27 Jan Brian’s Winter Wine Cellar Update
I know that I picked the wine industry because I love the work. Okay, okay but sometimes the work loves me more than I love the work! I guess, it is just that it is January, and you would think things would be in a bit of a lull between harvest which ended in early November and bottling season which seems to be starting up now. In the meantime, we have been racking the 2021 red barrels as they finish the secondary or malolactic fermentation. At this point there are only a dozen or so barrels that are taking a little extra time to get through malolactic and still need to be racked. Oftentimes it is the wines, not the winemaker, that determine the schedule.
We also had an extra task for this time of the year: racking and blending the 2020 barrels that are expected to be bottled in July of this year. These are blends I put together on the lab bench last year and would normally have blended in July and August of 2021. It is not unusual for winemakers to blend the same year as they intend to bottle, in fact, some wait until just before the bottling before putting the blends together. I however, like to get the blends together so that they have time to marry well ahead of the bottling date. We just ran out of time last year before harvest hit and so the blends will only have six months to marry instead of the ten months they normally get. The good news is that this is unlikely to have a significant effect on the final wines, especially given the extra time in the bottle that most Brian Carter Cellars wines receive before release.
Aside from the normal barrel topping and other day-to-day cellar activities, the next big focus is getting ready for bottling. A lot of that is just me sitting at the desk talking on the phone and writing e-mails to suppliers to get the glass, corks and labels needed, most urgently for the April bottling of rosé and white wines including Oriana. Glass bottles are a big issue this year as you might have heard about in the news: big jumps in price and certain glass types that are just plain unavailable. This is a problem that has continued from last year and shows no immediate signs of letting up. The tall-tapered bottle that we commonly use for most of our blends does not seem to be available so it looks like the Brian Carter Cellars reds are going to look a little different. Another change is the availability of capsules for the tops of the bottles. These expensive coverings are just for show, they have very little practical use, therefore I have made the decision to follow the trend not to use capsules going forward. Not only does this save money but it reduces our carbon footprint; one more step towards a more sustainable winery. Also, one less operation keeping you from getting the wine from the bottle into your glass, no need to cut or pull the capsule.
Robert and I also have cellar work to do getting the wines ready for bottling. A lot of analysis and stability trials such as heat and cold stability to make certain the wines will be stable in the bottle. Then, some of the whites and rosés will require some blending followed by racking and filtration. Lots of hard work ahead but: HEY, I DO LOVE IT!
Brian Carter, Winemaker