperature, and then its all mixed in the tank and the fermentation begins!    |
Fermentation Three days later the fermentation is really going! The sugar has already dropped to 16 brix from 24.6 brix, and the top of the tank is covered in a thick bubbling foam.
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 Time to Barrel FermentAbout 10 days after the inoculation, it was time to transfer the soon-to-be wine to barrels where it will complete fermentation to become dry. We are using a combination of new French oak and neutral French oak barrels.
 
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We're excited to have you as a founding member in the Beltane Ranch Wine Club.
Stay tuned for more updates on Beltane Wine! We're on schedule for a summer 2010 release and looking forward to celebrating with our founding members!
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Thank you!  |
